I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2015 

To deter criminal robocall violations and improve enforcement of section 

227(b) of the Communications Act of 1934, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 1, 2019 

Mr. KUSTOFF of Tennessee (for himself, Mr. BRINDISI, and Mr. SMUCKER) 

introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To deter criminal robocall violations and improve enforcement of section 227(b) of the Communications Act of 

1934, 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 ‘‘Telephone Robocall 

5 Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence Act’’ or the 

6 ‘‘TRACED Act’’. 

7 SEC. 2. FORFEITURE. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 227 of the Communica9 tions Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 227) is amended— 


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1 (1) in subsection (b), by adding at the end the 

2 following: 

3 ‘‘(4) CIVIL FORFEITURE.— 

4 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Any person that is de5 termined by the Commission, in accordance 

6 with paragraph (3) or (4) of section 503(b), to 

7 have violated any provision of this subsection 

8 shall be liable to the United States for a for9 feiture penalty pursuant to section 503(b)(1). 

10 The amount of the forfeiture penalty deter11 mined under this subparagraph shall be deter12 mined in accordance with subparagraphs (A) 

13 through (F) of section 503(b)(2). 

14 ‘‘(B) VIOLATION WITH INTENT.—Any per15 son that is determined by the Commission, in 

16 accordance with paragraph (3) or (4) of section 

17 503(b), to have violated this subsection with the 

18 intent to cause such violation shall be liable to 

19 the United States for a forfeiture penalty. The 

20 amount of the forfeiture penalty determined 

21 under this subparagraph shall be equal to an 

22 amount determined in accordance with subpara23 graphs (A) through (F) of section 503(b)(2) 

24 plus an additional penalty not to exceed 

25 $10,000. 


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1 ‘‘(C) RECOVERY.—Any forfeiture penalty 

2 determined under subparagraph (A) or (B) 

3 shall be recoverable under section 504(a). 

4 ‘‘(D) PROCEDURE.—No forfeiture liability 

5 shall be determined under subparagraph (A) or 

6 (B) against any person unless such person re7 ceives the notice required by paragraph (3) or 

8 (4) of section 503(b). 

9 ‘‘(E) STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS.—No for10 feiture penalty shall be determined or imposed 

11 against any person— 

12 ‘‘(i) under subparagraph (A) if the 

13 violation charged occurred more than 1 

14 year prior to the date of issuance of the re15 quired notice or notice of apparent liabil16 ity; and 

17 ‘‘(ii) under subparagraph (B) if the 

18 violation charged occurred more than 3 

19 years prior to the date of issuance of the 

20 required notice or notice of apparent liabil21 ity. 

22 ‘‘(F) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Notwith23 standing any law to the contrary, the Commis24 sion may not determine or impose a forfeiture 


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1 penalty on a person under both subparagraphs 

2 (A) and (B) based on the same conduct.’’; and 

3 (2) by striking subsection (h). 

4 (b) APPLICABILITY.—The amendments made by this 

5 section shall not affect any action or proceeding com6 menced before and pending on the date of enactment of 

7 this Act. 

8 (c) DEADLINE FOR REGULATIONS.—The Federal 

9 Communications Commission shall prescribe regulations 

10 to implement the amendments made by this section not 

11 later than 270 days after the date of enactment of this 

12 Act. 

13 SEC. 3. CALL AUTHENTICATION. 

14 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

15 (1) STIR/SHAKEN AUTHENTICATION FRAME16 WORK.—The term ‘‘STIR/SHAKEN authentication 

17 framework’’ means the secure telephone identity re18 visited and signature-based handling of asserted in19 formation using tokens standards proposed by the 

20 information and communications technology industry 

21 to attach a certificate of authenticity to each phone 

22 to verify the source of each call. 

23 (2) VOICE SERVICE.—The term ‘‘voice serv24 ice’’— 


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1 (A) means any service that is inter2 connected with the public switched telephone 

3 network and that furnishes voice communica4 tions to an end user using resources from the 

5 North American Numbering Plan or any suc6 cessor to the North American Numbering Plan 

7 adopted by the Commission under section 

8 251(e)(1) of the Communications Act of 1934 

9 (47 U.S.C. 251(e)(1)); and 

10 (B) includes— 

11 (i) transmissions from a telephone 

12 facsimile machine, computer, or other de13 vice to a telephone facsimile machine; and 

14 (ii) without limitation, any service 

15 that enables real-time, two-way voice com16 munications, including any service that re17 quires internet protocol-compatible cus18 tomer premises equipment (commonly 

19 known as ‘‘CPE’’) and permits out-bound 

20 calling, whether or not the service is one21 way or two-way voice over internet pro22 tocol. 

23 (b) AUTHENTICATION FRAMEWORK.— 

24 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraphs (2) 

25 and (3), not later than 18 months after the date of 


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1 enactment of this Act, the Federal Communications 

2 Commission shall require a provider of voice service 

3 to implement the STIR/SHAKEN authentication 

4 framework in the internet protocol networks of voice 

5 service providers. 

6 (2) IMPLEMENTATION.—The Federal Commu7 nications Commission shall not take the action de8 scribed in paragraph (1) if the Commission deter9 mines that a provider of voice service, not later than 

10 12 months after the date of enactment of this Act— 

11 (A) has adopted the STIR/SHAKEN au12 thentication framework for calls on the internet 

13 protocol networks of voice service providers; 

14 (B) has agreed voluntarily to participate 

15 with other providers of voice service in the 

16 STIR/SHAKEN authentication framework; 

17 (C) has begun to implement the STIR/ 

18 SHAKEN authentication framework; and 

19 (D) will be capable of fully implementing 

20 the STIR/SHAKEN authentication framework 

21 not later than 18 months after the date of en22 actment of this Act. 

23 (3) IMPLEMENTATION REPORT.—Not later than 

24 12 months after the date of enactment of this Act, 

25 the Federal Communications Commission shall subVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:21 Apr 12, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2015.IH H2015

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1 mit to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 

2 Transportation of the Senate and the Committee on 

3 Energy and Commerce of the House of Representa4 tives a report on the determination required under 

5 paragraph (2), which shall include— 

6 (A) an analysis of the extent to which pro7 viders of a voice service have implemented the 

8 STIR/SHAKEN authentication framework; and 

9 (B) an assessment of the efficacy of the 

10 STIR/SHAKEN authentication framework, as 

11 being implemented under this section, in ad12 dressing all aspects of call authentication. 

13 (4) REVIEW AND REVISION OR REPLACE14 MENT.—Not later than 3 years after the date of en15 actment of this Act, and every 3 years thereafter, 

16 the Federal Communications Commission, after pub17 lic notice and an opportunity for comment, shall— 

18 (A) assess the efficacy of the call authen19 tication framework implemented under this sec20 tion; 

21 (B) based on the assessment under sub22 paragraph (A), revise or replace the call au23 thentication framework under this section if the 

24 Commission determines it is in the public inter25 est to do so; and 


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1 (C) submit to the Committee on Com2 merce, Science, and Transportation of the Sen3 ate and the Committee on Energy and Com4 merce of the House of Representatives a report 

5 on the findings of the assessment under sub6 paragraph (A) and on any actions to revise or 

7 replace the call authentication framework under 

8 subparagraph (B). 

9 (5) EXTENSION OF IMPLEMENTATION DEAD10 LINE.—The Federal Communications Commission 

11 may extend any deadline for the implementation of 

12 a call authentication framework required under this 

13 section by 12 months or such further amount of 

14 time as the Commission determines necessary if the 

15 Commission determines that purchasing or upgrad16 ing equipment to support call authentication would 

17 constitute a substantial hardship for a provider or 

18 category of providers. 

19 (c) SAFE HARBOR AND OTHER REGULATIONS.— 

20 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Federal Communica21 tions Commission shall promulgate rules— 

22 (A) establishing when a provider of voice 

23 service may block a voice call based, in whole or 

24 in part, on information provided by the call au25 thentication framework under subsection (b); 


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1 (B) establishing a safe harbor for a pro2 vider of voice service from liability for unin3 tended or inadvertent blocking of calls or for 

4 the unintended or inadvertent misidentification 

5 of the level of trust for individual calls based, 

6 in whole or in part, on information provided by 

7 the call authentication framework under sub8 section (b); and 

9 (C) establishing a process to permit a call10 ing party adversely affected by the information 

11 provided by the call authentication framework 

12 under subsection (b) to verify the authenticity 

13 of the calling party’s calls. 

14 (2) CONSIDERATIONS.—In establishing the safe 

15 harbor under paragraph (1), the Federal Commu16 nications Commission shall consider limiting the li17 ability of a provider based on the extent to which the 

18 provider— 

19 (A) blocks or identifies calls based, in 

20 whole or in part, on the information provided 

21 by the call authentication framework under sub22 section (b); 

23 (B) implemented procedures based, in 

24 whole or in part, on the information provided 


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1 by the call authentication framework under sub2 section (b); and 

3 (C) used reasonable care. 

4 (d) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec5 tion shall preclude the Federal Communications Commis6 sion from initiating a rulemaking pursuant to its existing 

7 statutory authority. 

8 SEC. 4. PROTECTIONS FROM SPOOFED CALLS. 

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

10 date of enactment of this Act, and consistent with the call 

11 authentication framework under section 3, the Federal 

12 Communications Commission shall initiate a rulemaking 

13 to help protect a subscriber from receiving unwanted calls 

14 or text messages from a caller using an unauthenticated 

15 number. 

16 (b) CONSIDERATIONS.—In promulgating rules under 

17 subsection (a), the Federal Communications Commission 

18 shall consider— 

19 (1) the Government Accountability Office report 

20 on combating the fraudulent provision of misleading 

21 or inaccurate caller identification required by section 

22 503(c) of division P of the Consolidated Appropria23 tions Act 2018 (Public Law 115–141); 

24 (2) the best means of ensuring that a sub25 scriber or provider has the ability to block calls from 


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1 a caller using an unauthenticated North American 

2 Numbering Plan number; 

3 (3) the impact on the privacy of a subscriber 

4 from unauthenticated calls; 

5 (4) the effectiveness in verifying the accuracy of 

6 caller identification information; and 

7 (5) the availability and cost of providing protec8 tion from the unwanted calls or text messages de9 scribed in subsection (a). 

10 SEC. 5. INTERAGENCY WORKING GROUP. 

11 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General, in con12 sultation with the Chairman of the Federal Communica13 tions Commission, shall convene an interagency working 

14 group to study Government prosecution of violations of 

15 section 227(b) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 

16 U.S.C. 227(b)). 

17 (b) DUTIES.—In carrying out the study under sub18 section (a), the interagency working group shall— 

19 (1) determine whether, and if so how, any Fed20 eral laws, including regulations, policies, and prac21 tices, or budgetary or jurisdictional constraints in22 hibit the prosecution of such violations; 

23 (2) identify existing and potential Federal poli24 cies and programs that encourage and improve co25 ordination among Federal departments and agencies 


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1 and States, and between States, in the prevention 

2 and prosecution of such violations; 

3 (3) identify existing and potential international 

4 policies and programs that encourage and improve 

5 coordination between countries in the prevention and 

6 prosecution of such violations; and 

7 (4) consider— 

8 (A) the benefit and potential sources of ad9 ditional resources for the Federal prevention 

10 and prosecution of criminal violations of that 

11 section; 

12 (B) whether to establish memoranda of un13 derstanding regarding the prevention and pros14 ecution of such violations between— 

15 (i) the States; 

16 (ii) the States and the Federal Gov17 ernment; and 

18 (iii) the Federal Government and a 

19 foreign government; 

20 (C) whether to establish a process to allow 

21 States to request Federal subpoenas from the 

22 Federal Communications Commission; 

23 (D) whether extending civil enforcement 

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1 cessful prevention and prosecution of such vio2 lations; 

3 (E) whether increased forfeiture and im4 prisonment penalties are appropriate, such as 

5 extending imprisonment for such a violation to 

6 a term longer than 2 years; 

7 (F) whether regulation of any entity that 

8 enters into a business arrangement with a com9 mon carrier regulated under title II of the Com10 munications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 201 et 

11 seq.) for the specific purpose of carrying, rout12 ing, or transmitting a call that constitutes such 

13 a violation would assist in the successful pre14 vention and prosecution of such violations; and 

15 (G) the extent to which, if any, Depart16 ment of Justice policies to pursue the prosecu17 tion of violations causing economic harm, phys18 ical danger, or erosion of an inhabitant’s peace 

19 of mind and sense of security inhibits the pre20 vention or prosecution of such violations. 

21 (c) MEMBERS.—The interagency working group shall 

22 be composed of such representatives of Federal depart23 ments and agencies as the Attorney General considers ap24 propriate, such as— 

25 (1) the Department of Commerce; 


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1 (2) the Department of State; 

2 (3) the Department of Homeland Security; 

3 (4) the Federal Communications Commission; 

4 (5) the Federal Trade Commission; and 

5 (6) the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protec6 tion. 

7 (d) NON-FEDERAL STAKEHOLDERS.—In carrying 

8 out the study under subsection (a), the interagency work9 ing group shall consult with such non-Federal stake10 holders as the Attorney General determines have the rel11 evant expertise, including the National Association of At12 torneys General. 

13 (e) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 270 days 

14 after the date of enactment of this Act, the interagency 

15 working group shall submit to the Committee on Com16 merce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate and the 

17 Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of 

18 Representatives a report on the findings of the study 

19 under subsection (a), including— 

20 (1) any recommendations regarding the preven21 tion and prosecution of such violations; and 

22 (2) a description of what progress, if any, rel23 evant Federal departments and agencies have made 

24 in implementing the recommendations under para25 graph (1). 


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1 SEC. 6. ACCESS TO NUMBER RESOURCES. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.— 

3 (1) EXAMINATION OF FCC POLICIES.—Not later 

4 than 180 days after the date of enactment of this 

5 Act, the Federal Communications Commission shall 

6 commence a proceeding to determine whether Fed7 eral Communications Commission policies regarding 

8 access to number resources, including number re9 sources for toll free and non-toll free telephone num10 bers, could be modified, including by establishing 

11 registration and compliance obligations, to help re12 duce access to numbers by potential perpetrators of 

13 violations of section 227(b) of the Communications 

14 Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 227(b)). 

15 (2) REGULATIONS.—If the Federal Commu16 nications Commission determines under paragraph 

17 (1) that modifying the policies described in that 

18 paragraph could help achieve the goal described in 

19 that paragraph, the Commission shall prescribe reg20 ulations to implement those policy modifications. 

21 (b) AUTHORITY.—Any person who knowingly, 

22 through an employee, agent, officer, or otherwise, directly 

23 or indirectly, by or through any means or device whatso24 ever, is a party to obtaining number resources, including 

25 number resources for toll free and non-toll free telephone 

26 numbers, from a common carrier regulated under title II 


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1 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 201 et 

2 seq.), in violation of a regulation prescribed under sub3 section (a) of this section, shall, notwithstanding section 

4 503(b)(5) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 

5 503(b)(5)), be subject to a forfeiture penalty under section 

6 503 of that Act. A forfeiture penalty under this subsection 

7 shall be in addition to any other penalty provided for by 

8 law. 

Æ 


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