WASHINGTON -- House negotiators are meeting privately in an attempt to work out differences over an anti-spam bill before a scheduled vote on Wednesday.
The House Commerce committee markup will start the "Unsolicited Commercial Electronic Mail Act" down the same uncertain path it trod last year, when House legislators approved it 427-1 but the Senate never voted.
This time, some Democrats and Republicans on the panel have said the current version has problems, and a key senator plans to introduce his own bill on Tuesday -- prompting aides to work behind the scenes Monday evening to reach an agreement that might satisfy the committee.
"As we speak, both the majority and the minority are working to reach a compromise," committee spokesman Ken Johnson said.
Chris Cox (R-Calif.) says the measure, sponsored by Heather Wilson (R-New Mexico) and Gene Green (D-Texas), allows state attorneys general to file suits against spammers and collect punitive damages far beyond any harm actually caused. Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) has argued that the bill would inappropriately deputize Internet providers to regulate incoming e-mail.
Their proposal, which has been modified slightly since last year, allows Internet providers that establish a junk e-mail policy to sue spammers for $500 a message if that policy is violated, with penalties capped at $50,000. It also requires that all unsolicited commercial e-mail messages contain a valid return e-mail address and a way for recipients to refuse future mailings.
Complicating matters is opposition from business groups worried about the broad sweep of the Wilson-Green bill. Last week, a coalition including the American Bankers Association, the National Retail Federation, Merrill Lynch and Bank of America sent a letter to subcommittee members complaining that the bill's scope raised "serious concerns," but the panel approved it anyway.
Ray Everett-Church, counsel for the Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial E-mail, said groups with the highest interest in sending unsolicited e-mail have had time to rally their troops. "It's going to be pretty difficult (this year)," Everett-Church said. "There are more corners being heard from, a lot more entities that feel they have a lot more at stake."
The Direct Marketing Association did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday. But last month, representatives said they were wary of any legislation that restricts the ability of companies to market online.
"We have some problems with certain technical aspects of the bill," said Jerry Cerasale, DMA vice president for government affairs. He said one of the problems with the legislation is "it doesn't account for prior relationships.... They don't define permission-based marketing in there. There needs to be some point of defining what unsolicited commercial e-mail is."
Last year, Sen. Conrad Burns (R-Montana) introduced the so-called CAN-SPAM act, which was unsuccessful. Burns, chairman of the Senate's Commerce Communications subcommittee, plans to reintroduce a similar bill on Tuesday.
"We've talked to him and worked with him and tried to iron out the differences as much as possible," said Kevin McDermott, a spokesman for Rep. Wilson. "Once we get bills out of both houses we expect to be able to negotiate and pass a final bill."
Even the bill's critics concede it's likely to meet the approval of the House Commerce committee on Wednesday, and the full House will likely follow suit. That leaves opponents to lobby the Senate.
"We're gonna pass the bill out of committee," said Johnson, the House committee spokesman. "As for the Senate? Never predict what the Senate is going to do."
