A bipartisan bill has been introduced in the Senate that would increase the penalty for robocalls to $10,000 per violation and give the Federal Communications Commission two extra years to make enforcement action against individuals making robocalls.
The bill — The Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence (TRACED) Act — was introduced on Friday by Sen. Ed Markey [D-Mass.], and Sen. John Thune [R-S.D.], who have been vocal opponents to robocalls. Sen. Thune is the chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, of which Sen. Markey is a member.
“The TRACED Act targets robocall scams and other intentional violations of telemarketing laws so that when authorities do catch violators, they can be held accountable,” said Thune in a statement. “Existing civil penalty rules were designed to impose penalties on lawful telemarketers who make mistakes. This enforcement regime is totally inadequate for scam artists and we need do more to separate enforcement of carelessness and other mistakes from more sinister actors.”
If passed, the law would increase the financial penalty that can be assessed to $10,000 per call, from $1,500 per call currently. The bill would also increase the statute of limitations on enforcement activity to three years, from one year currently. As well, the FCC would be required to create a rule that would keep individuals from receiving calls or text messages from unauthenticated numbers. And, the bill would require phone carriers to put call authentication technologies into place, “enabling a telephone carrier to verify that incoming calls are legitimate before they reach consumers’ phones.”
Added Sen. Markey in a statement: “As the scourge of spoofed calls and robocalls reaches epidemic levels, the bipartisan TRACED Act will provide every person with a phone much needed relief. It’s a simple formula: call authentication, blocking, and enforcement, and this bill achieves all three. I thank Chairman Thune for his partnership on this effort, and look forward to seeing this legislation through to its passage.”
The bill also calls for the creation of an inter-agency working group, including the FCC, Federal Trade Commission, Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection, and other state and federal agencies to work together to further protect consumers from robocalls.
