Pallone, Walden Say They're Very Close to Deal on Anti-Robocalls Bill
Lawmakers expressed confidence Tuesday about prospects for Congress to pass anti-robocalls legislation this year. Three House Commerce Committee leaders said during a USTelecom event an agreement on a compromise bill may be very near. House Commerce Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J., and ranking member Greg Walden, R-Ore., have been negotiating on a bill that combines elements from the Stopping Bad Robocalls Act (HR-946) and six other measures the Communications Subcommittee examined in April (see 1904300212).
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Pallone hopes to be able to introduce a compromise bill within the next week. “We're pretty close to coming up with a draft” measure that can get bipartisan support, but “we're not there yet,” he said. Pallone said it won't include only language from HR-946, which would clarify the definition of a robocall and clarify exemptions to the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. It would create a national database of reassigned phone numbers and require FCC-FTC cooperation to reduce abusive robocalls (see 1902040043).
Walden told us negotiations are now down to “one or two sticking points,” including “making sure we get the right wording there to ensure we're attacking [only] the illegal robocalls.” He wants a “safe harbor” provision to shield carriers if they follow the rules but block a call that isn't a robocall (see 1905150041). Walden said he had hoped to “hear the good news” on a deal Tuesday morning, before the event. Lobbyists had believed an announcement on a legislative deal could have happened at the event if negotiations had progressed further.
Walden and House Communications Subcommittee ranking member Bob Latta, R-Ohio, were hopeful about talks with Pallone and other Democrats on a bipartisan compromise. Latta supported including language from his Support Tools to Obliterate Pesky (Stop) Robocalls Act (HR-2386), which would allow carriers to provide robocall blocking technology to consumers on an opt-out basis. It would require the FCC issue rules for interconnected VoIP providers to mandate more call record retention obligations and rules to streamline private entities' sharing of robocall and spoofing information with the agency (see 1904290166).
Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., said he's optimistic about the chances a conference committee can successfully combine elements from the pending House Commerce measure and the Senate-passed Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence (Traced) Act (see 1905230048). 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 TCPA (see 1901170039).
“Without question, if there are no other bills signed into law this year by [President Donald Trump], there will be one on robocalls,” Markey said. The robocalls issue is “bringing us together as a Congress. It’s absolutely beautiful.” There have been questions about how lawmakers would reconcile S-151 with a compromise House measure since House Commerce Democrats weren't considering HR-2015 as part of their talks.
House Communications Senior Democratic Counsel Gerald Leverich and Alex Sachtjen, telecom aide to Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., were optimistic about chances for anti-robocalls legislation. “Ultimately, what we have to do [via a bill] is make sure that consumers continue to have trust in the phone system,” Leverich said. There “isn't going to be one simple solution” but an important aspect of final legislation must be to streamline the FCC's enforcement process, something addressed in both S-151 and HR-946. It's “clear” the FCC is being “hampered” by the limits of their current enforcement powers, Sachtjen said.
FCC 3-2 adoption last week of a declaratory ruling allowing carriers to block unwanted robocalls by default (see 1906060056) means “it’s time for voice service providers to implement call blocking by default as soon as possible,” said Chairman Ajit Pai during the event. “I can think of few things you could do to make your customers happier than curbing these unwanted calls.” He also noted advancement of a Further NPRM that asks about additional steps and includes a proposal to mandate secure handling of asserted information using tokens and secure telephone identity revisited technology if major voice providers don’t comply with demands Shaken/Stir be implemented by year-end.
“The quickest and smoothest way to get this done is through a voluntary, industry-led process” and “I’ve been encouraged by the progress that has been made to date,” Pai said. “But I’ve also made clear that if this deadline is not met, the FCC will act to ensure that Shaken/Stir is implemented.”