Wis. Backs Nation's Toughest Rules On Sales Crews

By RYAN J. FOLEY

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin lawmakers moved Tuesday to approve the nation's toughest regulations on companies that use traveling crews to sell products.

The bill, approved by the Senate 27-6, aims to clean up or eliminate the shady companies who recruit young adults to rove the country in vans selling magazines, soap and other items. Bill supporters say the companies lure workers with the promise of big money and excitement and then put them in unsafe and unfair conditions.

The Assembly was scheduled to debate the bill later Tuesday and Gov. Jim Doyle is expected to sign it into law.

The action comes one day before the 10-year anniversary of a crash near Janesville, Wis., that killed seven members of a traveling magazine sales crew and injured five.

The bill is called "Malinda's Act," for Malinda Turvey, who was 18 when she died in the crash. Her father, Phil Ellbenbecker of Verona, Wis., has led a crusade against the industry and lobbied lawmakers for the regulations for years.