BILL NUMBER: AB 2944 CHAPTERED 09/19/02 CHAPTER 700 FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE SEPTEMBER 19, 2002 APPROVED BY GOVERNOR SEPTEMBER 19, 2002 PASSED THE ASSEMBLY AUGUST 31, 2002 PASSED THE SENATE AUGUST 29, 2002 AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 28, 2002 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. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 2944, 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. 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).