We've just randomly been made aware that we are not allowed to contact any resident in the state of New York (NYS) as they have declared a State of Emergency. Apparently there was a law passed in December 2019 that prohibits any telemarketers from making unsolicited calls to residents of NYS when a State of Emergency has been declared.
We rely greatly on our outbound telemarketing team and were surprised by this news. My question is - are there other US states where this is an issue? In googling, I've been able to find that Louisiana also has this rule.
Hi there,
Here is a resource to assist with understanding our role in the current state of affairs.
www.ftc.gov/.../complying-telemarketing-sales-rule
https://www.dnc.com/
www.governor.ny.gov/.../governor-cuomo-signs-legislation-prohibiting-telemarketers-knowingly-making-unsolicited-sales
There are 12 states that are currently in a state of emergency:
NY, CA, WA, FL, OR, UT, MD, KY, NJ, NC, CO, MA
We are non-for-profits and I want to confirm if this applies to calling existing customers. I am reaching out to legal and will be happy to share.
Susan
Hi Susan - This would be great if you could provide more info. The last link that you posted is one that I read today regarding the prohibition during a state of emergency.
We're concerned about unknowingly contacting a patron that we aren't allowed to contact. If NY has this prohibition in place during a state of emergency - are there other states with the same law in place? We do business with patrons in most of those states you've listed so need to know what the rules are.
Thank you so much for helping out!