The Missouri House Utilities Committee is considering a bill that would put tougher penalties on Internet spamming. Sharon Delgaudio has more from the state capitol.
Republican Rep. David Pearce of Warrensburg is sponsoring the bill to make Internet spamming a felony.
He called several witnesses in favor of the bill including James Klahr from the Attorney General's office.
With felony penalties, which are part of this bill, the Missouri Attorney General's Office would have the ability to go out of state and bring someone in, if they were from another state, who was sending emails to Missourians. We would not be able to otherwise reach them if we just had a misdemeanor penalty.
Michael Grote from the Missouri Chamber of Commerce opposes the bill. The way that the bill's worded now, the e-mail that the Chamber outsources to a company in Texas would be considered spam.
The committee agreed that they would address the Chamber's concerns about the bill's wording.
From the state capitol, I'm Sharon Delgaudio.