New York Governor Kathy Hochul has signed a new bill into law that is sure to have outbound callers revising their New York scripts.
Bill A8319, passed unanimously in both the state Senate and Assembly. Governor Hochul signed the bill quickly, saying, “For too long, New Yorkers have dealt with these nuisance calls, not knowing they can avoid these interactions by being added to a telemarketer’s do-not-call list. This new legislation will protect New Yorkers from receiving frustrating, unwanted calls by better providing information on do-not-call lists.”
The bill provides a new disclosure for telemarketers, requiring their agents to disclose to consumers that they have the option to be “automatically added to the seller’s entity-specific do-not-call list . . . .” Significantly, the bill also mandates the order in which the required disclosures must be made. First, the telemarketer must provide their name and the seller on whose behalf they are soliciting. Second, the telemarketer must inform the consumer that they may be added to the seller’s DNC list. After this, the telemarketer must tell the consumer, in any order, (1) whether the call is being recorded, (2) the purpose of the call, and (3) the identity of the goods or services being sold. This means agents will be informing called parties that they may be added to the internal DNC list before they even share the purpose of the call.
Telemarketers will need to review and update their scripts before the law goes into effect on March 7, 2023, as regulators will have this new requirement in their enforcement sights.
Alex Walker
Alex helps M&S clients understand and comply with federal and state laws related to advertising and marketing, teleservices, privacy, and other consumer protection matters.