Featured Article: Compliance Grab Bag -- Ruminations With a View.
State Holiday Alerts: State DNC Restrictions for December and February.
Telemarketing Calls Top Complaint List to Florida Consumer Office.
Missouri Pre-files Bills to Amend State's DNC Laws Regarding Prerecorded Calls.
North Carolina Judge Orders Florida Telemarketer to Abide by National DNC List.

As of September 2, 2008, the FCC officially raised the amount of its fines associated with violations of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act from $11,000 to $16,000 per violation. This includes cell phone calls made using an automated dialing device such as a predictive or auto-dialer. Note that there is only a 15-day grace period on cell phone updates for scrubbing against the carrier and wireless ported databases.

Meanwhile, "phase 1" of the FTC rules regarding delivering pre-recorded messages to established business relationships went into effect as of December 1, 2008. As of this day, for those entities seeking to continue to take advantage of the FTC forbearance policy regarding such calls, the FTC requires the use of an automated keypress or voice-activated mechanism to allow the consumer to assert a Do Not Call request. ("Phase 2," tentatively dubbed "the end of prerecorded telemarketing" by the FTC, requires written and signed consent from the consumer.) The continued popularity of prerecorded messages among many companies will probably result in many of them being caught off guard with this midstream change. I?m going to bet we?re going to be hearing about these companies in about six months or so.

Finally, you would think the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (the FDIC), the government entity responsible for guaranteeing deposits held by commercial banks, probably has its hands full right now, right? Well, apparently not. On November 7, 2008, the FDIC somehow found the time to pick a fight with the telemarketing industry. In a Financial Institution Letter entitled "Guidance on Payment Processor Relationships," the FDIC states, and I quote: "account relationships with entities that process payments for telemarketers could expose financial institutions to increased strategic, credit, compliance, transaction, and reputation risks." That?s an impressive list of risks, isn?t it? Strategic, credit, compliance, transaction, reputation . . . are we missing anything here? Physical harm? Structural damage? At a time when many companies are going to be turning to telemarketing due to its reputation as the best "pound for pound" form of marketing available, it seems a little strange that the FDIC chose right now to cast aspersions on the industry.

The following holiday restrictions have been verified for the months of January and February:

Outbound calling is prohibited in Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, Rhode Island and Utah
on Thursday, January 1, 2009 in observance of New Year's Day.

Outbound calling is prohibited in Louisiana on Thursday, January 8, 2009 in observance
of the Battle of New Orleans.

Outbound calling is prohibited in Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, Rhode Island and Utah
on Monday, January 19, 2009 in observance of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Birthday.

Outbound calling is prohibited in Louisiana (Baton Rouge only) on Tuesday, January 20, 2009
in observance of Inauguration Day.

Outbound calling is prohibited in Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, Rhode Island and Utah
on Monday, February 16, 2008 in observance of George Washington's Birthday.

Outbound calling is prohibited in Alabama (Baldwin and Mobile Counties only) and Louisiana
on Tuesday, February 24, 2008 in observance of Mardi Gras Day.

Telemarketing Calls Top Complaint List to Florida Consumer Office:
A report from the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services listed telemarketing calls to consumers on the state's Do Not Call list as the top consumer complaint in 2008. They also reported having collected and won court judgments totally more than $1.5 million from businesses in violation of the state's Do Not Call rules.

Missouri Pre-files Bills to Amend State's DNC Laws Regarding Prerecorded Calls:
The Missouri senate has pre-filed state senate bills, SB 43 and SB 65, which would alter the state's Do Not Call laws regarding prerecorded messages. SB 43 would create a DNC list for persons who do not wish to receive prerecorded solicitations. SB 65 would restrict prerecorded calls, including political calls, by placing them under the scope of the state's Do Not Call list.

North Carolina Judge Orders Florida Telemarketer to Abide by National DNC List:
A Florida telemarketer has been ordered by a judge in North Carolina to stop calling residents of North Carolina who are registered on the National Do Not Call list. This was an enforcement of the National list as North Carolina currently does not maintain a separate state list.