Telemarketing rules, name change get OK

AUGUSTA – Working at a brisk pace, the Maine Senate gave final approval to more than two dozen bills Monday before sending them on to Gov. John Baldacci for his signature.

The bills receiving routine approval without debate ranged from new telemarketing regulations to a town name change.

If signed by Baldacci, one of the bills, LD 331, will bar telemarketers from using devices in intrastate calls that block caller IDs on consumers’ phones. Several other states have enacted similar laws.

“We will be able to see who is really calling after this law takes effect. Those who have caller ID can now choose whether to answer or not,” said the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Neria Douglass, D-Auburn.

The Maine law would require compliance on Jan. 29, 2004, the same day a Federal Trade Commission rule makes it illegal for telemarketers to block interstate caller ID. Violators would face penalties up to $10,000. A separate bill, LD 37, authorizes the town of Westport to change its name to Westport Island, provided voters approve it.

The terrorist attacks of 2001 inspired a bill receiving the Senate’s final approval. LD 477 establishes the Maine Week of Heroes, to be observed during the week when Sept. 11 occurs.