Kentucky Prohibits Telephone Solicitors from Misrepresenting Information in Caller ID Services

On March 26, 2019, Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin signed into law a bill, House Bill 84 (HB 84), which prohibits any person making a telephone solicitation through telecommunications services or Voice over the Internet Protocol (VoIP) to misrepresent the name or telephone number, or otherwise misrepresent the origin of the telephone solicitation, in caller identification services.

However, HB 84 provides that such prohibition does not apply to solicitations which block caller identification, or to solicitations in which the name and telephone number of the party on whose behalf the call is made is substituted for the name and telephone number of the actual caller.  Moreover, the prohibition under HB 84 also does not apply to a telecommunications, broadband, or VoIP service provider that is: (1) acting in the telecommunications, broadband, or VoIP service provider’s capacity as an intermediary for the transmission of telephone service between the caller and the recipient; (2) providing or configuring a service or service feature as requested by the customer; (3) acting in a manner that is authorized or required by applicable law; or (4) engaging in other conduct that is necessary to provide service.

The changes made by HB 84 go into effect on June 26, 2019.