Bill Reintroduced to Stop Robocalls

Last week Energy and Commerce Chairman Frank Pallone Jr. (D-NJ) proposed the House of Representatives reinstate the Stopping Bad Robocalls Act in order to combat unsolicited robocalls. The bill would call on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to mandate stronger consumer protections and would give the FCC better enforcement tools to cut down on illegal robocalls. Further, the resulting legislation would require incoming calls to have real caller identification information and give customers the ability to stop previously authorized calls.

A Bill to Stop Robocalls

26.3 billion unsolicited robocalls were placed in the U.S. in 2018 – a 46% increase from 2017. “Americans are fed up with robocalls.  It is incredibly annoying to repeatedly get unwanted calls from people you don’t know and don’t want to talk to,” stated Pallone.  “Despite previous efforts like the Do Not Call Registry, robocalls are still on the rise. The Stopping Bad Robocalls Act will equip consumer protection agencies with innovative, new tools designed to stop the abusive practices by robocallers and better restrict unauthorized robocalls.”

The Stopping Bad Robocalls Act would enact the following:

• Amending the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) to ensure that the FCC has the authority and the tools to take strong, quick action when they track down robocallers
• Allowing consumers to revoke consent they had previously given to receive calls at any time and in any reasonable manner
• Codifying a reassigned number database to put robocallers on notice when a telephone number they may have previously been authorized to call has been given to a new customer who has not authorized their call
• Limiting the number of robocalls exempted from the TCPA under the FCC’s rules;
• Requiring calls to have verified caller identification information associated with a call before the call can be connected
• Extending the statute of limitations from one year to four years for callers violating robocall prohibitions

The bill is available here.

Learn how you can protect your organization from costly robocall fines and violations.