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Sponsors
1 Co-sponsor
History
- Referred to corporations, authorities and commissions
- Committed to rules
- Amended on third reading 3374a
- Advanced to third reading
- 2nd report cal.
- 1st report cal.103
- Referred to corporations, authorities and commissions
Companion bill
The same bill in the other chamber. A bill becomes law when one version passes both houses and the governor signs it, so either number can carry it.
Prohibits the transmission of unsolicited advertising text messages to cellular telephones or pagers
In Assembly Committee · Consumer Affairs And Protection · Sponsor William Colton
Full text
The text isn't available here yet. Check nysenate.gov.
Sponsor's memo
BILL NUMBER:S3374A
Title of bill
An act to amend the business corporation law and the general business law, in relation to prohibiting the transmission of certain text messages to cellular telephones or pagers
Purpose
This bill would, subject to certain exceptions, generally prohibit a person or entity conducting business in this state from transmitting or causing to be transmitted a text message consisting of unsolicited advertising material to a cellular telephone or pager equipped with short message capability or any similar capability allowing the transmission of text messages.
Summary of provisions
Amends the business corporation law and the general business law to prohibit a person or business in New York from sending an unsolicited text message advertisement.
Defines a text message advertisement.
Describes the exceptions to the law; shall not apply if the service subscriber has affirmatively chosen, or opted-in, to receive messages from either the service provider, a business with an existing relationship, or an affiliate of that business, Consent is required for each entity sending messages.
Allows for the state to sue as well as an individual.
Provides for an effective date of 90 days after it shall have become a law.
Justification
This bill seeks to end the practice of unsolicited text messaging before it escalates to a level that causes an impossible burden for wireless telephone and pager subscribers and the wireless communication industry. Unsolicited text messaging is similar to unsolicited telephone calls and unsolicited email. In addition, when a company sends out unsolicited text messages, it often ends up costing subscribers because most cellular phone and pager service providers charge for every text message in excess of a specified monthly limit. This bill is designed to remedy the situation by assuring wireless communication users that they will not have to pay for any unsolicited text messages. Proponents point out that unsolicited text messages can cause safety hazards. For example, unsolicited text messages can create a hazard if sent to an individual while driving an automobile because, unlike ordinary phone calls, it is not possible to receive text messages in a hands-free mode of operation.
Additionally, cellular phones and pagers have become vital communication links between emergency personnel in crisis situations. Sending unsolicited text messages to emergency personnel might compromise a life threatening emergency situation if the text message ties up the communication line. This also is burdensome because people are required to examine their cellular phone or pager for every received message. Unsolicited text messaging causes a problem not just for the customers, but for the service providers as well. As more people are hit with text messaging span, more customers are turned off to the service, hurting business for the carriers. Recent articles
depicted the newest advertising frontier as being attached to your hip or in your purse. Statistics show that unsolicited text messaging can potentially be sent to an estimated 100 million cell phones in the United States. The Wall Street Journal projects that 110 million cell phones in the United States will possess text messaging capabilities this year. This statistic shows a dramatic increase from the 37 million text messaging capable phones that existed in 1999.
Legislative history
2012 S.7157 - Corporations Committee/A.2566 Consumer Affairs Committee
Fiscal implications
None known.
Effective date
90 days after it shall have become a law.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.