MACON, Ga. — If you take a look at your phone right now, count up how many unwanted telemarketing calls you've gotten this week.
You've probably gotten a call from a telemarketer asking about your car's extended warranty, or something similar.
One Georgia senator says he filed a bill to help folks fight these calls.
13WMAZ’s Jessica Cha breaks explains the bill and what people are saying about it.
Walter Lopez Chavez is a student at Mercer University. He says he gets calls like this a lot.
"Usually, it'll be, like, no caller I.D., and then I'll answer, and it'll be asking about the car's warranty. I don't even have a car,” Chavez explains.
State Senator Blake Tillery, a republican from Vidalia, says this happens to folks everywhere all too often.
"Families across Georgia are being bombarded with telemarketing calls. We're seeing it have an undue affect on our elderly who are sometimes being taken advantage of through this process,” Tillery says.
Tillery says it even happens to people on the ‘Do Not Call’ registry. That's the federal database that lets people decide whether to receive telemarketing calls.
"Georgia companies know they can't violate the Georgia ‘Do Not Call’ list. There's a $2,000 fine if they do,” Tillery explains.
He says telemarketers work with companies outside the U.S. to call people anyway.
Senate Bill 73 would prevent that.
"We're gonna put third party liability on the company originating the call, asking for the call in the first place,” he says.
If you find which company is really responsible for the call, you can file a class action lawsuit to hold that company liable. Each claim would be $1,000.
David Oedel, a Mercer Law professor, says this could help.
"I understand that there could be objections to using the legal system and the class action system,” Oedel says. “If the ‘Do Not Call’ list is not really working effectively then, I think we have to move to something else.”
Janishia Williams says she gets 20 to 30 telemarketing calls a day.
"It's out of control right now,” she says. "It's very aggravating. I hang up, somebody else calls. However, I have to answer my phone dealing with my job.”
Williams says she's absolutely ready to act if the bill passes.
"If it keeps going with the calls, then yes, I will file a lawsuit."
Tillery says this is the first bill to pass the senate this year unanimously. He says the bill passed through the Senate last year, but got stuck in the House. Now, it's back in the house, awaiting action.
He does suggest registering yourself on the National ‘Do Not Call’ registry in the mean time.
It's free to register your home or cell phone number to sign up.
You can go to Go to DoNotCall.Gov and click on ‘register a phone’. Or, you can call 888-382-1222. You can also file a complaint on the same website.
It takes 31 days for your number to populate on the ‘Do Not Call’ registry.
If you continue to receive unwanted calls, the FCC says it's probably scammers, and you can block the individual numbers on your phone.
Tillery says, if the bill passes, you must be on the ‘Do Not Call’ list before you would be allowed to file a lawsuit against telemarketers.