SENATE PASSES BILL AIMED AT STOPPING UNWANTED "POLITICAL ROBOCALLS"

          Harrisburg, April 30, 2008 -- The Senate today passed a proposal that would establish a political No-Call list to block campaign robocalls, Senator Michael A. O’Pake, a principal architect of the bill, announced.
          “Robocalls don’t nourish the public interest and involvement vital to our political process,” the Reading Democrat said. “They are abusive and intrusive. The disillusionment and anger they cause actually washes it away.”
          “Under our Constitution, one person’s right to speak does not prohibit others from closing their windows against listening,” O’Pake said. “This bill enables people to figuratively close their windows and protect their privacy by signing onto the political no-call list.”
          The  Senate Democratic Whip said the use of malicious and deceptive calls made by automatic dialing devices made clear that the current exemption for such calls from the existing Do-Not-Call process was a mistake.
          O’Pake worked closely with Senator Dominic Pillegi, the Republican leader and prime sponsor of the bill, to craft the bill.
          He noted that constituents complained that they could not get messages on their phones during recent campaign cycles because they were so jammed with robocalls, and that seniors were even intimidated from answering their phones because of the number and tone of some calls. 
          Under the proposal, which now goes to the House of Representatives for approval, a separate political no-call list would be maintained from the existing commercial list, but would generally follow the requirements of the current No-Call law.
          Those include general penalties of up to $1,000 for each call to a person enrolled on the political no-call list, and as much as $3,000 when persons over age 60 are called, as well as up to $5,000 for violations of court orders.    
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