BILL SEEKS TO LIMIT TELEMARKETERS EVENING CALLS

OLYMPIA - Telemarketers often call people at dinner or duringfamily time in the evening, and some lawmakers want to make themstop.

They're supporting a bill that would prohibit unsolicitedcommercial calls to residences after 5 p.m. - four hours earlierthanthe current cutoff.

Telemarketers also cannot call people at home before 8 a.m.,whichthe bill would not change.The measure, SB6340, would not apply to people calling forreligious, charitable, political or other noncommercial reasons.Other exemptions include callers selling newspapers, magazines,booksand music, cable TV services and food intended for immediateconsumption.Also, it would not apply to business callers who contact their owncustomers.Sen. Bill Finkbeiner said he sponsored the bill because it wouldhelp eliminate - despite the exemptions - intrusions into what arefor many people the only private hours of the day."It's usually people's family time," said Finkbeiner, R-Redmond,chairman of the Senate Energy and Utilities Committee. "It's theirdinner time, their private time."The committee heard testimony Thursday from more than a dozenpeople, mostly telemarketers and business leaders, who opposed thebill. They said it would eliminate telemarketers' most-successfulworking hours and drive the jobs out of state.Only two people supported the bill, including a Spokane Countycommissioner who heard about it while in Olympia on other business.But Finkbeiner said they did not fully represent the large numbersofpeople who dislike getting such unsolicited calls.Tom Hosea, senior vice-president of Key Bank, said the bill wouldcut into time when callers try to sell credit accounts and otherservices. If the bill's restrictions raised the company's expenses,"those costs will be passed on to our customers," he said.Another opponent, Lynde West, said the bill would threaten goodjobs for people who are disabled or who need to set their own hoursand work part-time. West, a service operations manager for ImmunexCorp. of Seattle, estimated there are 100,000 jobs in thetelemarketing industry in Washington state.She enjoyed being able to work from home as a telemarketer aftershe had a baby 18 years ago, West said. "Thank goodness restrictionslike this were not in place at that time," she said.AT A GLANCEHIGHLIGHTS: On the 25th anniversary of the Supreme Court'slandmark Roe vs. Wade decision, Gov. Gary Locke and abortion-rightsactivists said they're ready for yet another round of battles.Republicans want to ban a procedure they call "partial-birth"abortion and require parental notification before a minor can haveanabortion.The father of a 12-year-old Stanwood baby-sitter who was raped andbeaten to death demanded that lawmakers pass bills tougheningpenalties for murder, rape and crimes involving the use of deadlyweapons.COMING UP: The House planned to vote on a bill today authorizingcharter schools.OVERHEARD: "If it were government's role to create a nuisance-freesociety, politicians would be the first to go." - Sen. HaroldHochstatter, R-Moses Lake, speaking during a hearing on a billfurther limiting telemarketers' working hours.DAYS IN SESSION: Thursday was day 12 of the 60-day session.LEGISLATIVE HOT LINE: (800) 562-6000 between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m.ON THE INTERNET: www.wa.gov for the state of Washingtonwww.leg.wa.gov for the state-run Legislative Service Centerwww.columbian.com/newsroom/3callreps.html for a list of arealawmakers and their addresses