I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 946 

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to clarify the prohibitions on 

making robocalls, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 4, 2019 

Mr. PALLONE (for himself, Ms. ESHOO, Mr. ENGEL, Ms. DEGETTE, Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania, Ms. MATSUI, Mr. MCNERNEY, Mr. 

WELCH, Mr. LUJA ́N, Ms. CLARKE of New York, Mr. LOEBSACK, Mr. 

VEASEY, Mr. MCEACHIN, Mr. SOTO, Mr. O’HALLERAN, Mr. CONNOLLY, 

Ms. NORTON, and Mr. CRIST) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to clarify the 

prohibitions on making robocalls, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Stopping Bad 

5 Robocalls Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. PROHIBITIONS ON MAKING ROBOCALLS. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 227 of the Communica8 tions Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 227) is amended— 


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1 (1) in subsection (a), by amending paragraph 

2 (1) to read as follows: 

3 ‘‘(1) The term ‘robocall’ means a call made (in4 cluding a text message sent)— 

5 ‘‘(A) using equipment that makes a series 

6 of calls to stored telephone numbers, including 

7 numbers stored on a list, or to telephone num8 bers produced using a random or sequential 

9 number generator, except for a call made using 

10 only equipment that the caller demonstrates re11 quires substantial additional human interven12 tion to dial or place a call after a human initi13 ates the series of calls; or 

14 ‘‘(B) using an artificial or prerecorded 

15 voice.’’; 

16 (2) in subsection (b)— 

17 (A) in paragraph (1)— 

18 (i) in subparagraph (A)— 

19 (I) by striking ‘‘any call’’ and in20 serting ‘‘any robocall’’; and 

21 (II) by striking ‘‘using any auto22 matic telephone dialing system or an 

23 artificial or prerecorded voice’’; 

24 (ii) in subparagraph (B)— 


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1 (I) by striking ‘‘telephone call’’ 

2 and inserting ‘‘robocall’’; and 

3 (II) by striking ‘‘using an artifi4 cial or prerecorded voice to deliver a 

5 message’’; and 

6 (iii) in subparagraph (D), by striking 

7 ‘‘use an automatic telephone dialing sys8 tem’’ and inserting ‘‘make robocalls’’; and 

9 (B) in paragraph (2)(A), by striking ‘‘calls 

10 made using an artificial or prerecorded voice’’ 

11 and inserting ‘‘robocalls’’; 

12 (3) in subsection (d)— 

13 (A) in paragraph (1)(A)— 

14 (i) by striking ‘‘telephone call using 

15 any automatic telephone dialing system’’ 

16 and inserting ‘‘robocall described in sub17 section (a)(1)(A) using any equipment’’; 

18 and 

19 (ii) by striking ‘‘or automatic tele20 phone dialing system’’ and inserting ‘‘or to 

21 make any robocall described in subsection 

22 (a)(1)(A)’’; and 

23 (B) in paragraph (3)— 

24 (i) in the heading, by inserting 

25 ‘‘ROBOCALL’’ after ‘‘VOICE’’; 


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1 (ii) in the first sentence, by striking 

2 ‘‘artificial or prerecorded voice message via 

3 telephone’’ and inserting ‘‘robocall de4 scribed in subsection (a)(1)(B)’’; and 

5 (iii) in subparagraph (A), by striking 

6 ‘‘all artificial or prerecorded telephone 

7 messages’’ and inserting ‘‘the artificial or 

8 prerecorded voice message contained in 

9 any robocall described in such subsection’’; 

10 and 

11 (4) in subsection (f)(1)— 

12 (A) by striking subparagraphs (B) and (C) 

13 and inserting the following: 

14 ‘‘(B) the making of robocalls; or’’; and 

15 (B) by redesignating subparagraph (D) as 

16 subparagraph (C). 

17 (b) MANNER OF REVOKING PRIOR EXPRESS CON18 SENT.—Section 227(b) of the Communications Act of 

19 1934 (47 U.S.C. 227(b)) is amended— 

20 (1) by redesignating paragraph (3) as para21 graph (7); and 

22 (2) by inserting after paragraph (2) the fol23 lowing: 

24 ‘‘(3) MANNER OF REVOKING PRIOR EXPRESS

25 CONSENT.—For purposes of this subsection, prior 


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1 express consent may be revoked at any time and in 

2 any reasonable manner, regardless of the context in 

3 which consent was provided.’’. 

4 (c) DEADLINE FOR REGULATIONS.—Not later than 

5 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 

6 Federal Communications Commission shall prescribe such 

7 regulations, or amend such existing regulations, as nec8 essary to implement the amendments made by this section. 

9 Such regulations shall include such clarifications regard10 ing descriptions of equipment and services as will, in the 

11 judgment of the Commission, effectuate the consumer pro12 tection purposes of section 227 of the Communications 

13 Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 227), prevent circumvention or 

14 evasion of such section, and facilitate compliance with 

15 such section. 

16 (d) REPORT TO CONGRESS ON TEXT MESSAGES.— 

17 Not later than 60 days after the date of the enactment 

18 of this Act, after notice and an opportunity for public com19 ment, the Federal Communications Commission shall sub20 mit to Congress a report on how best to limit the number 

21 of unwanted text messages received by consumers. Such 

22 report shall contain recommendations by the Commission, 

23 including recommendations for potential legislation. 


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1 SEC. 3. CONSUMER PROTECTIONS FOR EXEMPTIONS. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 227(b)(2) of the Commu3 nications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 227(b)(2)) is amended— 

4 (1) in subparagraph (G)(ii), by striking ‘‘; and’’ 

5 and inserting a semicolon; 

6 (2) in subparagraph (H), by striking the period 

7 at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

8 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

9 ‘‘(I) shall ensure that any exemption under 

10 subparagraph (B) or (C) contains requirements 

11 for calls made in reliance on the exemption with 

12 respect to— 

13 ‘‘(i) the classes or categories of par14 ties that may make such calls; 

15 ‘‘(ii) the classes or categories of par16 ties that may be called; 

17 ‘‘(iii) the purposes for which such 

18 calls may be made; 

19 ‘‘(iv) the number of such calls that a 

20 calling party may make to a particular 

21 called party; and 

22 ‘‘(v) the obligation of the calling 

23 party— 

24 ‘‘(I) to provide the called party 

25 with a conspicuous consumer choice 

26 mechanism that permits the called 


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1 party, at any time, to indicate that 

2 the called party wishes to stop receiv3 ing such calls from the calling party; 

4 and 

5 ‘‘(II) to stop making such calls to 

6 the called party if the called party so 

7 indicates.’’. 

8 (b) DEADLINE FOR REGULATIONS.—In the case of 

9 any exemption issued under subparagraph (B) or (C) of 

10 section 227(b)(2) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 

11 U.S.C. 227(b)(2)) before the date of the enactment of this 

12 Act, the Federal Communications Commission, shall, not 

13 later than 1 year after such date of enactment, prescribe 

14 such regulations, or amend such existing regulations, as 

15 necessary to ensure that such exemption meets the re16 quirements of subparagraph (I) of such section, as added 

17 by subsection (a). 

18 SEC. 4. REASSIGNED NUMBER DATABASE; SAFE HARBOR. 

19 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 227(b) of the Commu20 nications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 227(b)), as amended by 

21 section 2(b), is further amended by inserting after para22 graph (3) the following: 

23 ‘‘(4) REASSIGNED NUMBER DATABASE; SAFE

24 HARBOR.— 


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1 ‘‘(A) DATABASE REQUIRED.—The Com2 mission shall establish a nationwide database of 

3 telephone numbers that have been reassigned in 

4 order to provide persons making calls subject to 

5 this subsection with the comprehensive and 

6 timely information that such persons need to 

7 avoid making calls without the prior express 

8 consent of the called party because of the reas9 signment of the number called to a different 

10 party. The Commission shall ensure that infor11 mation in the database required by this sub12 paragraph is up-to-date. 

13 ‘‘(B) PROVIDER PARTICIPATION RE14 QUIRED.—The Commission shall require each 

15 covered provider to report to the database re16 quired by subparagraph (A) the reassignment 

17 of any telephone number to or from a sub18 scriber of such provider. 

19 ‘‘(C) SAFE HARBOR.—Beginning on the 

20 date of the establishment of the database re21 quired by subparagraph (A), in the case of a 

22 person who makes a call subject to this sub23 section to a telephone number that has been re24 assigned from a subscriber who had given prior 

25 express consent to be called by such person, 


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1 such person shall not be found in violation of 

2 this subsection on the basis of not having the 

3 prior express consent of the called party to 

4 make such call, if such person shows that— 

5 ‘‘(i) such person had the prior express 

6 consent of such subscriber and such con7 sent had not been revoked as of the time 

8 of such call; 

9 ‘‘(ii) such person queried such data10 base before making such call, the query did 

11 not show such number as being reassigned 

12 from such subscriber, and such person 

13 made such call within a reasonable period 

14 of time (as defined by the Commission) 

15 after such query; 

16 ‘‘(iii) the failure of such query to show 

17 such number as being reassigned from 

18 such subscriber resulted from an inaccu19 racy on the part of— 

20 ‘‘(I) the Commission or other en21 tity administering such database; or 

22 ‘‘(II) a covered provider in reas23 signing such number or in making a 

24 report to such database about the re25 assignment of such number; 


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1 ‘‘(iv) such person did not otherwise 

2 know or have any reason to know that 

3 such number had been reassigned from 

4 such subscriber; 

5 ‘‘(v) such call would have complied 

6 with the requirements of this subsection 

7 but for the lack of the prior express con8 sent of the called party; and 

9 ‘‘(vi) such person— 

10 ‘‘(I) took affirmative steps to cor11 rect the internal records of such per12 son with respect to such number; and 

13 ‘‘(II) reported to such database 

14 any inaccuracy that such person dis15 covered with respect to such number 

16 in such database. 

17 ‘‘(D) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing 

18 in this paragraph shall be construed to preclude 

19 the Commission from contracting with a private 

20 entity to provide the database required by sub21 paragraph (A). 

22 ‘‘(E) COVERED PROVIDER DEFINED.—In 

23 this paragraph, the term ‘covered provider’ 

24 means a provider of voice service or text mesVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:50 Feb 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H946.IH H946

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1 saging service (as such terms are defined in 

2 subsection (e)(8)).’’. 

3 (b) CLARIFICATION OF DEFINITION OF CALLED

4 PARTY.— 

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 227(a) of the Com6 munications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 227(a)) is 

7 amended by adding at the end the following: 

8 ‘‘(6) The term ‘called party’ means, with re9 spect to a call, the current subscriber of the tele10 phone number to which the call is made, determined 

11 at the time when the call is made.’’. 

12 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Section 

13 227(d)(3)(B) of the Communications Act of 1934 

14 (47 U.S.C. 227(d)(3)(B)) is amended— 

15 (A) by striking ‘‘called party’s line’’ each 

16 place it appears and inserting ‘‘telephone line 

17 called’’; and 

18 (B) by striking ‘‘called party has hung up’’ 

19 and inserting ‘‘answering party has hung up’’. 

20 (c) DEADLINE FOR REGULATIONS AND ESTABLISH21 MENT OF DATABASE.—Not later than 1 year after the 

22 date of the enactment of this Act, the Federal Commu23 nications Commission shall— 

24 (1) prescribe regulations to implement the 

25 amendments made by this section; and 


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1 (2) establish the database required by such 

2 amendments. 

3 (d) TRANSITIONAL RULE REGARDING DEFINITION

4 OF COVERED PROVIDER.—Subparagraph (E) of para5 graph (4) of subsection (b) of section 227 of the Commu6 nications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 227), as added by sub7 section (a) of this section, shall apply before the effective 

8 date of the amendment made to subsection (e)(8) of such 

9 section 227 by subparagraph (C) of section 503(a)(2) of 

10 division P of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018 

11 (Public Law 115–141) as if such amendment was already 

12 in effect. 

13 SEC. 5. ENFORCEMENT. 

14 (a) NO CITATION REQUIRED TO SEEK FORFEITURE

15 PENALTY.— 

16 (1) FOR ROBOCALL VIOLATIONS.—Section 

17 227(b) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 

18 U.S.C. 227(b)), as amended by sections 2(b) and 

19 4(a), is further amended by inserting after para20 graph (4) the following: 

21 ‘‘(5) NO CITATION REQUIRED TO SEEK FOR22 FEITURE PENALTY.—Paragraph (5) of section 

23 503(b) shall not apply in the case of a violation of 

24 this subsection.’’. 


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1 (2) FOR CALLER IDENTIFICATION INFORMA2 TION VIOLATIONS.—Section 227(e)(5)(A)(iii) of the 

3 Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 

4 227(e)(5)(A)(iii)) is amended by adding at the end 

5 the following: ‘‘Paragraph (5) of section 503(b) shall 

6 not apply in the case of a violation of this sub7 section.’’. 

8 (b) 4-YEAR STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS.— 

9 (1) FOR ROBOCALL VIOLATIONS.—Section 

10 227(b) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 

11 U.S.C. 227(b)), as amended by sections 2(b) and 

12 4(a) and subsection (a)(1) of this section, is further 

13 amended by inserting after paragraph (5) the fol14 lowing: 

15 ‘‘(6) 4-YEAR STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS.—Not16 withstanding paragraph (6) of section 503(b), no 

17 forfeiture penalty for violation of this subsection 

18 shall be determined or imposed against any person 

19 if the violation charged occurred more than 4 years 

20 prior to the date of issuance of the notice required 

21 by paragraph (3) of such section or the notice of ap22 parent liability required by paragraph (4) of such 

23 section (as the case may be).’’. 

24 (2) FOR CALLER IDENTIFICATION INFORMA25 TION VIOLATIONS.—Section 227(e)(5)(A)(iv) of the 


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1 Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 

2 227(e)(5)(A)(iv)) is amended— 

3 (A) in the heading, by striking ‘‘2-YEAR’’ 

4 and inserting ‘‘4-YEAR’’; and 

5 (B) by striking ‘‘2 years’’ and inserting ‘‘4 

6 years’’. 

7 SEC. 6. ANNUAL REPORT TO CONGRESS. 

8 Section 227 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 

9 U.S.C. 227) is further amended by adding at the end the 

10 following: 

11 ‘‘(i) ANNUAL REPORT TO CONGRESS ON ROBOCALLS

12 AND TRANSMISSION OF MISLEADING OR INACCURATE

13 CALLER IDENTIFICATION INFORMATION.— 

14 ‘‘(1) REPORT REQUIRED.—Not later than 1 

15 year after the date of the enactment of the Stopping 

16 Bad Robocalls Act, and annually thereafter, the 

17 Commission, after consultation with the Federal 

18 Trade Commission, shall submit to Congress a re19 port regarding enforcement by the Commission of 

20 subsections (b), (d), and (e) during the preceding 

21 calendar year. 

22 ‘‘(2) MATTERS FOR INCLUSION.—Each report 

23 required by paragraph (1) shall include the fol24 lowing: 


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1 ‘‘(A) The number of complaints received by 

2 the Commission during each of the preceding 

3 five calendar years, for each of the following 

4 categories: 

5 ‘‘(i) Complaints alleging that a con6 sumer received a robocall in violation of 

7 subsection (b). 

8 ‘‘(ii) Complaints alleging that a con9 sumer received a robocall in violation of 

10 the standards prescribed under subsection 

11 (d). 

12 ‘‘(iii) Complaints alleging that a con13 sumer received a call in connection with 

14 which misleading or inaccurate caller iden15 tification information was transmitted in 

16 violation of subsection (e). 

17 ‘‘(B) The number of citations issued by the 

18 Commission pursuant to section 503(b) during 

19 the preceding calendar year to enforce sub20 section (d), and details of each such citation. 

21 ‘‘(C) The number of notices of apparent li22 ability issued by the Commission pursuant to 

23 section 503(b) during the preceding calendar 

24 year to enforce subsections (b), (d), and (e), 


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1 and details of each such notice including the 

2 proposed forfeiture amount. 

3 ‘‘(D) The number of final orders imposing 

4 forfeiture penalties issued pursuant to section 

5 503(b) during the preceding calendar year to 

6 enforce such subsections, and details of each 

7 such order including the total forfeiture im8 posed. 

9 ‘‘(E) The amount of forfeiture penalties or 

10 criminal fines collected, during the preceding 

11 calendar year, by the Commission or the Attor12 ney General for violations of such subsections, 

13 and details of each case in which such a for14 feiture penalty or criminal fine was collected. 

15 ‘‘(F) Proposals for reducing by half the 

16 number of calls made in violation of such sub17 sections. 

18 ‘‘(G) An analysis of the contribution by 

19 providers of interconnected VoIP service and 

20 non-interconnected VoIP service that discount 

21 high-volume, short-duration calls to the total 

22 number of robocalls, and recommendations on 

23 how to address such contribution in order to de24 crease the total number of robocalls.’’. 


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1 SEC. 7. REGULATIONS RELATING TO CALLER IDENTIFICA2 TION INFORMATION AUTHENTICATION 

3 STANDARDS. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after the 

5 date of the enactment of this Act, the Commission shall 

6 prescribe regulations in WC Docket No. 17–97. 

7 (b) REQUIREMENTS FOR CALLER IDENTIFICATION

8 INFORMATION AUTHENTICATION TECHNOLOGY.— 

9 (1) IN GENERAL.—The regulations required by 

10 subsection (a) shall require providers of voice service 

11 to implement, by a date specified by the Commis12 sion, caller identification information authentication 

13 technology that has the ability to— 

14 (A) verify that any caller identification in15 formation transmitted in connection with a call 

16 (including a call originating outside the United 

17 States if the recipient is within the United 

18 States) is— 

19 (i) accurate; or 

20 (ii) exempted under the regulations 

21 promulgated under paragraph (3) of sec22 tion 227(e) of the Communications Act of 

23 1934 (47 U.S.C. 227(e)) from the prohibi24 tion under paragraph (1) of such section; 

25 and 


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1 (B) prevent a subscriber from receiving a 

2 call unless— 

3 (i) any caller identification informa4 tion transmitted in connection with such 

5 call is verified as described in subpara6 graph (A); or 

7 (ii) no caller identification information 

8 is transmitted in connection with such call, 

9 whether because a person has blocked the 

10 capability of a caller identification service 

11 to transmit such information in accordance 

12 with paragraph (2) of section 227(e) of the 

13 Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 

14 227(e)) or otherwise. 

15 (2) UNBLOCKING REQUESTS.—Such regulations 

16 shall require a provider of voice service to— 

17 (A) accept a request from a subscriber of 

18 such service, a calling party, or another pro19 vider of voice service for the caller identification 

20 information authentication technology required 

21 under paragraph (1) to allow the completion of 

22 a call in connection with which caller identifica23 tion information is transmitted but not verified 

24 as described in subparagraph (A) of such para25 graph; and 


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1 (B) if such request meets criteria pre2 scribed by the Commission in such regulations, 

3 grant such request. 

4 (3) NO ADDITIONAL COST TO SUBSCRIBERS.— 

5 Such regulations shall prohibit providers of voice 

6 service from making any additional charge to sub7 scribers for the caller identification information au8 thentication technology required under paragraph 

9 (1). 

10 (c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

11 (1) CALLER IDENTIFICATION INFORMATION.— 

12 The term ‘‘caller identification information’’ has the 

13 meaning given such term in section 227(e)(8) of the 

14 Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 227(e)(8)). 

15 (2) CALLER IDENTIFICATION SERVICE.—The 

16 term ‘‘caller identification service’’ has the meaning 

17 given such term in section 227(e)(8) of the Commu18 nications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 227(e)(8)). 

19 (3) COMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commission’’ 

20 means the Federal Communications Commission. 

21 (4) VOICE SERVICE.—The term ‘‘voice service’’ 

22 has the meaning given such term in section 

23 227(e)(8) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 

24 U.S.C. 227(e)(8)). This paragraph shall apply before 

25 the effective date of the amendment made to such 


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1 section by subparagraph (C) of section 503(a)(2) of 

2 division P of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 

3 2018 (Public Law 115–141) as if such amendment 

4 was already in effect. 

Æ 


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