Anyone who has been frustrated by repeated calls made by telemarketers—frequently at dinner time—will be happy to learn that one of the many bills that will go into effect for 2024 is New Jersey’s “Seinfeld Bill.”
The bill requires that Garden State telemarketers provide the name, mailing address, and telephone number of the company for which they’re working within 30 seconds.
The inspiration for Senate Bill 921’s nickname was a 1992 episode of the hit sitcom “Seinfeld” where comedian Jerry Seinfeld fields a call from a telemarketer and annoyed and frustrated, asks for that person’s name and number so he can bother them at home in the same way that the caller is disturbing him.
Lawmakers didn’t have only disruption and inconvenience in mind when they passed this bill—though that surely was a factor–more importantly, they cited “an overwhelming number of scams targeting seniors by phone” when the bill was signed into law in May.
Unwanted calls – including illegal and spoofed robocalls – are the FCC’s top consumer complaint. The FCC says that it is committed to protecting the consumer from such scams and the inconvenience of unwanted robocalls and regularly amps up its crackdowns. These include issuing hundreds of millions of dollars in enforcement actions against illegal robocallers.
The “Seinfeld Bill” is one more attempt to limit the damage done by telemarketers to the public’s peace of mind. The bill also prohibits solicitors from phoning residents between 9 p.m. and 8 a.m.
