This bill — known as the Robo Calls Off Phones Act or Robo COP Act — would change the rules of the National Do Not Call Registry to prohibit political recorded messages from going out as telephone calls to numbers listed on that registry. 

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is responsible for maintaining the registry under the Telemarketing Sales Rule, which prevents telemarketers from calling numbers that opt out.

A “politically-oriented recorded message telephone call” would be defined as an outbound call that plays a recorded message that:

• Promotes, advertises, campaigns, or solicits donations for or against a political candidate or regarding a political issue;

• Uses a political candidate’s name.