Assembly OKs Bill to Outlaw Faxing of Junk Ads

SACRAMENTO —  The Assembly on Friday passed a bill making it illegal to transmit junk advertising over facsimile machines, despite objections that this was a “sledgehammer approach to a minor problem.”

The Assembly approved on a 41-31 vote the proposal by Sen. Quentin Kopp (I-San Francisco) to establish a fine of $500 per unsolicited fax transmission.

Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Sylmar) pushed for passage of the bill and said facsimile, or fax, machines are being abused by solicitors seeking free advertising.

“This applies to people trying to sell you something and have you pick up the tab for their advertising,” Katz said.

Fax machines are among the latest rapid communication innovations used increasingly by business and government. Katz said more than 2 million of the machines are now operating in the United States.

The machines operate through the telephone system. The sender pays transmission costs, but the recipient pays for special paper used in the machines. More important, supporters of the bill said, recipients lose the use of their machines while unwanted material is being transmitted.

Opponents of the measure, including Assemblyman Gil Ferguson (R-Newport Beach), who carried similar legislation earlier this year, said the fines are a heavy-handed approach to a very small problem.

“This is a simple, direct, easy solution to a problem that doesn’t exist,” Ferguson said. “It was dumb when I carried it, it was dumb when (Kopp) carried it, and it’s dumb now.”

But Katz said transmission of important documents in the United States has become bogged down by an avalanche of junk mail.

“A governor in a New England state, for example, was trying to get emergency documentation on a flooding situation in his state, but could not” because his fax machine was receiving unsolicited transmissions, Katz said.

The measure now goes back to the Senate for concurrence on Assembly amendments.