Telemarketers are no longer allowed to interrupt dinnertime for Wisconsin residents, but they can still reach them on their cell phones. But not for long, if a Wisconsin state senator achieves his goal.

Sen. Jon Erpenbach (D-Middleton) announced last week that he will push to add cell phones to Wisconsin's No Call list, where residents register so telemarketers will not reach them, and increase the fines for companies that violate the law.

The addition is being drafted now, said Terry Tuschen, spokesman for Erpenbach.

"We'll be circulating it for cosponsors in the next week or so," Tuschen said.

Erpenbach also wants to put the amount that companies who break the law can be fined back to what it originally was in one draft of the law that went to the governor, which was up to $10,000, Tuschen said.

The amount was vetoed by then-Gov. Scott McCallum and ended up at $100, "which is nothing to these companies," Tuschen said.

Trina Pauli, lead worker for the No Call program, said the state has 3 million to 4 million cell phones. There are 1.4 million numbers on the current list, according to Pauli.

"We have a large number of consumers on the do-not-call list," Pauli said.

Tuschen said 80 percent of Wisconsin residents are on the list.

Erpenbach "thinks it's been very successful," Tuschen said.

Erpenbach is pushing to add cell phones to the state list at a time when the original list is going under review.

The Federal Communications Commission is going to hold hearings on whether parts of the law conflict with the federal Do Not Call Registry.

The public comment period to the FCC about the issue ended Wednesday.

Some states' laws are "conflicting with federal uniformity rules and we're trying to keep those standard," said Fritz Elmendorf, vice president of media relations for the Consumer Bankers Association.

The Consumer Bankers Association submitted a petition to the FCC in December requesting the federal law be adhered to in Wisconsin, New Jersey and Indiana, according to Elmendorf.

The federal law allows companies to call back former customers for 18 months, while the Wisconsin law allows only one call.

Also, through the federal law banks and their subsidiaries can call people, and in Wisconsin only the banks can call, according to Tuschen.

The federal law is intended as a national standard, and there is a legitimate commercial purpose for companies to contact current customers and, for a period of time, old customers, Elmendorf said.

"We think that those are good federal protection rules that should be applied uniformly," Elmendorf said.

Erpenbach thinks the banks do not have the consumers' best interests at heart, according to Tuschen.

"He thinks they're just selling out to big business," Tuschen said.

This is under the enforcement authority of the FCC and the Federal Trade Commission and will go under further review, Elmendorf said.

"The FCC then may issue a pronouncement after giving themselves some time to listen to all the comments," Elmendorf said.

Elmendorf said the current debate does not related to the cell phone proposal.

Telemarketing was the largest complaint to the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade & Consumer Protection in both 2003 and 2004, according to Pauli.

This article appeared in The Marquette Tribune on Feb. 3 2005.