[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 147 (Thursday, October 15, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2206]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  TELECOMMUNICATIONS COMPE- TITION AND CONSUMER PROTECTION ACT OF 1998

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                        HON. SHEILA JACKSON-LEE

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, October 12, 1998

  Ms. JACKSON-LEE Mr. Speaker, I rise to speak on behalf of H.R. 3888, 
the Anti-Slamming bill. This bill prohibits a despicable practice that 
has seen tremendous growth over the past few years in the 
telecommunications industry.
  Many of us have received phone calls from phone carriers advocating 
that we switch to their calling plan. For many consumers, it is an 
annoyance that they could live without. Even worse is the practice of 
``slamming'', which occurs when a solicitous phone company, without 
full and proper authorization, changes the consumer's phone 
subscription so that they can indicate as the consumer's phone 
provider.
  Under H.R. 3888, this type of practice is prohibited. The bill 
requires, before changing a consumer's telecommunications subscription, 
that a soliciting phone carrier affirm that the subscriber is 
authorized to change phone subscriptions, and that the subscriber fully 
acknowledges and intends to switch their telecommunications service 
from one carrier to another.
  Under this bill, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is 
required to enact verification procedures which are aimed at inhibiting 
this practice. Those procedures include the preclusion of negative 
option marketing, and a requirement that a telecommunications provider 
complete and keep a copy of a verification of change in oral, written, 
or electronic form in their records. Furthermore, to protect recent 
immigrants, the FCC is asked to require that any verification of change 
correspondence be made in the same language as the original solicitous 
contact was made.
  The bill also includes a provision authorizing the FCC to sanction 
corporations that violate any of their prescribed procedures. To 
buttress those sanctions, the bill allows the FCC to award monetary 
damages to the victims of this practice. Typically, those damages are 
set at the actual damages to the consumer or $500, whichever is 
greater, but the FCC can also at certain instances, triple the damages. 
This provisions removes the incentive to ``slam'' because it undercuts 
the reason why phone companies do it, because it is profitable.
  I support this bill because it protects consumers, not phone 
companies. IT makes sure that phone subscribers will also get the 
opportunity to make a smart, and informed decision when choosing how 
they want to communicate to the rest of the world, without being 
subjected to the trickery of under-handed telemarketers.
  I encourage you all to vote for this bill, and strike a blow against 
opportunistic phone companies out to make a quick dollar at the expense 
of our hard-working consumers.

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