Hoosiers have until Tuesday, Feb. 18, to register for state’s Do Not Call list

 

INDIANAPOLIS – Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller said Hoosiers should be wary of calls and door-to-door solicitors offering home security or alarm systems.

More than 150 consumers from across the state recently filed complaints with the Attorney General’s Office after receiving unwanted calls, including robocalls, offering home security systems.  Zoeller’s office tracked the illegal out-of-state calls to Justin Ramsey, owner of Loyal Marketing, LLC, and subsequently filed a state lawsuit.

“Consumers should be cautious when receiving an unsolicited call or knock at the door from a home-security salesperson,” Zoeller said.  “High-pressure or deceptive sales tactics are often used by scammers to convince you to buy an expensive alarm monitoring contract or replace your current alarm monitoring company.  Hoosiers can usually expect an uptick in these types of solicitations leading into spring.”

A Hamilton County Superior Court judge awarded the state a Default Judgment against Ramsey which included $4.375M in civil penalties after the defendant failed to respond.  Zoeller said the judgment marks the second highest total amount awarded to the state in a case involving telephone privacy violations, and his office will aggressively pursue what is owed to the state.

Zoeller said unscrupulous solicitors may make you a limited-time offer and pressure you to make a quick decision.  Consumers should be on alert for offers of free security systems which are often attached to pricey, long-term system monitoring contracts.  A salesperson may also tell consumers that their current security company has gone out of business or was purchased by the salesperson’s company, or may even use scare tactics by mentioning a rash of burglaries in your neighborhood.

In Indiana, most robocalls are illegal regardless of whether or not your number is registered on the Do Not Call list.  Exceptions include calls from school districts to students, parents or employees and businesses advising employees of work schedules.

Zoeller advised Hoosiers that legitimate telemarketers will not call those numbers registered on the state’s Do Not Call list and that those who are on the state’s protected list should treat any unsolicited call as a scam and hang-up immediately.

The next quarterly deadline to register for the Do Not Call list is Tuesday, Feb. 18. Consumers can register their residential landline, cell, VOIP or prepaid wireless numbers for free by visiting www.IndianaConsumer.com or by calling 1.888.834.9969.

Individuals do not need to re-register unless their address has changed.  Out-of-state area codes can also be added as long as the billing address is located in Indiana.  Those consumers who are registered and receive an unwanted call can file a complaint with the Attorney General’s Office by visiting www.IndianaConsumer.com.

Zoeller thanked Deputy Attorney General Eliza Bradley for her work on this case and dedication to the Consumer Protection Division within the Attorney General’s Office.

It is hard to believe that we are already more than halfway through the 2014 legislative session. This halfway point marked the time when House bills, which had been passed out of the House, switched over to the Senate and vice versa.  In my previous columns, I discussed the bills that I was authoring in the House. Now, I want to talk to you about a couple of the Senate bills that I am sponsoring.

Given my experience in the healthcare industry, I have taken a strong interest in furthering policies that benefit and promote a healthier state. I am sponsoring Senate Bill (SB) 51, which was heard in the Public Health committee on Wednesday. This legislation requires the State Department of Health to adopt rules concerning the regulation of facilities for treatment of traumatic brain injuries, before September 1. The introduced version of this bill was prepared by the Health Finance Commission which I served on during the 2013 interim.

This is an issue which I continue to feel strongly about. Currently, Indiana lacks traumatic brain services, specifically post-acute care facilities. This means that Hoosiers must go out of state for their care. Not only does this result in money leaving our state to fund licensed facilities elsewhere, but it also poses a heavy burden on individuals who, in order to receive proper care, must travel long distances away from friends and family.

The second bill, SB 139, does a few things. First, it amends the definition of “attendant care

services” to allow attendants to legally provide assistance with taking medications that are controlled substances and/or prescription drugs. This applies to services provided at a licensed home health agency or personal services agency.

Currently, if another person is not available to assist with this task, the client, or patient, may go without adequate medication until another person in the home or a health provider is present to assist them. This results in unnecessary costs when a licensed or certified health care provider has to make a special visit just to help administer a controlled substance when an attendant is present and capable of doing so but is prohibited by existing law.

As you may know, when you register your vehicle with the Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV), you can elect to donate money to Donate Life Indiana, which promotes the procurement of organs for anatomical gifts. These donations are then transferred to the Anatomical Gift Promotion Fund for distribution to the Indiana Donation Alliance Foundation and Donate Life Indiana.

Last year alone, over $160,000 was raised for Donate Life Indiana through the BMV. The authority for the distribution of the funds is currently set to expire, however this bill would remove that expiration date and ensure further support for this important organization.

The last thing this bill does is continue the authority for the Office of Minority Health (OMH). The purpose of OMH is to increase awareness, partnerships, and the development and promotion of effective health policies and programs that will help reduce minority health disparities. This will allow them to continue important initiatives which will improve the health of all racial and ethnic populations.

I hope that you find these bill summaries helpful and informative. I cannot stress enough how important it is for Hoosiers to be involved in the legislative process, and I appreciate your feedback. With just four weeks left, if you have not already reached out to me with questions, comments or concerns, please do so. I will continue to work my hardest to represent the needs of our district in Indianapolis.

The United Auto Workers union suffered a crushing defeat Friday, falling short in an election in which it seemed to have a clear path to organizing workers at Volkswagen’s plant in Chattanooga, Tenn. Volkswagen workers rejected the union by a vote of 712 to 626.

The setback is a bitter defeat because the union had the cooperation of Volkswagen management and the aid of Germany’s powerful IG Metall union, yet it failed to win a majority among the plants 1,550 hourly workers.

Rank, Entity, Total Political Donations, % to Democrats, % to Republicans

1 ActBlue $97,192,340 99% 0%
2 American Fedn of State, County & Municipal Employees $60,667,379 81% 1%
3 AT&T Inc $56,449,317 41% 57%
4 National Education Assn $53,594,488 61% 4%
5 National Assn of Realtors $51,207,902 44% 47%
6 Goldman Sachs $44,847,951 53% 44%
7 Intl Brotherhood of Electrical Workers $44,478,789 92% 1%
8 United Auto Workers $41,667,858 71% 0%
9 Carpenters & Joiners Union $39,260,371 74% 9%
10 Service Employees International Union $38,395,690 84% 2%
11 Laborers Union $37,494,010 85% 7%
12 American Federation of Teachers $36,713,325 89% 0%
13 Communications Workers of America $36,188,135 86% 0%
14 Teamsters Union $36,123,209 88% 5%
15 JPMorgan Chase & Co $34,527,277 48% 51%
16 United Food & Commercial Workers Union $33,756,550 86% 0%
17 United Parcel Service $32,214,128 35% 64%
18 Citigroup Inc $32,198,122 48% 50%
19 National Auto Dealers Assn $31,818,910 31% 68%
20 Machinists & Aerospace Workers Union $31,313,097 98% 1%
21 EMILY’s List $31,267,654 98% 0%
22 American Bankers Assn $31,135,202 36% 63%
23 AFL-CIO $30,938,977 61% 3%
24 American Medical Assn $29,990,879 40% 59%
25 Microsoft Corp $29,245,015 55% 43%
26 National Beer Wholesalers Assn $28,976,510 35% 64%
27 Blue Cross/Blue Shield $28,491,678 36% 63%
28 General Electric $27,741,628 47% 51%
29 National Assn of Home Builders $27,509,880 34% 65%
30 Lockheed Martin $27,246,173 42% 57%
31 Bank of America $26,822,749 41% 57%
32 National Assn of Letter Carriers $26,106,359 84% 9%
33 Morgan Stanley $26,074,770 42% 56%
34 Verizon Communications $25,490,499 40% 59%
35 Deloitte LLP $24,979,333 35% 63%
36 Time Warner $24,463,922 72% 25%
37 Newsweb Corp $24,387,371 41% 0%
38 Credit Union National Assn $24,056,155 47% 51%
39 Plumbers & Pipefitters Union $23,886,248 85% 4%
40 Altria Group $23,750,298 28% 70%
41 Ernst & Young $23,114,243 42% 57%
42 Operating Engineers Union $23,036,848 82% 14%
43 International Assn of Fire Fighters $22,963,260 79% 16%
44 American Hospital Assn $22,909,326 52% 46%
45 PricewaterhouseCoopers $22,461,596 35% 64%
46 Sheet Metal Workers Union $22,372,978 95% 2%
47 American Dental Assn $21,791,508 44% 54%
48 Boeing Co $21,502,737 46% 52%
49 UBS AG $21,354,742 40% 58%
50 Comcast Corp $20,603,390 57% 42%
51 AFLAC Inc $19,822,809 43% 56%
52 National Rifle Assn $19,771,191 17% 82%
53 Pfizer Inc $19,699,869 35% 64%
54 Northrop Grumman $19,633,964 42% 57%
55 Union Pacific Corp $19,617,968 27% 72%
56 Air Line Pilots Assn $19,538,047 83% 16%
57 Honeywell International $19,447,557 44% 54%
58 Natl Assn/Insurance & Financial Advisors $19,305,624 41% 58%
59 Koch Industries $18,083,948 8% 90%
60 American Postal Workers Union $17,957,308 86% 2%
61 American Assn for Justice $17,581,358 80% 3%
62 FedEx Corp $17,506,083 39% 60%
63 Ironworkers Union $17,386,345 92% 6%
64 Club for Growth $17,271,352 0% 95%
65 Credit Suisse Group $17,191,340 41% 57%
66 United Transportation Union $17,096,750 87% 11%
67 New York Life Insurance $16,898,487 49% 50%
68 Raytheon Co $16,864,289 44% 55%
69 National Rural Electric Cooperative Assn $16,552,363 47% 52%
70 General Dynamics $16,549,202 46% 53%
71 Akin, Gump et al $16,463,510 61% 37%
72 United Steelworkers $16,426,444 99% 0%
73 American Institute of CPAs $15,952,635 41% 58%
74 National Air Traffic Controllers Assn $15,883,050 77% 20%
75 Chevron $15,826,864 19% 64%
76 Anheuser-Busch $15,612,613 48% 51%
77 Reynolds American $15,574,198 22% 77%
78 Exxon Mobil $15,220,537 13% 85%
79 KPMG LLP $15,112,328 34% 65%
80 National Cable & Telecommunications Assn $15,048,560 47% 51%
81 DLA Piper $14,902,117 68% 31%
82 Merrill Lynch $14,865,217 37% 62%
83 Wal-Mart Stores $14,851,004 32% 67%
84 GlaxoSmithKline $14,625,493 30% 69%
85 CSX Corp $14,118,661 34% 65%
86 Walt Disney Co $14,104,107 68% 30%
87 News Corp $13,917,083 58% 41%
88 American Financial Group $13,910,355 15% 73%
89 Indep Insurance Agents & Brokers/America $13,731,200 34% 64%
90 American Health Care Assn $13,727,858 51% 48%
91 Wells Fargo $13,639,116 36% 61%
92 Associated Builders & Contractors $13,577,082 1% 98%
93 Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance $13,565,554 38% 60%
94 University of California $13,552,056 89% 9%
95 American Crystal Sugar $13,309,209 61% 37%
96 WPP Group $13,257,197 53% 45%
97 American Society of Anesthesiologists $13,166,537 41% 58%
98 Prudential Financial $13,051,316 49% 50%
99 Southern Co $12,973,439 29% 70%
100 National Restaurant Assn $12,605,181 16% 83%

Source: Opensecrets.org