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[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2601 Referred in Senate (RFS)]

  1st Session
                                H. R. 2601

_______________________________________________________________________

                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           December 12, 2007

    Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, 
                      Science, and Transportation

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 AN ACT

 
To extend the authority of the Federal Trade Commission to collect fees 
   to administer and enforce the provisions relating to the ``Do-not-
            call'' registry of the Telemarketing Sales Rule.

    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 ``Do-Not-Call Registry Fee Extension 
Act of 2007''.

SEC. 2. FEES FOR ACCESS TO REGISTRY.

    Section 2, of the Do-Not-Call Implementation Act (15 U.S.C. 6101 
note) is amended to read as follows:

``SEC. 2. TELEMARKETING SALES RULE; DO-NOT-CALL REGISTRY FEES.

    ``(a) In General.--The Federal Trade Commission shall assess and 
collect an annual fee pursuant to this section in order to implement 
and enforce the `do-not-call' registry as provided for in section 
310.4(b)(1)(iii) of title 16, Code of Federal Regulations, or any other 
regulation issued by the Commission under section 3 of the 
Telemarketing and Consumer Fraud and Abuse Prevention Act (15 U.S.C. 
6102).
    ``(b) Annual Fees.--
            ``(1) In general.--The Commission shall charge each person 
        who accesses the `do-not-call' registry an annual fee that is 
        equal to the lesser of--
                    ``(A) $54 for each area code of data accessed from 
                the registry; or
                    ``(B) $14,850 for access to every area code of data 
                contained in the registry.
            ``(2) Exception.--The Commission shall not charge a fee to 
        any person--
                    ``(A) for accessing the first 5 area codes of data; 
                or
                    ``(B) for accessing area codes of data in the 
                registry if the person is permitted to access, but is 
                not required to access, the `do-not-call' registry 
                under section 310 of title 16, Code of Federal 
                Regulations, section 64.1200 of title 47, Code of 
                Federal Regulations, or any other Federal regulation or 
                law.
            ``(3) Duration of access.--
                    ``(A) In general.--The Commission shall allow each 
                person who pays the annual fee described in paragraph 
                (1), each person excepted under paragraph (2) from 
                paying the annual fee, and each person excepted from 
                paying an annual fee under section 310.4(b)(1)(iii)(B) 
                of title 16, Code of Federal Regulations, to access the 
                area codes of data in the `do-not-call' registry for 
                which the person has paid during that person's annual 
                period.
                    ``(B) Annual period.--In this paragraph, the term 
                `annual period' means the 12-month period beginning on 
                the first day of the month in which a person pays the 
                fee described in paragraph (1).
    ``(c) Additional Fees.--
            ``(1) In general.--The Commission shall charge a person 
        required to pay an annual fee under subsection (b) an 
        additional fee for each additional area code of data the person 
        wishes to access during that person's annual period.
            ``(2) Rates.--For each additional area code of data to be 
        accessed during the person's annual period, the Commission 
        shall charge--
                    ``(A) $54 for access to such data if access to the 
                area code of data is first requested during the first 6 
                months of the person's annual period; or
                    ``(B) $27 for access to such data if access to the 
                area code of data is first requested after the first 6 
                months of the person's annual period.
    ``(d) Adjustment of Fees.--
            ``(1) In general.--
                    ``(A) Fiscal year 2009.--The dollar amount 
                described in subsection (b) or (c) is the amount to be 
                charged for fiscal year 2009.
                    ``(B) Fiscal years after 2009.--For each fiscal 
                year beginning after fiscal year 2009, each dollar 
                amount in subsection (b)(1) and (c)(2) shall be 
                increased by an amount equal to--
                            ``(i) the dollar amount in paragraph (b)(1) 
                        or (c)(2), whichever is applicable, multiplied 
                        by
                            ``(ii) the percentage (if any) by which the 
                        CPI for the most recently ended 12-month period 
                        ending on June 30 exceeds the baseline CPI.
            ``(2) Rounding.--Any increase under subparagraph (B) shall 
        be rounded to the nearest dollar.
            ``(3) Changes less than 1 percent.--The Commission shall 
        not adjust the fees under this section if the change in the CPI 
        is less than 1 percent.
            ``(4) Publication.--Not later than September 1 of each year 
        the Commission shall publish in the Federal Register the 
        adjustments to the applicable fees, if any, made under this 
        subsection.
            ``(5) Definitions.--In this subsection:
                    ``(A) CPI.--The term `CPI' means the average of the 
                monthly consumer price index (for all urban consumers 
                published by the Department of Labor).
                    ``(B) Baseline cpi.--The term `baseline CPI' means 
                the CPI for the 12-month period ending June 30, 2008.
    ``(e) Prohibition Against Fee Sharing.--No person may enter into or 
participate in an arrangement (as such term is used in section 310.8(c) 
of the Commission's regulations (16 CFR 310.8(c))) to share any fee 
required by subsection (b) or (c), including any arrangement to divide 
the costs to access the registry among various clients of a 
telemarketer or service provider.
    ``(f) Handling of Fees.--
            ``(1) In general.--The commission shall deposit and credit 
        as offsetting collections any fee collected under this section 
        in the account `Federal Trade Commission--Salaries and 
        Expenses', and such sums shall remain available until expended.
            ``(2) Limitation.--No amount shall be collected as a fee 
        under this section for any fiscal year except to the extent 
        provided in advance by appropriations Acts.''.

SEC. 3. REPORT.

    Section 4 of the Do-Not-Call Implementation Act (15 U.S.C. 6101 
note) is amended to read as follows:

``SEC. 4. REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.

    ``(a) Biennial Reports.--Not later than December 31, 2009, and 
biennially thereafter, the Federal Trade Commission, in consultation 
with the Federal Communications Commission, shall transmit a report to 
the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and the 
House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce that 
includes--
            ``(1) the number of consumers who have placed their 
        telephone numbers on the registry;
            ``(2) the number of persons paying fees for access to the 
        registry and the amount of such fees;
            ``(3) the impact on the `do-not-call' registry of--
                    ``(A) the 5-year reregistration requirement;
                    ``(B) new telecommunications technology; and
                    ``(C) number portability and abandoned telephone 
                numbers; and
            ``(4) the impact of the established business relationship 
        exception on businesses and consumers.
    ``(b) Additional Report.--Not later than December 31, 2009, the 
Federal Trade Commission, in consultation with the Federal 
Communications Commission, shall transmit a report to the Senate 
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and the House of 
Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce that includes--
            ``(1) the effectiveness of do-not-call outreach and 
        enforcement efforts with regard to senior citizens and 
        immigrant communities;
            ``(2) the impact of the exceptions to the do-not-call 
        registry on businesses and consumers, including an analysis of 
        the effectiveness of the registry and consumer perceptions of 
        the registry's effectiveness; and
            ``(3) the impact of abandoned calls made by predictive 
        dialing devices on do-not-call enforcement.''.

SEC. 4. RULEMAKING.

    The Federal Trade Commission may issue rules, in accordance with 
section 553 of title 5, United States Code, as necessary and 
appropriate to carry out the amendments to the Do-Not-Call 
Implementation Act (15 U.S.C. 6101 note) made by this Act.

            Passed the House of Representatives December 11, 2007.

            Attest:

                                            LORRAINE C. MILLER,

                                                                 Clerk.
```