{"bills":[{"photos":{"featured":"https://assets.causes.com/bill/photo/s151-116/featured_pallone-thune-telephone-robocall-abuse-criminal-enforcement-and-deterrence-act-1577826078.jpg","featured_large":"https://assets.causes.com/bill/photo/s151-116/featured_large_pallone-thune-telephone-robocall-abuse-criminal-enforcement-and-deterrence-act-1577826078.jpg","shareable":"https://n.causes.com/share-images/bills/s151-116.png"},"introduced_on":"2019-01-16","title_override":"Should Federal Agencies Coordinate Efforts to Crack Down on Robocall Scams?","summary_override":"

This bill — the TRACED Act — would crack down on illegal robocall scams by giving the relevant federal agencies more time and resources to find and prosecute scammers and increasing civil forfeiture penalties for these crimes.

Specifically, this bill would:

Broaden the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) authority to levy civil penalties of up to $10,000 per call on people who intentionally flout telemarketing restrictions;
Extend the window for the FCC to catch and take civil enforcement action against intentional violations to three years after a robocall is placed from one year (under current law) by at least another year;
Bring the FCC, Dept. of Justice (DOJ), Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Commerce Dept., State Dept., Dept. of Homeland Security (DHS), Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and other relevant federal agencies, as well as state attorneys general and other non-federal entities, together in an interagency working group to study and report to Congress on improving deterrence and criminal prosecution at the federal and state level of robocall scams (specifically, the working group would look into how to better enforce against robocalls by examining issues like the types of laws, policies, or constraints that could be inhibiting enforcement);
Require voice service providers to adopt call authentication technologies, enabling a telephone carrier to verify that incoming calls are legitimate before they reach consumers’ phones within 18 months of this bill’s enactment, and require the FCC to assess this technology’s implementation and efficacy;
Direct the FCC to initiate a rulemaking to help protect subscribers from receiving unwanted calls or texts from callers using unauthenticated numbers; and
Direct the FCC to create a rule establishing when a provider may block a voice call based on information provided by the call authentication framework as well as a process for adversely affected calling parties to verify their calls’ authenticity, as well as a process to allow a calling party adversely affected by the framework to verify their calls' authenticity.

The FCC would also be required to initiate a proceeding to determine whether its policies regarding access to number resources could be modified to help reduce access to numbers by potential robocall violators.

This bill’s full title is the Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence (TRACED) Act.

","official_title":"A bill to deter criminal robocall violations and improve enforcement of section 227(b) of the Communications Act of 1934, and for other purposes.","short_title":"Pallone-Thune Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence Act","popular_title":null,"short_summary":"Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence Act or the TRACED Act This bill implements a forfeiture penalty for violations (with or without intent) of the prohibition on certain robocalls. The bill also removes an annual reporting requirement for enforcement relating to unsolicited facsimile advertisements. The bill requires voice service providers to develop call authentication technologies. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) shall promulgate rules establishing whe...","summarized":true,"cost":null,"cost_commentary":"The CBO estimates that this bill would cost the FCC $1 million over the 2019-2024 period to implement. However, because the FCC can collect fees to offset its regulatory costs, the CBO estimates that the net cost would be negligible.","impact":"Phone customers; robocalls; robocall scams; voice service providers; FCC; DOJ; FTC; Commerce Dept.; State Dept.; DHS; CFPB; and state attorneys general.","argument_for":"Robocall scams are on the rise, endangering customers. Improving federal agencies’ coordination of efforts to combat these crimes will protect vulnerable customers and ensure that perpetrators of these crimes are found and punished.","argument_against":"The FCC is already cracking down on robocall scams. There’s no need for this bill, or for an interagency working group that’ll cost numerous agencies’ time and effort to convene.","bill_type":"s","published":true,"type":"FederalBill","id":"s151-116","bill_id":"s151-116","formal_id":"S. 151","chamber":"senate","congress":116,"last_action_at":"2019-12-30T00:00:00.000Z","active":false,"enacted":false,"enacted_at":null,"vetoed":false,"last_vote_at":"2019-12-04T00:00:00.000Z","debated_on":"2019-11-30T01:46:24.000Z","congress_url":"https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/151","plain_text_url":null,"shareable_image_url":"https://n.causes.com/share-images/bills/s151-116.png","congress_full_text_url":"https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/151/text","is_current_congress":true,"last_version_on":null,"related_bill_ids":null,"progress":"Awaiting Signature","house_passage_result":true,"senate_passage_result":true,"position_count":495,"committees":[{"name":"Committee on Energy and Commerce","chamber":"house","committee_id":"HSIF","subcommittee":false},{"name":"Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation","chamber":"senate","committee_id":"SSCM","subcommittee":false}],"links":{"rollCalls":"/api/roll_calls?bill_id=s151-116","details":"/api/bills/s151-116/details","sharingMessage":"/api/sharing_messages/s151-116","positionsFor":"/api/bills/s151-116/positions/for","positionsAgainst":"/api/bills/s151-116/positions/against"},"upcoming":false,"cosponsors_count":84,"slug":"s151-116-pallone-thune-telephone-robocall-abuse-criminal-enforcement-and-deterrence-act","latest_chamber_votes_id":"s151-116","official_url":null,"target_video":true,"following":false,"vote_count":2419,"yea_vote_count":2335,"nay_vote_count":80,"passed_house":true,"passed_senate":true,"vote_id":null,"my_position_id":null,"topic_ids":["crime-and-police"],"issue_ids":["crime-and-police","consumer-safety","federal-agencies"],"sponsor_id":538}],"votes":[],"issues":[{"id":"crime-and-police","name":"Crime & Police","slug":"crime-and-police","description":"Federal legislation related to the prevention of crimes(from assault to organized crime to juvenile crime), firearms and explosives, correctional facilities and terrorism. 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There are too many bad actors who want nothing more than to bilk unsuspecting people of their savings. Robocallers and telemarketers have no soul.","argument_against":null,"show_argument_for":true,"show_argument_against":false,"upvote_count":0,"upvotes_for_count":0,"upvotes_against_count":null,"has_upvoted":false,"endorsement_count":0,"links":{"self":"https://www.causes.com/positions/61db7ad8-5d6a-4324-80cf-5a8e89254c9e"},"body":"I am not personally susceptible to robocalls, but there are many people, mostly Seniors and the higher functioning mentally impaired, who are. There are too many bad actors who want nothing more than to bilk unsuspecting people of their savings. Robocallers and telemarketers have no soul.","stance":"yea","created_at":"2019-12-04T18:10:50.669Z","shareable_image_url":"https://n.causes.com/share-images/positions/61db7ad8-5d6a-4324-80cf-5a8e89254c9e.png","note_color":null,"note_text":null,"bill_id":"s151-116","user_id":"Ampgp1xZ","endorser_ids":[]}}

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Should Federal Agencies Coordinate Efforts to Crack Down on Robocall Scams?