Stopping Bad Robocalls Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 946 To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to clarify the prohibitions on making robocalls, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FEBRUARY 4, 2019 Mr. PALLONE (for himself, Ms. ESHOO, Mr. ENGEL, Ms. DEGETTE, Mr. MI- CHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania, Ms. MATSUI, Mr. MCNERNEY, Mr. WELCH, Mr. LUJA´N, Ms. CLARKE of New York, Mr. LOEBSACK, Mr. VEASEY, Mr. MCEACHIN, Mr. SOTO, Mr. O’HALLERAN, Mr. CONNOLLY, Ms. NORTON, and Mr. CRIST) introduced the following bill; which was re- ferred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce A BILL To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to clarify the prohibitions on making robocalls, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Stopping Bad 4 Robocalls Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. PROHIBITIONS ON MAKING ROBOCALLS. 6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 227 of the Communica- 7 tions Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 227) is amended— 8 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:50 Feb 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H946.IH H946 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 946 IH (1) in subsection (a), by amending paragraph 1 (1) to read as follows: 2 ‘‘(1) The term ‘robocall’ means a call made (in- 3 cluding a text message sent)— 4 ‘‘(A) using equipment that makes a series 5 of calls to stored telephone numbers, including 6 numbers stored on a list, or to telephone num- 7 bers produced using a random or sequential 8 number generator, except for a call made using 9 only equipment that the caller demonstrates re- 10 quires substantial additional human interven- 11 tion to dial or place a call after a human initi- 12 ates the series of calls; or 13 ‘‘(B) using an artificial or prerecorded 14 voice.’’; 15 (2) in subsection (b)— 16 (A) in paragraph (1)— 17 (i) in subparagraph (A)— 18 (I) by striking ‘‘any call’’ and in- 19 serting ‘‘any robocall’’; and 20 (II) by striking ‘‘using any auto- 21 matic telephone dialing system or an 22 artificial or prerecorded voice’’; 23 (ii) in subparagraph (B)— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:50 Feb 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H946.IH H946 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 946 IH (I) by striking ‘‘telephone call’’ 1 and inserting ‘‘robocall’’; and 2 (II) by striking ‘‘using an artifi- 3 cial or prerecorded voice to deliver a 4 message’’; and 5 (iii) in subparagraph (D), by striking 6 ‘‘use an automatic telephone dialing sys- 7 tem’’ and inserting ‘‘make robocalls’’; and 8 (B) in paragraph (2)(A), by striking ‘‘calls 9 made using an artificial or prerecorded voice’’ 10 and inserting ‘‘robocalls’’; 11 (3) in subsection (d)— 12 (A) in paragraph (1)(A)— 13 (i) by striking ‘‘telephone call using 14 any automatic telephone dialing system’’ 15 and inserting ‘‘robocall described in sub- 16 section (a)(1)(A) using any equipment’’; 17 and 18 (ii) by striking ‘‘or automatic tele- 19 phone dialing system’’ and inserting ‘‘or to 20 make any robocall described in subsection 21 (a)(1)(A)’’; and 22 (B) in paragraph (3)— 23 (i) in the heading, by inserting 24 ‘‘ROBOCALL’’ after ‘‘VOICE’’; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:50 Feb 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H946.IH H946 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 946 IH (ii) in the first sentence, by striking 1 ‘‘artificial or prerecorded voice message via 2 telephone’’ and inserting ‘‘robocall de- 3 scribed in subsection (a)(1)(B)’’; and 4 (iii) in subparagraph (A), by striking 5 ‘‘all artificial or prerecorded telephone 6 messages’’ and inserting ‘‘the artificial or 7 prerecorded voice message contained in 8 any robocall described in such subsection’’; 9 and 10 (4) in subsection (f)(1)— 11 (A) by striking subparagraphs (B) and (C) 12 and inserting the following: 13 ‘‘(B) the making of robocalls; or’’; and 14 (B) by redesignating subparagraph (D) as 15 subparagraph (C). 16 (b) MANNER OF REVOKING PRIOR EXPRESS CON- 17 SENT.—Section 227(b) of the Communications Act of 18 1934 (47 U.S.C. 227(b)) is amended— 19 (1) by redesignating paragraph (3) as para- 20 graph (7); and 21 (2) by inserting after paragraph (2) the fol- 22 lowing: 23 ‘‘(3) MANNER OF REVOKING PRIOR EXPRESS 24 CONSENT.—For purposes of this subsection, prior 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:50 Feb 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H946.IH H946 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 946 IH express consent may be revoked at any time and in 1 any reasonable manner, regardless of the context in 2 which consent was provided.’’. 3 (c) DEADLINE FOR REGULATIONS.—Not later than 4 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 5 Federal Communications Commission shall prescribe such 6 regulations, or amend such existing regulations, as nec- 7 essary to implement the amendments made by this section. 8 Such regulations shall include such clarifications regard- 9 ing descriptions of equipment and services as will, in the 10 judgment of the Commission, effectuate the consumer pro- 11 tection purposes of section 227 of the Communications 12 Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 227), prevent circumvention or 13 evasion of such section, and facilitate compliance with 14 such section. 15 (d) REPORT TO CONGRESS ON TEXT MESSAGES.— 16 Not later than 60 days after the date of the enactment 17 of this Act, after notice and an opportunity for public com- 18 ment, the Federal Communications Commission shall sub- 19 mit to Congress a report on how best to limit the number 20 of unwanted text messages received by consumers. Such 21 report shall contain recommendations by the Commission, 22 including recommendations for potential legislation. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:50 Feb 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H946.IH H946 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •HR 946 IH SEC. 3. CONSUMER PROTECTIONS FOR EXEMPTIONS. 1 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 227(b)(2) of the Commu- 2 nications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 227(b)(2)) is amended— 3 (1) in subparagraph (G)(ii), by striking ‘‘; and’’ 4 and inserting a semicolon; 5 (2) in subparagraph (H), by striking the period 6 at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 7 (3) by adding at the end the following: 8 ‘‘(I) shall ensure that any exemption under 9 subparagraph (B) or (C) contains requirements 10 for calls made in reliance on the exemption with 11 respect to— 12 ‘‘(i) the classes or categories of par- 13 ties that may make such calls; 14 ‘‘(ii) the classes or categories of par- 15 ties that may be called; 16 ‘‘(iii) the purposes for which such 17 calls may be made; 18 ‘‘(iv) the number of such calls that a 19 calling party may make to a particular 20 called party; and 21 ‘‘(v) the obligation of the calling 22 party— 23 ‘‘(I) to provide the called party 24 with a conspicuous consumer choice 25 mechanism that permits the called 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:50 Feb 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H946.IH H946 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •HR 946 IH party, at any time, to indicate that 1 the called party wishes to stop receiv- 2 ing such calls from the calling party; 3 and 4 ‘‘(II) to stop making such calls to 5 the called party if the called party so 6 indicates.’’. 7 (b) DEADLINE FOR REGULATIONS.—In the case of 8 any exemption issued under subparagraph (B) or (C) of 9 section 227(b)(2) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 10 U.S.C. 227(b)(2)) before the date of the enactment of this 11 Act, the Federal Communications Commission, shall, not 12 later than 1 year after such date of enactment, prescribe 13 such regulations, or amend such existing regulations, as 14 necessary to ensure that such exemption meets the re- 15 quirements of subparagraph (I) of such section, as added 16 by subsection (a). 17 SEC. 4. REASSIGNED NUMBER DATABASE; SAFE HARBOR. 18 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 227(b) of the Commu- 19 nications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 227(b)), as amended by 20 section 2(b), is further amended by inserting after para- 21 graph (3) the following: 22 ‘‘(4) REASSIGNED NUMBER DATABASE; SAFE 23 HARBOR.— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:50 Feb 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H946.IH H946 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 8 •HR 946 IH ‘‘(A) DATABASE REQUIRED.—The Com- 1 mission shall establish a nationwide database of 2 telephone numbers that have been reassigned in 3 order to provide persons making calls subject to 4 this subsection with the comprehensive and 5 timely information that such persons need to 6 avoid making calls without the prior express 7 consent of the called party because of the reas- 8 signment of the number called to a different 9 party. The Commission shall ensure that infor- 10 mation in the database required by this sub- 11 paragraph is up-to-date. 12 ‘‘(B) PROVIDER PARTICIPATION RE- 13 QUIRED.—The Commission shall require each 14 covered provider to report to the database re- 15 quired by subparagraph (A) the reassignment 16 of any telephone number to or from a sub- 17 scriber of such provider. 18 ‘‘(C) SAFE HARBOR.—Beginning on the 19 date of the establishment of the database re- 20 quired by subparagraph (A), in the case of a 21 person who makes a call subject to this sub- 22 section to a telephone number that has been re- 23 assigned from a subscriber who had given prior 24 express consent to be called by such person, 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:50 Feb 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H946.IH H946 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 9 •HR 946 IH such person shall not be found in violation of 1 this subsection on the basis of not having the 2 prior express consent of the called party to 3 make such call, if such person shows that— 4 ‘‘(i) such person had the prior express 5 consent of such subscriber and such con- 6 sent had not been revoked as of the time 7 of such call; 8 ‘‘(ii) such person queried such data- 9 base before making such call, the query did 10 not show such number as being reassigned 11 from such subscriber, and such person 12 made such call within a reasonable period 13 of time (as defined by the Commission) 14 after such query; 15 ‘‘(iii) the failure of such query to show 16 such number as being reassigned from 17 such subscriber resulted from an inaccu- 18 racy on the part of— 19 ‘‘(I) the Commission or other en- 20 tity administering such database; or 21 ‘‘(II) a covered provider in reas- 22 signing such number or in making a 23 report to such database about the re- 24 assignment of such number; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:50 Feb 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H946.IH H946 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 10 •HR 946 IH ‘‘(iv) such person did not otherwise 1 know or have any reason to know that 2 such number had been reassigned from 3 such subscriber; 4 ‘‘(v) such call would have complied 5 with the requirements of this subsection 6 but for the lack of the prior express con- 7 sent of the called party; and 8 ‘‘(vi) such person— 9 ‘‘(I) took affirmative steps to cor- 10 rect the internal records of such per- 11 son with respect to such number; and 12 ‘‘(II) reported to such database 13 any inaccuracy that such person dis- 14 covered with respect to such number 15 in such database. 16 ‘‘(D) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing 17 in this paragraph shall be construed to preclude 18 the Commission from contracting with a private 19 entity to provide the database required by sub- 20 paragraph (A). 21 ‘‘(E) COVERED PROVIDER DEFINED.—In 22 this paragraph, the term ‘covered provider’ 23 means a provider of voice service or text mes- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:50 Feb 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H946.IH H946 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 11 •HR 946 IH saging service (as such terms are defined in 1 subsection (e)(8)).’’. 2 (b) CLARIFICATION OF DEFINITION OF CALLED 3 PARTY.— 4 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 227(a) of the Com- 5 munications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 227(a)) is 6 amended by adding at the end the following: 7 ‘‘(6) The term ‘called party’ means, with re- 8 spect to a call, the current subscriber of the tele- 9 phone number to which the call is made, determined 10 at the time when the call is made.’’. 11 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Section 12 227(d)(3)(B) of the Communications Act of 1934 13 (47 U.S.C. 227(d)(3)(B)) is amended— 14 (A) by striking ‘‘called party’s line’’ each 15 place it appears and inserting ‘‘telephone line 16 called’’; and 17 (B) by striking ‘‘called party has hung up’’ 18 and inserting ‘‘answering party has hung up’’. 19 (c) DEADLINE FOR REGULATIONS AND ESTABLISH- 20 MENT OF DATABASE.—Not later than 1 year after the 21 date of the enactment of this Act, the Federal Commu- 22 nications Commission shall— 23 (1) prescribe regulations to implement the 24 amendments made by this section; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:50 Feb 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H946.IH H946 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 12 •HR 946 IH (2) establish the database required by such 1 amendments. 2 (d) TRANSITIONAL RULE REGARDING DEFINITION 3 OF COVERED PROVIDER.—Subparagraph (E) of para- 4 graph (4) of subsection (b) of section 227 of the Commu- 5 nications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 227), as added by sub- 6 section (a) of this section, shall apply before the effective 7 date of the amendment made to subsection (e)(8) of such 8 section 227 by subparagraph (C) of section 503(a)(2) of 9 division P of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018 10 (Public Law 115–141) as if such amendment was already 11 in effect. 12 SEC. 5. ENFORCEMENT. 13 (a) NO CITATION REQUIRED TO SEEK FORFEITURE 14 PENALTY.— 15 (1) FOR ROBOCALL VIOLATIONS.—Section 16 227(b) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 17 U.S.C. 227(b)), as amended by sections 2(b) and 18 4(a), is further amended by inserting after para- 19 graph (4) the following: 20 ‘‘(5) NO CITATION REQUIRED TO SEEK FOR- 21 FEITURE PENALTY.—Paragraph (5) of section 22 503(b) shall not apply in the case of a violation of 23 this subsection.’’. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:50 Feb 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H946.IH H946 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 13 •HR 946 IH (2) FOR CALLER IDENTIFICATION INFORMA- 1 TION VIOLATIONS.—Section 227(e)(5)(A)(iii) of the 2 Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 3 227(e)(5)(A)(iii)) is amended by adding at the end 4 the following: ‘‘Paragraph (5) of section 503(b) shall 5 not apply in the case of a violation of this sub- 6 section.’’. 7 (b) 4-YEAR STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS.— 8 (1) FOR ROBOCALL VIOLATIONS.—Section 9 227(b) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 10 U.S.C. 227(b)), as amended by sections 2(b) [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]