KANSAS CITY, MO (KCTV) -
Tired of getting sales calls and texts to cell phones? Now there is something to do about it.
Since many families are shifting from landline phones to having only cell phones in the home, a new law was signed to keep up with the times.
Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon was in Kansas City on Thursday to sign legislation allowing people to put their cell phone number on the state's No Call list.
House Bill 1549 expands Missouri's successful No Call Law to prohibit telemarketing calls and text messages made to cell phones.
"To stop the unwanted intrusion of telemarketing calls and reduce telemarketing fraud that came with some of those calls," Nixon said.
It's been 12 years since Missouri began its No Call registry for unwanted telemarketing calls on landline phones and, with the signing of this bill, now the state will add cell phones to that law.
Nixon was joined at the signing at the Don Bosco Senior Center by Attorney General Chris Koster, whose office implements the No Call program and takes enforcement action against violators, and by consumer and senior advocates.
"Wherever I go in this state, I'm asked one question more than any other…‘When can I put my cell phone on the No Call list?' The answer is today," Koster said. "Unwanted calls and text messages to cell phones are particularly irksome because cell phone users have to pay for incoming calls and texts."
Koster said his office received 22,000 complaints of telemarketers who violated the state law.
"One of the biggest banks in the country that violated this law in the state of Missouri ended up paying hundreds of thousands of dollars in penalties about a year and a half ago," Nixon said.
They also received numerous reports of phony sweepstakes, travel scams and fraud. Most targets were the elderly. But one question stumped the governor when he was asked if the law would stop unwanted campaign calls from his office as well.
"I cannot commit to saying in this upcoming political season that we won't use methods in an effort to communicate with people that are legal," Nixon said.
The expanded law covers only cell phones primarily used for personal and family calls. Cell phones that are used primarily for business are not covered.
The No Call registry is updated quarterly. Those who add their mobile numbers to the list by July 31 will be covered starting Oct. 1. Anyone signing up after July 31 but before Nov. 1 will be covered Jan. 1.
If anyone wants to sign up, they can visit the attorney general's website or sign up by phone at 1-866-buzzoff (1-866-289-9633). Click here to add a phone number to the 1.8 million phones already on Missouri's No Call list.
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