Support Tools to Obliterate Pesky Robocalls Act or the STOP Robocalls Act
This bill provides measures to eliminate unlawful robocalls.
Specifically, the bill requires the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to establish a streamlined process whereby a private entity may voluntarily share information about unlawful robocalls or text messages and unlawful caller identification spoofing. In addition, the bill authorizes a telecommunications company to provide a free, opt-in robocall blocking service to its customers.
The FCC must also study and report on whether a Voice Over Internet Protocol service should be required to provide the FCC with its contact information and retain records of all calls transmitted over the service.
[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2386 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
116th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 2386
To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to provide for information
sharing regarding robocall and spoofing violations, to authorize the
provision of a robocall blocking service with opt-out customer
approval, and to provide for a study on information requirements for
certain VoIP service providers.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
April 29, 2019
Mr. Latta (for himself and Mr. Michael F. Doyle of Pennsylvania)
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on
Energy and Commerce
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to provide for information
sharing regarding robocall and spoofing violations, to authorize the
provision of a robocall blocking service with opt-out customer
approval, and to provide for a study on information requirements for
certain VoIP service providers.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Support Tools to Obliterate Pesky
Robocalls Act'' or the ``STOP Robocalls Act''.
SEC. 2. INFORMATION SHARING REGARDING ROBOCALL AND SPOOFING VIOLATIONS.
Section 227 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 227) is
amended by adding at the end the following:
``(i) Information Sharing.--Not later than 18 months after the date
of the enactment of this subsection, the Commission shall promulgate
regulations to establish a process that streamlines the ways in which a
private entity may voluntarily share with the Commission information
relating to--
``(1) a call made or a text message sent in violation of
subsection (b); or
``(2) a call or text message for which misleading or
inaccurate caller identification information was caused to be
transmitted in violation of subsection (e).''.
SEC. 3. ROBOCALL BLOCKING SERVICE WITH OPT-OUT CUSTOMER APPROVAL.
Section 227 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 227), as
amended by section 2, is further amended by adding at the end the
following:
``(j) Robocall Blocking Service With Opt-Out Customer Approval.--
``(1) In general.--A voice service provider may provide a
robocall blocking service to a customer on an informed opt-out
basis if the provider does not charge a fee in exchange for
such service.
``(2) Rules of construction.--
``(A) Informed opt-in basis.--Nothing in this
subsection shall be construed to prohibit a voice
service provider from providing a robocall blocking
service to customers on an informed opt-in basis,
whether or not in exchange for a fee.
``(B) Blocking calls without customer consent.--
Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to
prohibit a voice service provider from blocking calls
without customer consent as provided by rule or order
of the Commission.
``(3) Definitions.--In this subsection:
``(A) Robocall blocking service.--The term
`robocall blocking service' means a service or
technology that enables a voice service customer to
avoid receiving calls made in violation of subsection
(b).
``(B) Voice service.--The term `voice service' has
the meaning given such term in subsection (e)(8). This
subparagraph shall apply before the effective date of
the amendment made to such subsection by subparagraph
(C) of section 503(a)(2) of division P of the
Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018 (Public Law 115-
141) as if such amendment was already in effect.''.
SEC. 4. STUDY ON INFORMATION REQUIREMENTS FOR CERTAIN VOIP SERVICE
PROVIDERS.
(a) In General.--The Federal Communications Commission shall
conduct a study regarding whether to require a provider of covered VoIP
service to--
(1) provide to the Commission contact information for such
provider and keep such information current; and
(2) retain records relating to each call transmitted over
the covered VoIP service of such provider that are sufficient
to trace such call back to the source of such call.
(b) Report to Congress.--Not later than 18 months after the date of
the enactment of this Act, the Commission shall submit to Congress a
report on the results of the study conducted under subsection (a).
(c) Covered VoIP Service Defined.--In this section, the term
``covered VoIP service'' means a service that--
(1) is an interconnected VoIP service (as defined in
section 3 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 153));
or
(2) would be an interconnected VoIP service (as so defined)
except that the service permits users to terminate calls to the
public switched telephone network but does not permit users to
receive calls that originate on the public switched telephone
network.
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
Referred to the Subcommittee on Communications and Technology.
Subcommittee Hearings Held.
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