Text: H08205 Text: H08207 Text: H08200 - H08299 Text: H Index Bills and Amendments: General Index Bill History: General Index
PAG LIN
1 1 Amend House File 2527 as follows:
1 2 #1. By striking everything after the enacting
1 3 clause and inserting the following:
1 4 "Section 1. NEW SECTION. 56.13A POLITICAL
1 5 TELEMARKETING.
1 6 1. The general assembly finds that political
1 7 telephone communication is increasingly used in
1 8 political campaigns in this state in a deceitful
1 9 manner, including but not limited to the use of push
1 10 polling, a form of unregulated political telemarketing
1 11 that jeopardizes the integrity of the electoral
1 12 process and perpetuates a fraud on the citizenry by
1 13 masking persuasive telemarketing techniques in a
1 14 shroud of scientific sincerity. The purpose of a
1 15 legitimate poll or survey is to obtain opinions; the
1 16 goal of political telemarketing, especially push
1 17 polling, is to push voters away from one candidate to
1 18 another through innuendo, false, or misleading
1 19 information about the candidate, the candidate's
1 20 family, or the candidate's position on issues. As
1 21 such, the general assembly believes push polling is an
1 22 appropriate subject for state regulation in the same
1 23 manner as written and broadcast political
1 24 advertisements are an appropriate subject for state
1 25 regulation. The general assembly does not intend to
1 26 adversely impact legitimate scientific polling and
1 27 surveys or infringe on the rights of candidates and
1 28 others to engage in robust, unfettered political
1 29 speech.
1 30 2. As used in this section:
1 31 a. "Basic preference question" means a question
1 32 that provides a respondent with a nondescriptive list
1 33 of candidates' names and asks which candidate the
1 34 respondent supports in a particular election.
1 35 b. "Persuasion poll" means any paid telephone
1 36 survey, or series of telephone surveys that are
1 37 similar in nature, designed to include or actually
1 38 aggregating more than one thousand calls, that
1 39 reference a candidate or group of candidates other
1 40 than in a basic preference question, and to which any
1 41 one or more of the following applies:
1 42 (1) A list or directory is used, exclusively or in
1 43 part, to select respondents belonging to a particular
1 44 subset or combination of subsets of the population,
1 45 based on demographic or political characteristics such
1 46 as race, sex, age, ethnicity, party affiliation, or
1 47 like characteristics.
1 48 (2) The poll takes less than three minutes to
1 49 complete, excluding any sponsorship identification.
1 50 (3) The poll fails to make demographic inquiries
2 1 on factors such as age, household income, or status as
2 2 a likely voter, sufficient to allow for the tabulation
2 3 of results based on relevant subsets of the population
2 4 consistent with standard industry practice.
2 5 (4) The pollster or polling organization does not
2 6 collect or tabulate survey results.
2 7 (5) The poll is commenced within ten days of the
2 8 election to which it pertains.
2 9 "Persuasion poll" does not include any poll
2 10 supporting a particular candidate that fails to
2 11 reference another candidate or candidates, other than
2 12 in a basic preference question.
2 13 c. "Political telephone solicitation" means any
2 14 telephone call to a residence, other than a poll or
2 15 survey, supporting or opposing any candidate, elected
2 16 official, political party, or political organization.
2 17 3. A person shall not authorize, commission,
2 18 conduct, or administer a persuasion poll or political
2 19 telephone solicitation by telephone or telephonic
2 20 device unless, during each call, the caller complies
2 21 with all of the following:
2 22 (1) The caller identifies all persons sponsoring
2 23 or authorizing the call by stating "This is a paid
2 24 political advertisement by (name of persons).", and
2 25 identifies the person making the call, if different
2 26 from the person sponsoring or authorizing the call, by
2 27 stating "This call is conducted by (name of
2 28 persons).".
2 29 (2) If any person identified as either sponsoring
2 30 or authorizing the call is not required to file any
2 31 documents with the board pursuant to this chapter,
2 32 then a valid, current, publicly listed telephone
2 33 number and address for the person or the person's
2 34 organization shall also be disclosed.
2 35 (3) If any person identified as either sponsoring
2 36 or authorizing the call is affiliated with a
2 37 candidate, the disclosure shall include the
2 38 candidate's name and the office sought by the
2 39 candidate.
2 40 (4) If the call is an independent expenditure, the
2 41 disclosure shall also state that no candidate has
2 42 approved the call.
2 43 4. A person shall not state or imply false or
2 44 fictitious names or telephone numbers when providing
2 45 the disclosures under this section.
2 46 5. All oral disclosures required by this section
2 47 shall be made in a clear and intelligible manner, and
2 48 shall be repeated in like fashion at the request of
2 49 the call recipient. Disclosures made by any
2 50 telephonic device must offer respondents a procedure
3 1 to have the disclosures repeated.
3 2 6. This section does not apply to a persuasion
3 3 poll or political telephone solicitation if the
3 4 individuals participating in the call know each other
3 5 prior to the call.
3 6 7. a. A person who conducts a paid persuasion
3 7 poll or political telephone solicitation shall, prior
3 8 to conducting such poll or solicitation, have and
3 9 continuously maintain for at least one hundred eighty
3 10 days following the cessation of business activities in
3 11 the state, a registered agent for the purpose of
3 12 service of process, notice, or demand required or
3 13 permitted by law, and shall file with the board notice
3 14 of such registered agent, including the name, address,
3 15 and telephone number of the registered agent. The
3 16 registered agent must be an individual resident of
3 17 this state, a domestic corporation, or a foreign
3 18 corporation authorized to do business in this state.
3 19 b. Any changes in information provided to the
3 20 board under paragraph "a" shall be reported to the
3 21 board immediately.
3 22 c. For purposes of this section, conducting
3 23 business in this state includes placing calls from a
3 24 location in this state or placing calls from outside
3 25 this state to individuals located within this state.
3 26 d. This subsection does not apply to a person
3 27 already lawfully registered to conduct business in
3 28 this state.
3 29 8. The board shall adopt rules, and create forms
3 30 as necessary to implement this section.
3 31 9. A person who violates this section commits a
3 32 serious misdemeanor.
3 33 Sec. 2. EFFECTIVE DATE. This Act, being deemed of
3 34 immediate importance, takes effect upon enactment."
3 35 #2. Title page, line 2, by striking the words
3 36 "applying a penalty" and inserting the following:
3 37 "providing a penalty and an effective date".
3 38
3 39
3 40
3 41 JOCHUM of Dubuque
3 42 HF 2527.801 78
3 43 jj/cf
Text: H08205 Text: H08207 Text: H08200 - H08299 Text: H Index Bills and Amendments: General Index Bill History: General Index
© 2000 Cornell College and League of Women Voters of Iowa
Comments about this site or page?
webmaster@legis.iowa.gov.
Please remember that the person listed above does not vote on bills. Direct all comments concerning legislation to State Legislators.
Last update: Wed Mar 8 03:35:50 CST 2000
URL: /DOCS/GA/78GA/Legislation/H/08200/H08206/000307.html
jhf