The Kentucky state Senate has failed to act on a proposed “zero-call” list before the end of its 2001 legislative session, effectively killing the bill.
The proposal was intended to allow people older than 65 to register for a do-not-call list that would have banned all telemarketing calls. However, the bill gained amendments in the Senate that legislators in the House of Representatives opposed. The two branches of the legislature could not agree about the amendments, and the bill died earlier this month.
The senators' amendments made “zero-call” a misnomer. The amendments added exemptions to the bill, including exceptions for telemarketers arranging face-to-face visits and anyone with a “reasonable belief” that a call would result in a sale.
Bickering between supporters and opponents of the exemptions followed. State Attorney General Ben Chandler, a proponent of the zero-call list, complained that the Republican-controlled Senate “gutted the bill and went home.”
Calls to Chandler's office were not immediately returned last week.
