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GA SB73

Bill

Status

Passed

5/6/2024

Primary Sponsor

Blake Tillery

Click for details

Origin

Senate

2023-2024 Regular Session

AI Summary

  • Requires the State Bar of Georgia to promulgate rules for legal services advertising, including mandatory disclosure of principal place of business, prohibitions on depicting non-employees or non-clients as such, and a requirement that disclosures comprise no less than 10% of the total solicitation composition
  • Establishes a $10,000 civil penalty per violation for legal services solicitations that violate the new advertising rules, with a cause of action available to the State Bar, any Bar member in good standing, or any individual who sees or hears a violating solicitation
  • Expands telephone solicitation remedies by allowing subscribers to sue not only the entity that made the illegal call but also the person or entity on whose behalf the call was made, and authorizes class action lawsuits under Code Section 9-11-23 with no cap on damages
  • Reduces the individual per-violation damages cap for telephone solicitation violations from $2,000 to $1,000 but removes the "knowing" violation requirement, making it easier for plaintiffs to prevail in actions brought by the Attorney General or private individuals
  • Eliminates the defense that a defendant had established reasonable practices to prevent violations, replacing it with a narrower defense requiring the defendant to have established, mandated, and enforced compliance policies specifically directed at the entity that made the solicitation

Legislative Description

Telephone Services; class action suits and for damages against certain persons for violating provisions relating to telephone solicitations; provide

Last Action

Act 605

5/6/2024

Committee Referrals

Energy, Utilities and Telecommunications2/16/2023
Regulated Industries and Utilities2/2/2023

Full Bill Text

No bill text available