Idaho Legislature: Bill would limit ‘robocalls’

BOISE – Many state lawmakers around the country want to slam down the receiver on pesky automated phone calls like the ones that interrupted suppers before last November’s election.

On Thursday, Idaho joined Missouri, Maryland, Florida, Connecticut, Nebraska, Tennessee and North Carolina, among other states, which since November have agitated for more oversight over automatic dialing-announcing devices, or “robocalls.”

A bill in the Idaho House would require political and charitable organizations at the start of every automated call to disclose who is behind the message, and how they can be reached. Sponsors say giving those on the other end of the line more information allows them to choose to listen further – or hang up.

“If you are going to make a phone call, just say who you are calling for,” Rep. John Rusche, D-Lewiston, told the Associated Press.

A handful of states, including Indiana, Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, Minnesota and Arkansas, already have laws restricting political robocalls.

Though political-calling companies fear for their freedom of speech, some election reformers say limits such as requiring organizations to identify themselves may elevate political discussion by discouraging automated mudslinging.

“Their freedom of speech doesn’t translate into me giving up the freedom to select who I listen to,” said Keith Allred, who teaches conflict resolution at Harvard University and heads up The Common Interest, an Idaho group of self-proclaimed political moderates.

The spotlight on robocalls comes after the National Republican Campaign Committee launched hundreds of thousands of such calls in at least 53 competitive U.S. House races last November. Democratic boosters also used the technique, and the Federal Communications Commission received complaints about deceptive and harassing calls.

Companies that have capitalized on technology to make a cottage industry out of cheap, automated calls for political or charitable groups say they’re concerned lawmakers are taking advantage of a populist issue following a heated election.

Jerry Dorchuck, chief executive officer of Florida-based Political Marketing International – whose www.robocalls.com Web site features a Democratic donkey and a Republican elephant bashing each other with clubs – said people already have a good defense against unwanted calls: Set down the receiver.

“It’s a good sound bite: ‘We need to stop these automated calls,’ ” Dorchuck told the Associated Press. “It’s called pandering, and I guess we’re going to hear a lot of it before Election Day. But if you don’t want the call, hang up.”

In Idaho, such calls were used in 2003 on the eve of the Boise mayoral election to criticize one of the Republican candidates.

Although Rusche originally sought to forbid most robocalls, some lawmakers in Republican-dominated Idaho thought that would have infringed on freedom of speech. Many foes of that original plan have been placated by his new bill, which has cleared a House panel 15-2.

It still lets people say what they want, but makes those saying it more transparent, they said.

“Anybody who is going to go out and make those calls should have the fortitude and the integrity to let people know who is making the calls,” said Idaho Rep. Mark Snodgrass, R-Meridian.