Bill Text: IL HB3555 | 2019-2020 | 101st General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Creates the Junk Mail Opt-Out List Act. Makes legislative declarations. Defines terms including bulk mailer, junk mail, and postal patron. Provides that by July 1, 2020, the Attorney General shall establish and provide for the operation of the Illinois Junk Mail Opt-Out List, containing the addresses of postal patrons who have given notice that they do not wish to receive junk mail. Provides that no person shall send junk mail to a postal patron who has registered for the Opt-Out List. Provides that any person who wishes to send junk mail shall consult the Opt-Out List each calendar quarter. Provides that mail sent by a small business, a political entity, or a charitable entity exempt from federal income tax under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, or by a business to its customers, is not junk mail. Provides that the civil penalties for violations are set on a sliding scale. Provides that the State does not have any liability to a person for any failures in enforcement of the Act. Provides that the Attorney General shall provide by rule for fees on a sliding scale for persons and entities that want to send junk mail, but who will honor the List. Provides for: referral and investigation of complaints; inclusion in the Opt-Out List; violations; remedies; exemptions; and other matters. Creates the Junk Mail Opt-Out List Fund as a special fund, provides that fees and civil penalties shall be deposited into the Fund and that moneys in the Fund shall be used for implementation, administration, and enforcement of the new Act, and amends the State Finance Act to list the new Fund as a special fund. Effective immediately.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2019-04-12 - Rule 19(a) / Re-referred to Rules Committee [HB3555 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2019-HB3555-Introduced.html

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101ST GENERAL ASSEMBLY State of Illinois 2019 and 2020 HB3555 Introduced , by Rep. Sue Scherer SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
New Act
30 ILCS 105/5.891 new
Creates the Junk Mail Opt-Out List Act. Makes legislative declarations. Defines terms including bulk mailer, junk mail, and postal patron. Provides that by July 1, 2020, the Attorney General shall establish and provide for the operation of the Illinois Junk Mail Opt-Out List, containing the addresses of postal patrons who have given notice that they do not wish to receive junk mail. Provides that no person shall send junk mail to a postal patron who has registered for the Opt-Out List. Provides that any person who wishes to send junk mail shall consult the Opt-Out List each calendar quarter. Provides that mail sent by a small business, a political entity, or a charitable entity exempt from federal income tax under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, or by a business to its customers, is not junk mail. Provides that the civil penalties for violations are set on a sliding scale. Provides that the State does not have any liability to a person for any failures in enforcement of the Act. Provides that the Attorney General shall provide by rule for fees on a sliding scale for persons and entities that want to send junk mail, but who will honor the List. Provides for: referral and investigation of complaints; inclusion in the Opt-Out List; violations; remedies; exemptions; and other matters. Creates the Junk Mail Opt-Out List Fund as a special fund, provides that fees and civil penalties shall be deposited into the Fund and that moneys in the Fund shall be used for implementation, administration, and enforcement of the new Act, and amends the State Finance Act to list the new Fund as a special fund. Effective immediately.
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A BILL FOR
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AN ACT concerning civil law.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the Junk
Mail Opt-Out List Act.
Section 5. Legislative declaration. The General Assembly
hereby finds, determines, and declares that:
(1) Unsolicited bulk mail ("junk mail") now represents a
major portion of the budget and workload of the United States
Postal Service, with over 90 billion pieces delivered per year,
and, based on data supplied by the United States Environmental
Protection Agency and the National Solid Waste Management
Association requiring disposal at a cost of millions of
dollars, and the destruction of 100 million trees nationwide
for paper pulp.
(2) The proliferation of junk mail has included a sharp
rise in the number of deceptively packaged commercial
solicitations that have been used to perpetrate fraud against
the elderly and the unsophisticated.
(3) Many citizens of this State view junk mail as an
imposition on their time, an invasion of their privacy, and an
environmental sacrilege.
(4) Individual rights and commercial freedom of speech

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should be balanced in a way that accommodates both individual
choice and legitimate marketing practices.
(5) Although small businesses and charitable and political
organizations are exempt from this Act in order not to hamper
the free flow of ideas in our democracy, the General Assembly
encourages those organizations to voluntarily comply with this
Act when possible.
(6) It is in the public interest to establish a mechanism
under which the residents of this State can decide whether to
receive junk mail.
Section 10. Definitions. As used in this Act:
"Bulk mailer" means a person that sends, on behalf of
itself or another person, substantially similar pieces of mail
to 25 or more postal patrons.
"Conforming consolidated junk mail opt-out list" means any
database that includes addresses of postal patrons that do not
wish to receive junk mail, if such database has been updated
within the immediately preceding 30 days to include all of the
addresses on the Illinois Junk Mail Opt-Out List.
"Conforming list broker" means any person that provides
lists for the purpose of bulk mailings, if every address that
is included on the Illinois Junk Mail Opt-Out List has been
removed from those lists at least every 30 days.
"Designated agent" means the party with which the Illinois
Attorney General contracts under this Act.

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"Established business relationship" means a relationship
that:
(i) was formed, prior to the sending of junk mail,
through a voluntary, two-way communication between a
seller or bulk mailer and a postal patron, with or without
consideration, on the basis of an application, purchase,
ongoing contractual agreement, or commercial transaction
between the parties regarding products or services offered
by the seller or bulk mailer;
(ii) has not been previously terminated by either
party; and
(iii) currently exists or has existed within the
immediately preceding 180 days.
"Established business relationship", with respect to a
financial institution, as defined in Section 527 of the federal
Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (12 U.S.C. 1811), or an affiliate
thereof, includes any situation in which a financial
institution or affiliate makes bulk mailings related to other
financial services offered, if the financial institution or
affiliate is subject to the requirements regarding privacy of
Title V of the federal Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (12 U.S.C. 1811)
and the financial institution or affiliate regularly conducts
business in Illinois.
"Junk mail" means any printed matter sent by mail for the
purpose of encouraging the purchase or rental of, or investment
in, property, goods, or services; however "junk mail" does not

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include communications:
(i) to any postal patron with that postal patron's
prior express invitation or permission;
(ii) by or on behalf of any person with whom a postal
patron has an established business relationship;
(iii) by or on behalf of a small business;
(iv) by or on behalf of an entity exempt from federal
income tax under Section 501(c)(3) of the federal Internal
Revenue Code of 1986 while such entity is engaged in
fundraising to support the charitable purpose for which the
entity was established;
(v) by or on behalf of a political party, political
committee, campaign committee, candidate committee, or
entity organized under Section 527 of the federal Internal
Revenue Code of 1986 while such entity is engaged in
political speech or fundraising for political purposes; or
(vi) by a natural person responding to a referral, or
working from his or her primary residence, or a person
licensed or registered in Illinois to carry on a trade,
occupation, or profession who is setting or attempting to
set an appointment for actions relating to that licensed
trade, occupation, or profession within Illinois or
counties contiguous to Illinois.
(i) "Postal patron" means any person having a mailing
address in Illinois, as shown by records of the United States
Postal Service.

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(j) "Small business" means a business entity with 3 or
fewer employees.
Section 15. Unlawful to send junk mail to postal patrons on
the Illinois Junk Mail Opt-Out List; requirements for junk mail
generally.
(a) No person shall send or cause to be sent any junk mail
to the address of any postal patron who has added that address
to the Illinois Junk Mail Opt-Out List in accordance with rules
promulgated under this Act.
(b) A person that sends junk mail to the address of any
postal patron shall register in accordance with Section 20.
(c) On or after July 1, 2020, or upon the initial
availability and accessibility of the Illinois Junk Mail
Opt-Out List, whichever is earlier, a person that desires to
send junk mail shall update the person's copy of the Illinois
Junk Mail Opt-Out List, conforming consolidated junk mail
opt-out list, or a list obtained from a conforming list broker
within 30 days after the beginning of every calendar quarter.
Section 20. Establishment and operation of the Illinois
Junk Mail Opt-Out List; rules and registration.
(a) The Illinois Junk Mail Opt-Out List program is hereby
created for the purpose of establishing a database to use when
verifying postal patrons who have given notice, in accordance
with rules promulgated under of subsection (d) of this Section,

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of those postal patrons' objections to receiving junk mail. The
Attorney General shall administer the program.
(b) Not later than July 1, 2020, the Attorney General shall
contract with a designated agent, which shall maintain the
website and database containing the Illinois Junk Mail Opt-Out
List. If no more than one entity bids on the contract, the
Attorney General may award the contract at its discretion.
(c) Not later than July 1, 2020, the designated agent,
using the designated State Internet website, shall develop and
maintain the Illinois Junk Mail Opt-Out List database with
information provided by postal patrons.
(d) The Attorney General shall establish, by rule,
guidelines for the designated agent for the development and
maintenance of the Illinois Junk Mail Opt-Out List so that the
Junk Mail Opt-Out List can easily be accessed by persons
desiring to send junk mail and by State and local law
enforcement agencies. As soon as practicable, the Attorney
General shall promulgate rules that:
(i) specify that there shall be no cost for a postal
patron to provide notification to the designated agent that
the postal patron objects to receiving junk mail;
(ii) specify that there shall be an annual registration
fee of not more than $500 for persons or entities that wish
to send junk mail or otherwise access the database of
addresses contained in the Illinois Junk Mail Opt-Out List
database. The Attorney General shall determine the fee on a

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sliding scale so that persons or entities with fewer than 5
employees shall pay no fee. In addition, there shall be no
fee charged to conforming list brokers or nonprofit
corporations, as defined in the General Not for Profit
Corporation Act of 1986. The maximum fee shall be charged
only to persons with more than 1,000 employees. Moneys
collected from the fees shall cover the direct and indirect
costs related to the creation and operation of the Illinois
Junk Mail Opt-Out List. Moneys from the fees shall be
collected by and paid directly to the designated agent. The
Attorney General shall annually adjust the fees below the
stated maximum based on the revenue history of the fees
received by the designated agent. The designated agent
shall provide means for online registration and credit card
payment of fees charged pursuant to this subsection (d).
Each person who registers shall provide a current business
name, business address, email address if available, and
telephone number when initially registering for the Junk
Mail Opt-Out List. This information shall be updated when
changes occur;
(iii) specify that the method by which each postal
patron may give notice to the designated agent of his or
her objection to receiving junk mail, or may revoke the
notice, shall be exclusively by entering the address of the
postal patron directly into the database via the designated
State Internet website or by calling a designated

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statewide, toll-free telephone number maintained by the
designated agent as a part of the Illinois Junk Mail
Opt-Out List;
(iv) specify that the date of every notice received in
accordance with this subsection (d) be recorded and
included as part of the information in the Junk Mail
Opt-Out List;
(v) require the designated agent to provide updated
information about the Illinois Junk Mail Opt-Out List
program on the designated State website, subject to
supervision by the Attorney General;
(vi) prohibit the designated agent or any person
collecting information to be transmitted to the designated
agent from making any use or distribution of names or
addresses contained in the Junk Mail Opt-Out List except as
expressly authorized under this Act;
(vii) specify the methods by which additions,
deletions, changes, and modifications shall be made to the
Illinois Junk Mail Opt-Out List database and how updates of
the database shall be made available to persons desiring
the updates. The methods shall include provisions to remove
from the Illinois Junk Mail Opt-Out List, on at least an
annual basis, every address away from which the original
postal patron has moved;
(viii) require the designated agent to maintain an
automated online complaint system for postal patrons to

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report suspected violations over the Internet website. The
automated online complaint system shall have the
capability to collect, sort, and report suspected
violations to the Attorney General electronically for
enforcement purposes;
(ix) specify that the Junk Mail Opt-Out List shall be
available online at the Illinois Junk Mail Opt-Out List web
site to a person desiring to send junk mail if the person
has registered in accordance with this subsection d). The
list shall be available in a text or other compatible
format, at the discretion of the Attorney General, but
shall allow bulk mailers to select and sort by specific zip
codes;
(x) specify such other matters relating to the database
as the Attorney General deems necessary or desirable.
(e) If the federal government establishes one or more
official databases of postal patrons who object to receiving
junk mail, the designated agent is authorized to provide
appropriate data from the Illinois Junk Mail Opt-Out List
exclusively for inclusion in an official national do-not-mail
database. To the extent allowed by federal law, the designated
agent shall ensure that the Illinois Junk Mail Opt-Out List
includes that portion of an official national do-not-mail
database that relates to Illinois.
(f) The State shall not be liable to any person for
gathering, managing, or using information in the Illinois Junk

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Mail Opt-Out List database pursuant to this Act and for
enforcing this Act.
(g) The designated agent shall not be liable to any person
for performing its duties under this Act unless, and only to
the extent that, the designated agent commits a willful and
wanton act or omission.
(h) As soon as practicable, the designated agent shall
update the database, on an ongoing basis, with information
provided by postal patrons and the United States Postal
Service.
(i) No person shall place the address of another person on
the Illinois Junk Mail Opt-Out List without the other person's
permission.
Section 25. Enforcement; penalties; defenses.
(a) The Attorney General may initiate administrative
proceedings in accordance with rules adopted under this Act
relating to a knowing and willful violation.
(b) The Attorney General may assess a civil penalty not to
exceed $1,000 for the first violation and not to exceed $2,500
for a second or subsequent violation. Each individual violation
shall be a separate and distinct offense under this Section.
The Attorney General shall, at a minimum, consider the
following factors:
(1) whether the offense was knowing or willful;
(2) whether the entity committing the offense has a

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prior history of non-compliance with this Act;
(3) the offender's relative ability to pay a penalty;
(4) whether the offender has or has not cooperated with
the Attorney General in pursuing the investigation; and
(5) such other special, mitigating, or aggravating
circumstances that the Attorney General may find to exist.
(c) Any proceeding conducted under this Section is subject
to the Illinois Administrative Procedure Act.
(d) Nothing in this Section may be construed to restrict
any right that any person may have under any other law or at
common law.
(e) No action or proceeding may be brought under this
Section:
(1) More than one year after the person bringing the
action knew or should have known of the occurrence of the
alleged violation; or
(2) More than one year after the termination of any
proceeding or action arising out of the same violation or
violations by the State of Illinois, whichever is later.
(f) The remedies, duties, prohibitions, and penalties in
this Act are not exclusive and are in addition to all other
causes of action, remedies, and penalties provided by law.
Section 30. The Junk Mail Opt-Out Fund. The Junk Mail
Opt-Out Fund is created as a special fund in the State
treasury. All civil penalties collected in the administration

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and enforcement of the Junk Mail Opt-Out List Act shall be
deposited into this Fund. Moneys in this fund shall, subject to
appropriation by the General Assembly, be used by the Attorney
General for implementation, administration, and enforcement of
the Junk Mail Opt-Out Act.
Section 95. The State Finance Act is amended by adding
Section 5.891 as follows:
(30 ILCS 105/5.891 new)
Sec. 5.891. The Junk Mail Opt-Out Fund.
Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
becoming law.