GRAPEVINE, Texas – In one of their most dramatic choices in a century, local leaders of the Boy Scouts of America voted Thursday to ease a divisive ban and allow openly gay boys to be accepted into the country’s leading youthIndiana’s attorney general says people should get on the phone – or Internet – to stop unwanted phone calls.
Greg Zoeller wants Hoosiers to call or write to their congressmen in opposition to a bill that would allow automated calls to cellphones.
“I’m traveling the state to ring the alarm bells so people know their consumer protections and privacy statutes are really under threat by both Congress and the courts,” Zoeller said Thursday at a news conference at the Allen County Courthouse.
House Resolution 3035 would permit prerecorded calls to cellphones and override state laws banning them, including Indiana’s Do Not Call law.
A federal court recently ruled that Indiana cannot ban “robo calls” calls from political candidates if the messages originate outside Indiana. Zoeller is appealing the decision
Zoeller testified against HR 3035 – the Mobile Informational Call Act – at a hearing last week conducted by the House Subcommittee on Communications and Technology. He said he also voiced his opposition to the bill in visits with federal lawmakers from Indiana, including Rep. Marlin Stutzman, R-3rd.
“I’m not trying to shut down Congress with a lot of calls. I respect the hassles of too many calls,” Zoeller said Thursday. “But I do think this is a representative government. People need to be heard.”
He urged Hoosiers to go to Popvox, a non-partisan online site at www.popvox.com that lets people share their views on legislation and then transmits those messages to Congress.
Popvox reported Thursday that 8,637 people have opposed HR 3035 and 57 have supported it in online voting.
Organizations identified as endorsing the bill are the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and three banking associations. Ten groups, many of them consumer advocacy organizations, are identified as foes of the legislation.
Zoeller said Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan is backing his efforts to stop the bill and that they will try to recruit attorneys general of other states to fight HR 3035.
bfrancisco@jg.net
