Missouri AG urges No Call list amendment

Nixon said at a news conference in Springfield that his office’s No Call unit received more than 600 complaints about automated calls in the weeks leading up to the November election.

A Minnesota law prohibiting automated political calls could serve as a model for Missouri legislators when they convene next month for their regular session, Nixon said, noting that the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld the law.

A bill regulating automated calls should include provisions to exempt calls telling customers when an order has arrived or reminding patients of a previously scheduled medical or dental appointment, Nixon said in a news release.

Nixon also supports legislation that would add cell phone and fax numbers to the No Call list, according to the release. Two such bills received Senate support in 2004 and 2006, but died in the House. State Rep.-elect Charlie Norr, D-Springfield, is co-sponsoring a similar bill in the upcoming legislative session.

Nearly 2.4 million residential phone numbers are now on Missouri’s No Call list, which took effect in July 2001. Nixon’s office has collected more than $1.7 million from telemarketers who have illegally called numbers on the list.

State Rep. Sara Lampe and Greene County Presiding Commissioner Dave Coonrod, both Democrats, joined Nixon at Monday’s news conference.