BILL NUMBER: AB 2944 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 26, 2002
AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 7, 2002
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 18, 2002
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 22, 2002
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Kehoe
(Principal coauthor: Assembly Member Shelley)
(Principal coauthor: Senator Bowen)
(Coauthors: Assembly Members John Campbell, Koretz, Lowenthal,
and Nation)
(Coauthors: Senators Dunn, Morrow, and O'Connell)
FEBRUARY 25, 2002
An act to amend Section 17538.4 of the Business and Professions
Code, relating to advertising , and declaring the urgency
thereof, to take effect immediately .
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 2944, as amended, Kehoe. Advertising: facsimile machines.
Existing state law prohibits a person conducting business in this
state from faxing or electronically mailing unsolicited advertising
material, unless certain conditions are met.
This bill would delete the existing state law prohibition relative
to the faxing of unsolicited advertising material.
This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as
an urgency statute.
Vote: majority 2/3 . Appropriation:
no. Fiscal committee: no. State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 17538.4 of the Business and Professions Code is
amended to read:
17538.4. (a) No person or entity conducting business in this
state shall electronically mail (e-mail) or cause to be e-mailed
documents containing unsolicited advertising material for the lease,
sale, rental, gift offer, or other disposition of any realty, goods,
services, or extension of credit unless that person or entity
establishes a toll-free telephone number or valid sender operated
return e-mail address that the recipient of the unsolicited documents
may call or e-mail to notify the sender not to e-mail any further
unsolicited documents.
(b) All unsolicited e-mailed documents subject to this section
shall include a statement informing the recipient of the toll-free
telephone number that the recipient may call, or a valid return
address to which the recipient may write or e-mail, as the case may
be, notifying the sender not to e-mail the recipient any further
unsolicited documents to the e-mail address, or addresses, specified
by the recipient.
The statement shall be the first text in the body of the message
and shall be of the same size as the majority of the text of the
message.
(c) Upon notification by a recipient of his or her request not to
receive any further unsolicited e-mailed documents, no person or
entity conducting business in this state shall e-mail or cause to be
e-mailed any unsolicited documents to that recipient.
(d) This section shall apply when the unsolicited e-mailed
documents are delivered to a California resident via an electronic
mail service provider's service or equipment located in this state.
For these purposes "electronic mail service provider" means any
business or organization qualified to do business in this state that
provides individuals, corporations, or other entities the ability to
send or receive electronic mail through equipment located in this
state and that is an intermediary in sending or receiving electronic
mail.
(e) As used in this section, "unsolicited e-mailed documents"
means any e-mailed document or documents consisting of advertising
material for the lease, sale, rental, gift offer, or other
disposition of any realty, goods, services, or extension of credit
that meet both of the following requirements:
(1) The documents are addressed to a recipient with whom the
initiator does not have an existing business or personal
relationship.
(2) The documents are not sent at the request of, or with the
express consent of, the recipient.
(f) As used in this section, "e-mail" or "cause to be e-mailed"
does not include or refer to the transmission of any documents by a
telecommunications utility or Internet service provider to the extent
that the telecommunications utility or Internet service provider
merely carries that transmission over its network.
(g) In the case of e-mail that consists of unsolicited advertising
material for the lease, sale, rental, gift offer, or other
disposition of any realty, goods, services, or extension of credit,
the subject line of each and every message shall include "ADV:" as
the first four characters. If these messages contain information
that consists of unsolicited advertising material for the lease,
sale, rental, gift offer, or other disposition of any realty, goods,
services, or extension of credit that may only be viewed, purchased,
rented, leased, or held in possession by an individual 18 years of
age and older, the subject line of each and every message shall
include "ADV:ADLT" as the first eight characters.
(h) An employer who is the registered owner of more than one
e-mail address may notify the person or entity conducting business in
this state e-mailing or causing to be e-mailed documents consisting
of unsolicited advertising material for the lease, sale, rental, gift
offer, or other disposition of any realty, goods, services, or
extension of credit of the desire to cease e-mailing on behalf of all
of the employees who may use employer-provided and
employer-controlled e-mail addresses.
(i) This section, or any part of this section, shall become
inoperative on and after the date that federal law is enacted that
prohibits or otherwise regulates the transmission of unsolicited
advertising by electronic mail (e-mail).
SEC. 2. This act is an urgency statute necessary for the immediate
preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within the
meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go into immediate
effect. The facts constituting the necessity are:
In order for the provisions of this act to take effect as soon as
possible, it is necessary that this act take effect immediately.