House Leaders Plan Vote This Week on Pallone-Thune Traced Act Anti-Robocall Bill

The House is to vote later this week on the compromise Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence (Traced) Act from House Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J., and Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., as expected (see 1911270058). The amended language of S-151, released last week, combines provisions from the original Senate-passed version and the House-passed Stopping Bad Robocalls Act (HR-3375). The legislation would allow the FCC to levy civil penalties of up to $10,000 per call when the caller intentionally flouts the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. House leaders plan a S-151 vote under rule suspension, which means there's no chance for lawmakers to attach amendments. Leaders had not set a specific day. Consumer Reports and the National Consumer Law Center were among those issuing statements Monday. “This bipartisan bill unquestionably moves the ball forward to protect consumers from unwanted robocalls, especially by requiring that all telephone systems in the U.S. implement a coordinated authentication methodology to improve the accuracy of the caller-ID displayed,” said NCLC Senior Counsel Margot Saunders. “Ensuring that phone companies are required to provide effective anti-robocall technology, at no charge, has long been a top priority," so it's good the plan would "guarantee this protection,” said CR Policy Analyst Maureen Mahoney.