House Passes Bipartisan Bill to Crack Down on Robocall Violators

July 25, 2019
Press Release

House Passes Bipartisan Bill to Crack Down
on Robocall Violators

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, the House passed H.R. 3375, the Stopping Bad Robocalls Act, a bipartisan bill co-sponsored by Congressman Andy Kim, by a margin of 429 to 3.

"Today brings us one step closer to a big win for the American people against predatory robocallers," said Congressman Kim. "I've heard from our neighbors across New Jersey that they're sick and tired of these illegal calls, and I'm proud to work with my Democratic and Republican colleagues to pass this bill and bring robocall violators to justice."

The bill incorporated H.R. 3325, the Locking Up Robocallers Act of 2019, a bipartisan bill co-led by Congressman Kim, which directs the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to provide evidence of unlawful robocall violations to the Attorney General. This would strengthen enforcement of current robocall laws aimed at ending the scourge of predatory robocalls.

In addition, the bill gives consumers the ability to block unlawful calls in a consistent and transparent way, at no extra charge. The bill also gives Americans additional help controlling calls they consistently receive by ensuring telemarketers get consent before making calls.

According to the FCC, they receive over 200,000 complaints a year from residents receiving predatory robocalls. Another FCC report shows that an estimated 26.3 billion robocalls were made to mobile phones and more than 47 billion were made in total to phones in the U.S. in 2018.

"Every day, Americans' phones are flooded with unwanted robocalls, often originating from scammers," said NCTA, the internet and television association who endorsed the legislation. "Both the Locking Up Illegal Robocallers Act and the Ending One-Ring Scams Act take important actions to alleviate Illegal robocalls, and keep consumers safe from harmful schemes. While combatting robocalls is a complex challenge, we look forward to working with House members on passage of these two pieces of legislation."

In addition to NCTA, the bill was endorsed by Consumer Reports, AARP, Public Knowledge, US Telecom, and more.


###