Fla. House Passes Telemarketing Bill; Senate Tees Up Privacy Vote

An update to Florida’s telemarketing law passed the state House in a 99-14 vote Wednesday. HB-761 goes next to the Senate. It would narrow the definition of autodialer to an automated system used for selection “and” dialing of phone numbers; existing law says “or.” It would also add that an “act demonstrating consent,” which might include a simple yes, counts as a signature for giving express written consent. The Senate version (SB-1308) cleared the Rules Committee in a 17-2 vote Monday. The full Senate is scheduled to vote Friday on a comprehensive privacy bill (SB-262) that also passed Rules Monday (see 2304240045). The Senate also plans to vote Friday on SB-1418, which aims to support the state’s transition to next-generation 911. The Senate Fiscal Policy Committee voted 19-0 for the 911 bill Tuesday. The telemarketing bill “would drastically alter the [Florida Telephone Solicitation Act] and undercut current FTSA cases,” attorney Eric Troutman blogged Wednesday. If it passes the Senate and gets a signature from Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), “the FTSA is essentially dead moving forward and defendants facing current FTSA claims have a very good argument that the class portions of the case must be stricken.”