Intro: With the economy in recession consumer protection issues are a growing concern for Missourians this upcoming year.
Laura Nichols has more from Jefferson City.
Meanwhile, another large consumer complaint concerns political robo-calls which became more frequent during election time.
In the time since Governor-Elect Jay Nixon pushed the passing of the Missouri No Call Law in 2001 some Missouri legislators have filed a new bill that will add political robo-calls to the list.
Representative Ed Wildberger sponsored the bill last year and said many constituents complained about the issue.
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| Description: "Robo-calling especially during political election season people getting call after call after call, and they just don't like being bothered. They feel they have a right to privacy in their home." |
Wildberger said outgoing House Speaker Rod Jetton is responsible for the bill not even being discussed in the House when it passed in the Senate.
Jetton said he did not try to block the bill but thinks there are more important consumer protection issues facing Missourians.
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| Description: "Those kind of consumer protection issues like identity theft or even some of the little fraudulent things were they take these older people especially for all their money and clean out their bank accounts. I would say I would much rather see us spend our time trying to create penalties and ways to stop them." |
Jetton said identity theft became a main concern for him after a fellow Representative Steve Hobbs had his identity stolen a little over a year ago.
Representative Hobbs said he grew suspicious when he started receiving bills addressed to Steven Hobbs with a different middle name.
He then notified his bank and the Attorney General's office.
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| Description: "It is a very traumatic experience and you know I was fortunate. We caught it rather quickly and it hasn't cost us out of pocket money but it has been devastating to some other people." |
Hobbs said Missourians need to take extra precautions to not give out personal information and should report it immediately to the Attorney General's Office if they experience identity theft.
Reporting from the Capitol, I'm Laura Nichols.
Intro: Those annoying political robo-calls would be banned under bills recently pre-filed in the House and Senate.
Laura Nichols has more from Jefferson City
Intro: Automated political calls could be gone forever if bills pass.
Laura Nichols has more from Jefferson City
Last year a bill to add political automated calls to the Missouri No Call List passed in the Senate, but was not discussed in the House.
The House sponsor of the bill, Representative Ed Wildberger, said these robo-calls are a common complaint among his constituents and need to be addressed.
Wildberger said he blames House Speaker Rob Jetton for killing the bill because it did not advance his Republican cause, and Republicans have more money to spend on campaigns meaning more robo-calls.
Jetton said he disagrees and that there are more important consumer protection issues to focus on.
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| Description: "I wasn't against it. I wasn't for it. You know I don't think it's the most highest priority. I think getting annoyed from a few phone calls is you know not the end of the world so I put my effort on other things." |
Jetton also said robo-calls are the cheapest way to get a message out so Wildberger's argument that more money means more robo-calls doesn't make sense.
Reporting from the State Capitol, I'm Laura Nichols.
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