State no call-list survives court fight fairly intact

Thursday, July 1, 2004 10:59 AM CDT

The sounds of silence will continue to ring, or rather not ring, throughout Wisconsin, thanks to a judge's ruling Tuesday that upheld the basic underpinnings of the state's no-call list.

The wildly popular notion that people should be free from pesky sales calls in their own homes if they so desire resulted in more than 1.5 million state residents registering with the state Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection to be on the list after it was approved by the Legislature three years ago.

That represents almost two-thirds of the residential phone users in the state.

Tuesday's ruling by Dane County Circuit Judge Maryann Sumi wasn't a sweep for the no-call proponents, though. The judge held that individuals cannot privately sue violators for damages or lawyer's fees when they violate no-call restrictions.

She also ruled that the state could not impose a fine of up to $10,000 for each violation - knocking it down to $100.

Taken together those parts of the ruling might make it more less discouraging for telemarketers to risk running afoul of the law in hopes of drumming up new business.

But that can be corrected. The $10,000 maximum fine was adopted as a rule by the state agency and was the figure initially put in the legislation. But then Gov. Scott McCallum used his line-item veto to scratch a couple of zeros from the fine and made it $100. The Legislature didn't override that veto.

But Gov. Jim Doyle is a fan of the no-call list and his office said this week that Doyle will work with legislative leaders this fall to work up a new fine schedule that has some "teeth" in it.

We would encourage them to do so. Outside of tax rebates, we haven't seen any legislation in the state in recent years that has generated anywhere near as much of a popular response.

That doesn't mean you don't have to do some work yourself to keep telephonic pests at bay. The no-call list has a life of only two years when you sign up - and that means those who registered during the initial sign-up for Jan. 1, 2003 are approaching their ended of their protected status.

To re-register for another two years, you can go to the state Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection Web site at nocall.wisconsin.gov or call them 24 hours a day at 1-866-966-2255.

They won't call you.

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