House Communications Sees Need for Anti-Robocalls Bills, but Traced Act Questions Loom

House Communications Subcommittee members broadly agreed during a Tuesday hearing there is significant support for seven bills aimed at combating abusive robocalls, but it's less clear how they would package them for final passage. It's also unclear how they will reconcile those measures with the Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence (Traced) Act. HR-2015/S-151 is being targeted for fast-track Senate passage yet wasn't considered at the Tuesday House hearing (see 1904290166).

A markup of the seven bills discussed Tuesday isn't on the docket but is likely to “come up … sometime in the near future,” House Communications Chairman Mike Doyle, D-Pa., told reporters after the hearing. “I think … there is strong bipartisan support for getting a bill out of [the House Commerce Committee] and onto the floor.” House Commerce ranking member Greg Walden, R-Ore., welcomes the “return to the process we operated under with our friends last Congress that led to many bipartisan successes.” The hearing was House Communications' first since the rancorous debate in early April over the Save the Internet Act net neutrality bill (HR-1644) and was widely seen as an opportunity to pivot to other matters (see 1904230069).

Lawmakers and witnesses focused much of their attention on the Stopping Bad Robocalls Act (HR-946) and Support Tools to Obliterate Pesky (Stop) Robocalls Act (HR-2386). HR-946, led by House Commerce Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J., would clarify the definition of a robocall and clarify exemptions to the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. It would create a national database of reassigned phone numbers and require FCC-FTC cooperation to reduce abusive robocalls by “at least” 50 percent yearly (see 1902040043).

Doyle said he signed on as a lead HR-2386 co-sponsor upon its introduction Monday but has “some concerns” that he's working to resolve with House Communications ranking member Bob Latta, R-Ohio. The bill would allow carriers to provide robocall blocking technology to consumers on an opt-out basis. It would require the FCC issue rules for interconnected VoIP providers to require more call record retention obligations and rules to streamline private entities' sharing of robocall and spoofing information with the agency. “We basically agree with the intent” of HR-2386 “but there are just some language issues,” Doyle later told reporters. “We're not going to have a problem.”

Doyle and an aide didn't discount the possibility they could reach agreement to reconcile the House anti-robocall bills and S-151 if that measure passes the Senate. HR-946 “does all the things [S-151] does plus a lot more,” the aide told reporters.

Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., told us he would need to look at how a House legislative package comes together, but he still believes there's a “lot of momentum” behind passing his S-151 as a stand-alone bill sans additional provisions. “I'd hate to take a chance on doing something that would create obstacles to getting it passed,” he said. Thune is aiming to maneuver the bill so the Senate can pass it under unanimous consent. The bill has 61 co-sponsors, meaning it would likely pass even if it would have to be moved via regular order. “I'm hoping we're going to get that teed up here soon,” though “we're still waiting” for Senate Commerce to issue its report on the bill and complete other necessary paperwork, he said.

Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., touted two of her bills up for examination at the House Communications hearing: the Help Americans Never Get Unwanted Phone Calls (Hangup) Act (HR-1421/S-626) and the Regulatory Oversight Barring Obnoxious (Robo) Calls and Texts Act (HR-2355). HR-1421 would close a loophole in TCPA created in the 2015 Bipartisan Budget Act and would kill the FCC 2016 Broadnet ruling exempting robocalls by federal contractors from TCPA limitations (see 1902280062). HR-2355 would require the FCC establish a Robocalls Division in the Enforcement Bureau to ensure TCPA compliance. It would require the FCC to implement regulations to force carriers to adopt technological standards for preventing robocalls. Broadnet saw recent lobbying at the commission (see 1904300118).

Three other bills also got attention at the House Communications hearing: the Spam Calls Task Force Act (HR-721), Robocall Enforcement Enhancement Act (HR-1575) and Repeated Objectionable Bothering of Consumers on Phones (Robocop) Act (HR-2298/S-1212). HR-721 would require the attorney general convene an interagency working group to study TCPA enforcement, including current federal law and budget constraints and ways to improve coordination among federal and state agencies to prevent violations of the law. HR-1575 would increase to three years the statute of limitations for illegal spoofing and increase FCC ability to impose forfeitures against illegal robocallers (see 1804180066). HR-2298 would force all telecom companies to install free telemarketing blockers and verify the numbers on caller IDs (see 1904160058).

Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., followed through Tuesday on plans to file his own anti-robocalls bill. The Protecting American Consumers from Robocalls Act would allow phone users to petition for statutory damages for all “unconsented-to” telemarketing calls immediately after the first violation of TCPA rules, Durbin's office said. “Consumers don’t deserve to be preyed upon by scammers that are just trying to undermine someone’s personal privacy and financial information,” Durbin said in a news release. “It’s time to put an end to this.” Senate Democrats Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, Mazie Hirono of Hawaii, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, Ed Markey of Massachusetts and Tina Smith of Minnesota signed on as co-sponsors.