For all the partisan bickering and rhetoric in Washington, D.C., it can be a rare occurrence when members of Congress from both sides of the aisle come together with one voice. Apparently, all it takes is a vote on a bill attempting to eliminate robocalls to make that rare occurrence a reality. The House of Representatives yesterday voted 429-3 in favor of the Stopping Bad Robocalls Act, pushing the bill one step closer to becoming a law.
The House’s passage of the bill, H.R. 3375, follows the Senate’s nearly unanimous passage of the TRACED Act, another anti-robocall measure. Sen. Edward Markey [D-Mass.], the author of the TRACED Act, said leaders from both chambers will work to create a conference bill that can be sent to the president for his signature.
The Stopping Bad Robocalls Act was originally introduced earlier this year by Rep. Frank Pallone [D-N.J.], but received little attention. That is, until it was overhauled and re-introduced in June with the support of Rep. Greg Walden [R-Ore.]. The new bill removed some provisions — such as defining an automated telephone dialing system — and quickly moved through the House until it was approved yesterday.
Considered to be the most substantial overhaul of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act since the TCPA became law in 1991, the Stopping Bad Robocalls Act:
- Requires the Federal Communications Commission to develop a rule that defines an automatic telephone dialing systems and calls made using an artificial or prerecorded voice
- Establishes a four-year statute of limitations for the FCC or other law enforcement agencies to investigate and prosecute alleged offenders of the law
- Requires carriers, within six months of the law’s enactment, to develop and deploy effective call authentication technology
- Requires carriers to offer call-blocking services that gives consumers the opportunity to opt-out of the program, should they so choose
- 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.
“The rising tide of unlawful, unwanted robocalls started as a nuisance but now threatens the way consumers view and use their telephones,” Rep. Pallone said yesterday in support of the bill. “These calls are undermining our entire phone system, and that’s something we all need to take very, very seriously.”
