Committee Leaders Announce Bipartisan Robocalls Bill

Press Release

US House Energy and Commerce Chairman Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), Ranking Member Greg Walden (R-OR), Communications & Technology Subcommittee Chairman Mike Doyle (D-PA), and Ranking Member Bob Latta (R-OH) unveiled a bipartisan version of the Stopping Bad Robocalls Act in the House of Representatives to stop abusive robocall practices.

"Americans are receiving an outrageous number of robocalls today, and it has to stop," Congressman Doyle said earlier today. "I've been working with my colleagues on the Energy & Commerce Committee to reduce the number of unwanted robocalls Americans receive. I'm proud to be one of the original cosponsors of the Stopping Bad Robocalls Act and one of the authors of one of its key provisions."

Last year, an estimated 47.8 billion robocalls were placed nationwide, an increase of 17 billion calls over the previous year. Illegal robocalls affect American life In increasingly harmful ways, from scams to defraud consumers to disrupting our health care system.

Earlier this year, Representative Doyle chaired a legislative hearing on the proposal, and other robocall-related legislation, in April.

The bipartisan Stopping Bad Robocalls Act:

Requires that phone carriers implement call authentication technology so consumers can trust their caller ID again, with no additional line-item for consumers, and includes a process to help rural carriers implement this technology.
Allows carriers to offer call blocking services to consumers with no additional line charge on an opt-out basis with important transparency safeguards to make sure important calls aren't inadvertently blocked. This provision was introduced by Doyle and Latta as part of the Support Tools to Obliterate Pesky (STOP) Robocalls Act earlier this year.
Directs the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to issue rules to protect consumers from calls they didn't agree to receive and to ensure consumers can withdraw consent.
Requires the FCC to enact safeguards so companies can't abuse robocall exemptions.
Ensures the FCC has the authority and the tools to take strong, quick action when it tracks down robocallers, including by extending the statute of limitations from one year to three, and in some instances four, years for callers violating robocall prohibitions.
Mandates the FCC to submit a report to Congress on the implementation of its reassigned numbers database to make sure the Commission is effectively protecting consumers from unwanted calls.

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