Senate Passes Anti-Robocall Traced Act 97-1
The Senate passed the Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence (Traced) Act (S-151) Thursday on a 97-1 vote, largely as expected (see 1905220049). Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., had aimed as recently as Wednesday to move the…
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measure via unanimous consent (see 1904110066), but an objection from Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., necessitated a roll call vote, lobbyists told us. Paul, the sole no vote, didn't comment. Sens. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., and Mike Rounds, R-S.D., didn't vote. S-151 and House companion HR-2015 would increase FCC authority, allowing the agency to levy civil penalties of up to $10,000 per call when the caller intentionally flouts the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. The bill would extend to three years the window for civil enforcement. The agency also would be required to begin a rulemaking to help protect subscribers from receiving unwanted calls or texts from callers using unauthenticated numbers (see 1901170039). Thune and Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts, S-151's lead Democratic co-sponsor, lauded the bill's passage during a news conference. “It's an example” of an issue “that we can come together on” and reach a bipartisan consensus, Thune said. “We hope” the House “will be able to pass” it, too. House Commerce Committee leaders are negotiating on a bipartisan anti-robocalls bill but none of the seven measures the House Communications Subcommittee examined during a late April hearing was HR-2015/S-151 (see 1904300212). FCC Chairman Ajit Pai praised the Senate for clearing the bill, saying its grant of further powers to the FCC “like increased fines, longer statutes of limitations, and removing citation requirements which obligate us to warn some robocallers before penalizing them, will significantly improve our already strong robocall enforcement efforts.” Commissioner Brendan Carr believes the legislation would allow the FCC to “continue our crack down on these annoying calls.” Commissioners are set to vote during their June 6 meeting on a declaratory ruling allowing carriers to block unwanted calls to their customers “by default” and giving consumers the ability to block callers not on their contact list. An accompanying Further NPRM will ask how caller ID authentication standards can help with call blocking (see 1905150041). Consumer Reports, NCTA, USTelecom and Verizon also praised Senate passage of S-151.