What's happening
This bill creates a "no political call" list to block unsolicited political phone calls in New York and sets related rules.
Why it matters
Empowers individuals to opt out of political calls. By allowing New Yorkers to add their phone numbers to a state-maintained "no political call" list, the bill gives residents more direct control over their exposure to unsolicited political outreach, potentially reducing annoyance and intrusion during election seasons.
Creates new compliance requirements for political campaigns. Political candidates and organizations would need to regularly check and update their call lists against the state’s no-call registry, adding administrative work and possibly requiring new staff training or technical solutions.
Establishes legal accountability, but with safeguards for honest mistakes. The bill makes violating the no-call list an unlawful practice, but provides a safe harbor if campaigns can prove they had compliant policies, trained staff, and that any offending call was a genuine one-off error—balancing enforcement with fairness.
Signals increased regulation of political communications. By treating political calls similarly to telemarketing, the legislation reflects growing public frustration with campaign tactics and could prompt broader discussions about privacy, voter engagement, and the regulation of political speech.
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Who cares
Headline styles
Ban Unwanted Political Calls
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
No co-sponsors yet.
History
- Referred to elections
- Referred to elections
Full text
2 pagesUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
1452
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
January 15, 2019
Introduced by Sen. SANDERS -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Elections
AN ACT to amend the election law, in relation to prohibiting certain unsolicited political telephone calls
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. The election law is amended by adding a new section 1-108 to read as follows:
§ 1-108. Political no call list. 1. For purposes of this section the following terms shall have the following meanings:
(a) "state board" shall mean the New York state board of elections;
(b) "no political call list" or "no call list" shall mean a list of persons in this state who do not wish to receive unsolicited political calls;
(c) "political candidate" shall mean an individual seeking election to a public office of the state or of a county, municipality, or school district at an election in this state;
(d) "political organization" shall mean any "committee" as defined by subdivision six of section 1-104 of this chapter;
(e) "public solicitation" shall mean any request or appeal, either oral or written, or any endeavor to obtain, seek or plead for funds, property, financial assistance or other thing of value, including the promise or grant of any money or property of any kind or value; and
(f) "unsolicited political call" shall mean a telephone call made by or on behalf of a political candidate or political organization to a person in this state for the purpose of inducing a public solicitation or for the purpose of encouraging donations of volunteer time or other consideration to a political organization or political candidate.
2. The state board shall establish and maintain a no political call list. The state board shall provide notice to the general public of the establishment of a no political call list. Any person in this state who
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD06337-01-9
S. 1452 2
desires to be included on the no political call list shall notify the state board by calling a toll-free number provided by the state board, by transmitting a request via electronic mail, United States mail, or in any other manner as the state board may prescribe. A person included on the no political call list shall be deleted from the list within thirty days of receipt of a written request to the state board from the person to make the deletion. The state board shall update the list not less than monthly and shall make the no political call list available to political organizations and political candidates and other persons upon request.
3. A political organization or political candidate shall not make or cause to be made an unsolicited political call to any person in this state whose name and telephone number appear on the most recent monthly no political call list made available by the state board pursuant to subdivision two of this section.
4. A violation of any provision of this section shall be an unlawful practice except that a political organization or political candidate shall not be liable for a call made in violation of subdivision three of this section if the organization or candidate demonstrates that:
(a) the organization or candidate established and implemented written procedures and trained its employees to follow those procedures to comply with subdivision three of this section; and
(b) the call was an isolated call, made no more than one time in a twelve month period and was made inadvertently.
5. The state board shall promulgate rules and regulations necessary to implement this section.
§ 2. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall have become a law.
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act to amend the election law, in relation to prohibiting certain unsolicited political telephone calls
Purpose
To establish a political no call list where persons can opt out of receiving political phone calls.
Summary of provisions
Section 1 amends the election law by adding a new section 1-108 estab- lishing a political no call list. The state board shall provide notice to the public of the establishment of such list. Any person in the state who wishes to be added to the list shall call a toll free number, trans- mit a request via electronic mail or in any other manner as the state board of elections may prescribe. It shall be unlawful for a political organization or candidate to call someone on the list, except if proper training was conducted and the call was isolated and inadvertent.
Section 2 provides this act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall have become a law.
Existing law
This is a new law.
Justification
To provide persons the ability to opt out of political calls, including "robocalls" and pleads for donations, the same way they have the ability to opt out of other unwanted phone calls. This bill is modeled after the similar bill introduced in New Jersey.
Legislative history
01/22/16 Referred to Elections
Fiscal implications
Undetermined
Local fiscal implications
None
Effective date
This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day 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.