Kentucky Passes Deceptive Phone
Listing Law April 20, 2007 Kentucky
florists are waving victory flags in the wake of Gov. Ernie
Fletcher's signing of a state law banning deceptive
advertising. The law, which goes into effect July 15, makes
it a civil violation for a business to misrepresent in print
the location of the business as well as to create fictitious
listings in phone books.
Kentucky Governor
Ernie Fletcher
The process took only a few months, from when the bill was
introduced in the House on Feb. 6 to the governor's signing
on April 5. But it was two months of very intensive work on
the part of more than 100 Kentucky florists, emphasizes Rod
Bradshaw, of Gilliland Flower Shop in Stanford, Ky., and a
past Kentucky Florists Association (KFA) president.
"It takes lots and lots of e-mails and calls to your
legislators," Bradshaw says, "and after that, lots more --
you have to wear them out until they've heard your message."
Wear them out they did: Bradshaw says after it passed, one
legislator said to him, "I'm glad this passed, I've been
besieged by more florists than I knew existed."
Bradshaw jump-started the process in January, when he
introduced a resolution to the general membership of the KFA
to encourage the state's legislature to pass a law against
deceptive floral advertising. That gave birth to a committee
to organize the effort, which included Bradshaw, Franklin
Briner of Nanz and Kraft in Louisville, Beth Sebastian, the
governor's personal florist (who couldn't actually lobby,
per state law); and KFA President Pam Gaddis and husband
Mike of Lloyd's Florist in Louisville.
"We did a first draft, based on Pennsylvania's legislation,"
Bradshaw says, and his local legislator sponsored it. But
Bradshaw says the bill really got its "teeth" when it was
vetted through the state's Legislative Research Commission (LRC).
"They added to it quite a bit . . . and made it a civil
violation, so anyone can file a claim and, if you get a
judgment, the attorney general is required to pursue
collection," rather than putting the onus for collection on
the courts which, according to Bradshaw, is a dead-end
street in Kentucky. The law provides a penalty of $2,500 per
violation and authorizes the Attorney General or the
appropriate Commonwealth's attorney to prosecute violations.
Twenty-two states have passed legislation against deceptive
phone listings -- although few if any have made it happen in
such a short time frame, says SAF's senior director of
government relations Jeanne Ramsay, who has guided various
state groups in their efforts to pass legislation.
In addition to patience and perseverance, Bradshaw advises
florists trying to push through similar legislation in their
states to emphasize the public deception aspect of the
issue, rather than their own pocketbooks. "Don't make it a
loss of business or competition issue," when talking to
legislators, Bradshaw says. "It's about the public getting
ripped off. If their voters are getting ripped off, then
they'll respond to that."
Get more information from SAF's Web site,
www.safnow.org, on the
issue of deceptive phone listings.
