The Pennsylvania State Senate Democratic Policy Committee is holding a hearing this Thursday on ways to “curb” robocalls as the state legislature considers a bill to do the same thing.
The hearing will be on Thursday, March 21 at 10am in Frazer, Pa. An announcement about the hearing mentioned a panel of individuals who will “discuss legislative solutions to restrict and reduce robocalls,” but did not provide any specifics.
State Sen. Andy Dinniman requested the hearing and is also the sponsor of Senate Bill 306, which would amend the state’s Telemarketer Registration Act.
The bill would define a robocall as “A telephone solicitation call made to a large number of people, using a computerized autodialer, to deliver a prerecorded telemarketing message.”
Companies would be prohibited from making robocalls on legal holidays, would be required to provide instructions at the start of a call advising individuals about how to opt out of receiving calls in the future, and would have to include a toll-free number when a voicemail or message is left, allowing an individual to call the number and opt out of receiving future messages.
“Apart from robocalls being annoying and intrusive, it is estimated that 40 percent of these calls are scams,” Dinniman said, in a statement. “The explosive growth of robocalls cries out for a legislative remedy that would step up enforcement, improve authentication and give consumers a simple means to block these calls.”
State Sen. Lisa Boscola, who is the chairwoman of the Democratic Policy Committee, acknowledged the challenges of enacting legislation aimed at eliminating robocalls.
“Rallying public and legislative support behind combatting robocalls will be the easy part,” Boscola said. “The difficulty will come with finding workable solutions that specifically curb robocalls without hampering reasonable and legitimate ways to reach consumers.”
