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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
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State
Rep. Michael McGeehan |
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McGeehan, others gaining ‘mo’ for no robo
Pennsylvania Pledge unveiled, signed
HARRISBURG, Jan. 28 – State Sen. Michael O’Pake, D-Berks, along with state Reps. Mike McGeehan, D-Phila., and Eugene DePasquale, D-York, held a news conference today to announce that they will spearhead an effort to free households in Pennsylvania from receiving unwanted automated telephone calls from political candidates.
According to the Pew Research Center, during 2006, 64 percent (90 million) of American voters received at least one robo-call. While 150 million telephone numbers are on the federal Do Not Call List, 85 percent of consumers are unaware that political calls are exempt from the restrictions.
The three lawmakers have introduced legislation that would expand the state’s “Do Not Call” law to include automated political messages.
Measures introduced by O’Pake (S.B. 70) and McGeehan (H.B. 295) would place political robo-calls under the state’s Do Not Call law. Under Do Not Call, people can add their telephone numbers to a list that commercial telemarketers are prohibited from calling.
In addition, the O’Pake bill and a bill proposed by DePasquale (H.B. 293) would require political robo-calls to begin with an identification of the organization or candidate funding the call, something that paid television and radio commercials are already required to do.
"It is intolerable to have unwelcome, uninvited messages constantly invading the privacy of Pennsylvanians," O’Pake said. "These tactics are not informative. They are abusive. They need to be treated as abusive."
"With the upcoming election season and the amount of mudslinging that has already begun elsewhere in the presidential races, Pennsylvania voters are bound to be inundated with political robo-calls,” DePasquale said. "Since some of these calls may contain misleading information, I think people ought to know who is paying for them.”
McGeehan said the legislation is garnering bipartisan support.
“This is attributable to the growing frustration over the increasing amount of political calls made during the election season,” McGeehan said. “During November alone, as the January Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary approached, at least 81 percent of Iowa voters and 68 percent of those in New Hampshire received some kind of automated political phone call – and that was with a month yet to go.”
McGeehan also announced at the news conference that state Rep. Babette Josephs, D-Phila., chairwoman of the House State Government Committee, has pledged to consider his bill during a committee meeting on Wednesday, Jan. 30.
In the meantime – the Pennsylvania Pledge
Also at today’s news conference, the three lawmakers unveiled what they call the "Pennsylvania Pledge" for individual legislators and other candidates to sign promising to refrain from the use of robo-calls. O’Pake, McGeehan and DePasquale became the first to sign the pledge and were followed by a half-dozen other legislators.
“I think we’re headed in the right direction,” McGeehan added. “It’s not a Republican or Democratic issue, it’s a consumer-protection issue, and I’m proud of my colleagues who signed on to the pledge today.
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