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To no one's surprise last week, our legislature killed a
bill that would have put some restraints on telepredators.
The proposed law, which passed the state senate, would have
allowed us to put our names on a no-call list
at no
charge. Telepredators would have had to buy the list for
$500, and could have been fined $2,000 per violation.
Supporters of the bill claimed that there were surveys that showed at least 80 percent of Coloradans supported the bill.
Unfortunately, the speaker of the house of representatives, Doug Dean of Colorado Springs, was not among the supporters, and he sent the bill to the Business Affairs Committee. As you might have guessed from that committee's name, it does not specialize in legislation to improve your home life.
Dean, a former telepredator himself, said he was worried
that some telemarketing companies might carry out their
threats to leave the state if Colorado tried to protect its
citizens. It jeopardizes thousands of jobs in Colorado,
almost 4,000 in Colorado Springs,
he said. I would
hope people consider that.
I did consider that. I also considered that, in the past 125 years since Colorado attained statehood, our legislature has on several occasions put people out of work when it determined that their previously lawful activities were a detriment to society: hemp farmers when the state outlawed marijuana, brewers when the state went dry, and just last week, rebirthing therapists after the governor signed H.B. 1238.
Further, here's a state where growth and affordable housing are major problems, especially along the Front Strange.
And here's a chance to send a few thousand people packing, thereby reducing traffic congestion and school overcrowding, not to mention water consumption. No matter whether they were renters or owners, their departure means lower housing costs as the market adjusts to an increased supply and reduced demand.
So Speaker Dean could have addressed some of Colorado's
most pressing issues if he had looked out for our
interests, rather than those of the telepredators who
presumably profit by using the telephones and lines that we
pay for -- something that would be classified as
theft
or make-my-day trespassing
in other
contexts.
Just where do they get the right to use my property in ways that I don't approve of? It's not legal for some entrepreneur to use my car without my permission, so why is it legal for an entrepreneur to use my telephone without my permission?
I thought we had Republicans like Dean in the legislature to protect our property rights.
I also thought our Republicans were good for something
else: protecting the family values
that they talk
about at campaign time.
And when the family sits down to dinner between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m., that's the preferred time for telepredators to strike, since it's more likely that people will be home then to answer the phone.
You'd think that anyone who professed to care for family life would do everything in his power to protect this time from intrusion -- but if it's a choice between what families want and what corporate lobbyists want, family values suddenly don't matter.
One of those lobbyists (who represented MCI, in case you're thinking of switching long-distance carriers, especially to one that doesn't engage in telepredation) said that if people don't want to be bothered by his telepredators, they should disable their telephones between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m.
My state representative, Carl Miller of Leadville, is a Democrat, but he does seem to have some family values -- he wondered why he should have to take his phone off the hook when he might otherwise hear from his children and grandchildren.
(And to give some bipartisan credit here, it was my Republican state senator, Ken Chlouber of Leadville, who carried the telepredator regulation bill in the upper house, and it is our Republican governor, Bill Owens, who said he would sign the bill if it ever got to his desk.)
But in House Speaker Dean's version of family values, talking with your spouse or children, eating dinner with them, playing games together -- none of that is nearly as important as responding to intruding strangers who want to sell you something.
Well, at least we know where we stand now, and we know what's really important to Speaker Dean -- and it isn't property rights or family values.
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