toledoblade.com --

COLUMBUS - A northwest Ohio lawmaker was the sole dissenter yesterday as the Senate voted 29-1 to approve a bill aimed at putting e-mail spammers in the can.

"This is overkill," said state Sen. Lynn Wachtmann (R., Napoleon), saying that companies that accidentally send as few as five e-mails could be targeted. "This is in the eye of the beholder. Do we want to hamper and create such a burden on commercial users of the Internet?"

But state Sen. Ron Amstuz (R., Wooster) said Mr. Wachtmann misinterpreted what the legislation says.

The bill, sponsored by state Rep. Kathleen Walcher (R., Norwalk), would make it a crime if someone uses false information to register five or more e-mail accounts and fraudulently uses them to transmit unsolicited commercial e-mail. Violators could face two to eight years in prison, Mr. Amstutz said.

The federal "Can Spam" law, which took effect Jan. 1, 2004, restricts states from duplicating federal efforts to crack down on large spammers, Mr. Amstutz said.

The bill approved yesterday - patterned after one that has become law in several other states - enables the state attorney general to pursue criminal in addition to civil sanctions against smaller spammers when they tap into other people's computers to send e-mails, Mr. Amstutz said.

"This is not the silver bullet that is going to attack spam," he said.

The Senate yesterday also approved a bill to provide immunity to law-enforcement officials from lawsuits filed by nonviolent offenders who volunteer for work detail.

State Sen. Steve Austria (R., Beavercreek) said Franklin County and other local governments use nonviolent inmates to pick up trash along roads.

The Buckeye State Sheriffs Association requested the provision to protect law-enforcement officers from lawsuits if inmates who volunteer for work detail are injured, Mr. Austria said.

The bill, which the Senate approved 28-2, also includes a provision to provide legal immunity to radio and television stations, cable systems, and their employees from broadcasting Amber Alerts.

Ohio started its statewide Amber Alert program in January, 2003, with the media and the Ohio Department of Transportation publicizing descriptions of suspects when children are kidnapped.

The state law change is needed because media outlets that broadcast Amber Alerts could be held liable for inaccurate or incomplete information they receive from law enforcement, backers said.

Both bills will return to the House for agreement with minor changes and are expected to be shipped by the end of this year to Gov. Bob Taft for his signature, House and Senate aides said.

Contact James Drew at:
jdrew@theblade.com
or 614-221-0496.

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