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Mr. PRESSLER.

Mr. President, I support Senate passage of S. 1462. This legislation is the result of a House and Senate conference on comprehensive telemarketing legislation. It incorporates legislation Congressman MARKEY introduced in the House of Representatives and I introduced earlier this year in the Senate, and legislation introduced by Senator HOLLINGS. S. 1462 contains the provisions I first suggested in S. 1410, which passed the Senate earlier this year. I introduced this legislation in response to the national outcry over the explosion of unsolicited telephone advertising. I want to thank Chairman HOLLINGS and Chairman MARKEY for their efforts both to forge an agreement on our three bills.

Mr. President, consumers in my home State of South Dakota are fed up with the annoyance of unwanted telephone solicitations. Unlike other communications media, the telephone commands our instant attention. Junk mail can be thrown away. Television commercials can be turned off. The telephone demands to be answered.

People are increasingly upset over this invasion of their privacy by unrestricted telemarketing. In fact, the consumer backlash that has arisen from the cost and the interference of unsolicited telemarketing calls has sparked the introduction of over 1,000 bills in State legislatures around the country seeking to limit this abuse. The complaints of consumers have been heard.

This past June, we held hearings in the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee on S. 1410. During these hearings, we received testimony from consumer advocates, private citizens, and representatives of the telemarketing industry. The testimony we received was clear. The Federal Government needs to act now on uniform legislation to protect consumers.

The primary purpose of this legislation is to develop the necessary ground rules for cost-effective protection of consumers from unwanted telephone solicitations. These rules should allow responsible telemarketers to reach consumers who are most responsive to this form of solicitation, while eliminating the cost and time of contacting those individuals who would be least responsive.

To accomplish this balanced approach, the substitute we have before us today directs the FCC to prescribe regulations to protect the privacy rights of consumers from the intrusion of unsolicited telephone marketing calls. One such proposal the FCC would consider is the use of a telephone electronic database that would allow consumers to have their phone numbers protected from unsolicited advertising. This type of consumer protection has already been used with great success in the State of Florida. Another proposal the FCC would examine is the placement of all telemarketers on a single exchange, thus allowing consumers to block calls from that exchange.

Some objected to the original legislation because of the extent to which it outlined the safeguards necessary for the creation of a national database. While I personally believe that an electronic database will give the most promising protection for consumers, we recognize that newer technologies could be used more effectively in the future. It is important to note that certain anti-competitive questions may arise as a result of the form of protection the FCC chooses. For this reason, it is important for the FCC to keep a close watch on the impact of its rulemaking on businesses that compete with larger monopolies.

We included in this substitute a provision that directs the FCC to examine whether local telephone solicitations by small businesses and second class mail permit holders should be subject to the same FCC regulations that would apply to all other telemarketers. Many small businesses conduct responsible telemarketing in the local areas they serve. Since their business depends upon their good standing in the community, they conduct their own telemarketing in a very respectable way.

We include in this bill an exemption for businesses that have an established business relationship with their customers. For example, if Citibank's credit card operation needed to inform customers about new services it intended to provide to their credit card customer, clearly this contact would be allowed.

The effect of this legislation will be to prohibit "cold calls" by any telemarketer to the telephone of a consumer who has no connection or affiliation with that business and who affirmatively has taken action to prevent such calls. Many responsible telemarketers have told me that this will save them both time and money by reaching only those people who are most likely to respond positively to their solicitations.

S. 1462 also addresses problems arising from computerized calls. Due to advances in auto-dialer technology, machines can be programmed to deliver a prerecorded message to thousands of sequential phone numbers.

This results in calls to hospitals, emergency care providers, unlisted numbers, and paging and cellular equipment. There have been many instances of auto-dial machines hitting hospital switchboards and sequentially delivering a recorded message to all telephone lines. In some cases, the calling machine does not release the called party's line until the recorded message has ended. This renders the called party's phones inoperable. In an emergency situation, this can create a real hazard.

To remedy this situation, the substitute requires auto-dialer machines to release the phone line automatically after the called party hangs up. In addition, it requires all prerecorded messages to clearly identify the name, phone number or address of the person or business initiating the call.

This bill also allows hospitals, police stations, fire stations, and owners of paging and cellular equipment to eliminate all unsolicited calls.

The growth of facsimile machines in the workplace has brought another form of unsolicited advertising-the junk fax. Unsolicited facsimile advertising ties up fax machines and uses the called party's fax paper. This costs the recipient both time and money. The substitute bill requires that auto-dial fax machines clearly mark on all transmissions the date and time of transmission, the identity of the sender, and the telephone number of the sending machine. While our substitute will not end all unsolicited calls, it will give back to consumers the freedom to choose how their telephones are used. The balanced approach we take in the Pressler-Markey-Hollings legislation, will finally give consumers relief from modern door-to-door salesmen who now have the unrestricted ability to invade the privacy of our homes at any time.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that several articles in support of this legislation be placed in the RECORD immediately following my remarks.