The Legislature of Alabama finds all of the following:

1. (1) The use of the telephone to market goods and services to the home is pervasive now due to the increased use of cost-effective telemarketing techniques.
2. (2) Over 30,000 businesses actively telemarket goods and services to business and residential customers.
3. (3) Everyday, over 300,000 solicitors place calls to more than 18 million Americans, including citizens of this state.
4. (4) Telemarketing, however, can be an intrusive and relentless invasion of the privacy and peacefulness of the home.
5. (5) Many citizens of this state are outraged over the proliferation of nuisance calls to their homes from telemarketers.
6. (6) Privacy rights and commercial freedom of speech of individuals can be balanced in a way that accommodates both the privacy of individuals and legitimate telemarketing practices.
7. (7) It is in the public interest to establish a mechanism under which the individual citizens of this state can decide whether or not to receive telemarketing calls in their homes.

(Act 99-450, p. 1043, §1.)