II 

Calendar No. 94 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 151 

[Report No. 116–41] 

To deter criminal robocall violations and improve enforcement of section 

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

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 16, 2019 

Mr. THUNE (for himself, Mr. MARKEY, Mr. MORAN, Mr. GARDNER, Mrs. CAPITO, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Ms. DUCKWORTH, Mr. 

HOEVEN, Mr. WHITEHOUSE, Mr. RUBIO, Mr. DURBIN, Mrs. FISCHER, 

Ms. SINEMA, Mrs. BLACKBURN, Ms. BALDWIN, Mr. CRAMER, Ms. WARREN, Mr. TILLIS, Mr. KING, Mr. YOUNG, Mr. TESTER, Mr. WICKER, Mr. 

UDALL, Ms. ROSEN, Mr. JOHNSON, Mr. SCOTT of Florida, Mr. GRASSLEY, Mr. CARPER, Mr. MENENDEZ, Mr. BROWN, Mr. DAINES, Ms. CORTEZ MASTO, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, Mr. BARRASSO, Mr. ROBERTS, Mr. CORNYN, Ms. HARRIS, Mr. PETERS, Ms. MCSALLY, Mr. REED, Mr. BOOZMAN, Ms. SMITH, Mr. CARDIN, Mr. ROUNDS, Mr. LANKFORD, Mrs. 

HYDE-SMITH, Mr. WYDEN, Mr. BLUNT, Ms. COLLINS, Mr. KENNEDY, 

Mrs. SHAHEEN, Ms. HASSAN, Mr. COTTON, Mr. BURR, Mr. CRAPO, Mr. 

MANCHIN, Ms. HIRONO, Mr. CASEY, Mr. BENNET, Mr. COONS, Mr. 

PERDUE, Mr. HEINRICH, Mr. MERKLEY, Mr. SCHUMER, Ms. ERNST, Mr. 

INHOFE, Mr. MURPHY, Mr. SANDERS, Mr. SULLIVAN, Mr. LEAHY, Mr. 

TOOMEY, Mr. SCOTT of South Carolina, Mr. KAINE, Mr. BOOKER, Mr. 

RISCH, Ms. STABENOW, Mrs. GILLIBRAND, Mr. WARNER, Mrs. FEINSTEIN, Mr. JONES, Mr. ENZI, Mr. HAWLEY, Mr. SHELBY, and Mr. ISAKSON) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to 

the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

MAY 21, 2019 

Reported by Mr. WICKER, with an amendment 


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[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 

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— 

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

11 following: 

12 ‘‘(4) CIVIL FORFEITURE.— 

13 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Any person that is de14 termined by the Commission, in accordance 

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

16 have violated any provision of this subsection 

17 shall be liable to the United States for a for18 feiture penalty pursuant to section 503(b)(1). 

19 The amount of the forfeiture penalty deterVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:05 May 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S151.RS S151

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1 mined under this subparagraph shall be deter2 mined in accordance with subparagraphs (A) 

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

4 ‘‘(B) VIOLATION WITH INTENT.—Any per5 son that is determined by the Commission, in 

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

7 503(b), to have violated this subsection with the 

8 intent to cause such violation shall be liable to 

9 the United States for a forfeiture penalty. The 

10 amount of the forfeiture penalty determined 

11 under this subparagraph shall be equal to an 

12 amount determined in accordance with subpara13 graphs (A) through (F) of section 503(b)(2) 

14 plus an additional penalty not to exceed 

15 $10,000. 

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

17 determined under subparagraph (A) or (B) 

18 shall be recoverable under section 504(a). 

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

20 shall be determined under subparagraph (A) or 

21 (B) against any person unless such person re22 ceives the notice required by paragraph (3) or 

23 (4) of section 503(b). 


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1 ‘‘(E) STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS.—No for2 feiture penalty shall be determined or imposed 

3 against any person— 

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

5 violation charged occurred more than 1 

6 year prior to the date of issuance of the re7 quired notice or notice of apparent liabil8 ity; and 

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

10 violation charged occurred more than 3 

11 years prior to the date of issuance of the 

12 required notice or notice of apparent liabil13 ity. 

14 ‘‘(F) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Notwith15 standing any law to the contrary, the Commis16 sion may not determine or impose a forfeiture 

17 penalty on a person under both subparagraphs 

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

19 (2) by striking subsection (h). 

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

21 section shall not affect any action or proceeding com22 menced before and pending on the date of enactment of 

23 this Act. 

24 (c) DEADLINE FOR REGULATIONS.—The Federal 

25 Communications Commission shall prescribe regulations 


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1 to implement the amendments made by this section not 

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

3 Act. 

4 SEC. 3. CALL AUTHENTICATION. 

5 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

6 (1) STIR/SHAKEN AUTHENTICATION FRAME7 WORK.—The term ‘‘STIR/SHAKEN authentication 

8 framework’’ means the secure telephone identity re9 visited and signature-based handling of asserted in10 formation using tokens standards proposed by the 

11 information and communications technology industry 

12 to attach a certificate of authenticity to each phone 

13 to verify the source of each call. 

14 (2) VOICE SERVICE.—The term ‘‘voice serv15 ice’’— 

16 (A) means any service that is inter17 connected with the public switched telephone 

18 network and that furnishes voice communica19 tions to an end user using resources from the 

20 North American Numbering Plan or any suc21 cessor to the North American Numbering Plan 

22 adopted by the Commission under section 

23 251(e)(1) of the Communications Act of 1934 

24 (47 U.S.C. 251(e)(1)); and 

25 (B) includes— 


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1 (i) transmissions from a telephone 

2 facsimile machine, computer, or other de3 vice to a telephone facsimile machine; and 

4 (ii) without limitation, any service 

5 that enables real-time, two-way voice com6 munications, including any service that re7 quires internet protocol-compatible cus8 tomer premises equipment (commonly 

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

10 calling, whether or not the service is one11 way or two-way voice over internet pro12 tocol. 

13 (b) AUTHENTICATION FRAMEWORK.— 

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

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

16 enactment of this Act, the Federal Communications 

17 Commission shall require a provider of voice service 

18 to implement the STIR/SHAKEN authentication 

19 framework in the internet protocol networks of voice 

20 service providers. 

21 (2) IMPLEMENTATION.—The Federal Commu22 nications Commission shall not take the action de23 scribed in paragraph (1) if the Commission deter24 mines that a provider of voice service, not later than 

25 12 months after the date of enactment of this Act— 


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1 (A) has adopted the STIR/SHAKEN au2 thentication framework for calls on the internet 

3 protocol networks of voice service providers; 

4 (B) has agreed voluntarily to participate 

5 with other providers of voice service in the 

6 STIR/SHAKEN authentication framework; 

7 (C) has begun to implement the STIR/ 

8 SHAKEN authentication framework; and 

9 (D) will be capable of fully implementing 

10 the STIR/SHAKEN authentication framework 

11 not later than 18 months after the date of en12 actment of this Act. 

13 (3) IMPLEMENTATION REPORT.—Not later than 

14 12 months after the date of enactment of this Act, 

15 the Federal Communications Commission shall sub16 mit to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 

17 Transportation of the Senate and the Committee on 

18 Energy and Commerce of the House of Representa19 tives a report on the determination required under 

20 paragraph (2), which shall include— 

21 (A) an analysis of the extent to which pro22 viders of a voice service have implemented the 

23 STIR/SHAKEN authentication framework; and 

24 (B) an assessment of the efficacy of the 

25 STIR/SHAKEN authentication framework, as 


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1 being implemented under this section, in ad2 dressing all aspects of call authentication. 

3 (4) REVIEW AND REVISION OR REPLACE4 MENT.—Not later than 3 years after the date of en5 actment of this Act, and every 3 years thereafter, 

6 the Federal Communications Commission, after pub7 lic notice and an opportunity for comment, shall— 

8 (A) assess the efficacy of the call authen9 tication framework implemented under this sec10 tion; 

11 (B) based on the assessment under sub12 paragraph (A), revise or replace the call au13 thentication framework under this section if the 

14 Commission determines it is in the public inter15 est to do so; and 

16 (C) submit to the Committee on Com17 merce, Science, and Transportation of the Sen18 ate and the Committee on Energy and Com19 merce of the House of Representatives a report 

20 on the findings of the assessment under sub21 paragraph (A) and on any actions to revise or 

22 replace the call authentication framework under 

23 subparagraph (B). 

24 (5) EXTENSION OF IMPLEMENTATION DEAD25 LINE.—The Federal Communications Commission 


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1 may extend any deadline for the implementation of 

2 a call authentication framework required under this 

3 section by 12 months or such further amount of 

4 time as the Commission determines necessary if the 

5 Commission determines that purchasing or upgrad6 ing equipment to support call authentication would 

7 constitute a substantial hardship for a provider or 

8 category of providers. 

9 (c) SAFE HARBOR AND OTHER REGULATIONS.— 

10 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Federal Communica11 tions Commission shall promulgate rules— 

12 (A) establishing when a provider of voice 

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

14 in part, on information provided by the call au15 thentication framework under subsection (b); 

16 (B) establishing a safe harbor for a pro17 vider of voice service from liability for unin18 tended or inadvertent blocking of calls or for 

19 the unintended or inadvertent misidentification 

20 of the level of trust for individual calls based, 

21 in whole or in part, on information provided by 

22 the call authentication framework under sub23 section (b); and 

24 (C) establishing a process to permit a call25 ing party adversely affected by the information 


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1 provided by the call authentication framework 

2 under subsection (b) to verify the authenticity 

3 of the calling party’s calls. 

4 (2) CONSIDERATIONS.—In establishing the safe 

5 harbor under paragraph (1), the Federal Commu6 nications Commission shall consider limiting the li7 ability of a provider based on the extent to which the 

8 provider— 

9 (A) blocks or identifies calls based, in 

10 whole or in part, on the information provided 

11 by the call authentication framework under sub12 section (b); 

13 (B) implemented procedures based, in 

14 whole or in part, on the information provided 

15 by the call authentication framework under sub16 section (b); and 

17 (C) used reasonable care. 

18 (d) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec19 tion shall preclude the Federal Communications Commis20 sion from initiating a rulemaking pursuant to its existing 

21 statutory authority. 

22 SEC. 4. PROTECTIONS FROM SPOOFED CALLS. 

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

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

25 authentication framework under section 3, the Federal 


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1 Communications Commission shall initiate a rulemaking 

2 to help protect a subscriber from receiving unwanted calls 

3 or text messages from a caller using an unauthenticated 

4 number. 

5 (b) CONSIDERATIONS.—In promulgating rules under 

6 subsection (a), the Federal Communications Commission 

7 shall consider— 

8 (1) the Government Accountability Office report 

9 on combating the fraudulent provision of misleading 

10 or inaccurate caller identification required by section 

11 503(c) of division P of the Consolidated Appropria12 tions Act 2018 (Public Law 115–141); 

13 (2) the best means of ensuring that a sub14 scriber or provider has the ability to block calls from 

15 a caller using an unauthenticated North American 

16 Numbering Plan number; 

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

18 from unauthenticated calls; 

19 (4) the effectiveness in verifying the accuracy of 

20 caller identification information; and 

21 (5) the availability and cost of providing protec22 tion from the unwanted calls or text messages de23 scribed in subsection (a). 


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1 SEC. 5. INTERAGENCY WORKING GROUP. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General, in con3 sultation with the Chairman of the Federal Communica4 tions Commission, shall convene an interagency working 

5 group to study Government prosecution of violations of 

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

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

8 (b) DUTIES.—In carrying out the study under sub9 section (a), the interagency working group shall— 

10 (1) determine whether, and if so how, any Fed11 eral laws, including regulations, policies, and prac12 tices, or budgetary or jurisdictional constraints in13 hibit the prosecution of such violations; 

14 (2) identify existing and potential Federal poli15 cies and programs that encourage and improve co16 ordination among Federal departments and agencies 

17 and States, and between States, in the prevention 

18 and prosecution of such violations; 

19 (3) identify existing and potential international 

20 policies and programs that encourage and improve 

21 coordination between countries in the prevention and 

22 prosecution of such violations; and 

23 (4) consider— 

24 (A) the benefit and potential sources of ad25 ditional resources for the Federal prevention 


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1 and prosecution of criminal violations of that 

2 section; 

3 (B) whether to establish memoranda of un4 derstanding regarding the prevention and pros5 ecution of such violations between— 

6 (i) the States; 

7 (ii) the States and the Federal Gov8 ernment; and 

9 (iii) the Federal Government and a 

10 foreign government; 

11 (C) whether to establish a process to allow 

12 States to request Federal subpoenas from the 

13 Federal Communications Commission; 

14 (D) whether extending civil enforcement 

15 authority to the States would assist in the suc16 cessful prevention and prosecution of such vio17 lations; 

18 (E) whether increased forfeiture and im19 prisonment penalties are appropriate, such as 

20 extending imprisonment for such a violation to 

21 a term longer than 2 years; 

22 (F) whether regulation of any entity that 

23 enters into a business arrangement with a com24 mon carrier regulated under title II of the Com25 munications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 201 et 


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1 seq.) for the specific purpose of carrying, rout2 ing, or transmitting a call that constitutes such 

3 a violation would assist in the successful pre4 vention and prosecution of such violations; and 

5 (G) the extent to which, if any, Depart6 ment of Justice policies to pursue the prosecu7 tion of violations causing economic harm, phys8 ical danger, or erosion of an inhabitant’s peace 

9 of mind and sense of security inhibits the pre10 vention or prosecution of such violations. 

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

12 be composed of such representatives of Federal depart13 ments and agencies as the Attorney General considers ap14 propriate, such as— 

15 (1) the Department of Commerce; 

16 (2) the Department of State; 

17 (3) the Department of Homeland Security; 

18 (4) the Federal Communications Commission; 

19 (5) the Federal Trade Commission; and 

20 (6) the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protec21 tion. 

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

23 out the study under subsection (a), the interagency work24 ing group shall consult with such non-Federal stake25 holders as the Attorney General determines have the relVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:05 May 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00014 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S151.RS S151

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1 evant expertise, including the National Association of At2 torneys General. 

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

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

5 working group shall submit to the Committee on Com6 merce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate and the 

7 Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of 

8 Representatives a report on the findings of the study 

9 under subsection (a), including— 

10 (1) any recommendations regarding the preven11 tion and prosecution of such violations; and 

12 (2) a description of what progress, if any, rel13 evant Federal departments and agencies have made 

14 in implementing the recommendations under para15 graph (1). 

16 SEC. 6. ACCESS TO NUMBER RESOURCES. 

17 (a) IN GENERAL.— 

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

19 than 180 days after the date of enactment of this 

20 Act, the Federal Communications Commission shall 

21 commence a proceeding to determine whether Fed22 eral Communications Commission policies regarding 

23 access to number resources, including number re24 sources for toll free and non-toll free telephone num25 bers, could be modified, including by establishing 


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1 registration and compliance obligations, to help re2 duce access to numbers by potential perpetrators of 

3 violations of section 227(b) of the Communications 

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

5 (2) REGULATIONS.—If the Federal Commu6 nications Commission determines under paragraph 

7 (1) that modifying the policies described in that 

8 paragraph could help achieve the goal described in 

9 that paragraph, the Commission shall prescribe reg10 ulations to implement those policy modifications. 

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

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

13 or indirectly, by or through any means or device whatso14 ever, is a party to obtaining number resources, including 

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

16 numbers, from a common carrier regulated under title II 

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

18 seq.), in violation of a regulation prescribed under sub19 section (a) of this section, shall, notwithstanding section 

20 503(b)(5) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 

21 503(b)(5)), be subject to a forfeiture penalty under section 

22 503 of that Act. A forfeiture penalty under this subsection 

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

24 law. 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Telephone Robocall 

3 Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence Act’’ or the 

4 ‘‘TRACED Act’’. 

5 SEC. 2. FORFEITURE. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 227 of the Communications 

7 Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 227) is amended— 

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

9 following: 

10 ‘‘(4) CIVIL FORFEITURE.— 

11 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Any person that is de12 termined by the Commission, in accordance with 

13 paragraph (3) or (4) of section 503(b), to have 

14 violated any provision of this subsection shall be 

15 liable to the United States for a forfeiture pen16 alty pursuant to section 503(b)(1). The amount 

17 of the forfeiture penalty determined under this 

18 subparagraph shall be determined in accordance 

19 with subparagraphs (A) through (F) of section 

20 503(b)(2). 

21 ‘‘(B) VIOLATION WITH INTENT.—Any per22 son that is determined by the Commission, in ac23 cordance with paragraph (3) or (4) of section 

24 503(b), to have violated this subsection with the 

25 intent to cause such violation shall be liable to 

26 the United States for a forfeiture penalty. The 


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1 amount of the forfeiture penalty determined 

2 under this subparagraph shall be equal to an 

3 amount determined in accordance with subpara4 graphs (A) through (F) of section 503(b)(2) plus 

5 an additional penalty not to exceed $10,000. 

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

7 determined under subparagraph (A) or (B) shall 

8 be recoverable under section 504(a). 

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

10 shall be determined under subparagraph (A) or 

11 (B) against any person unless such person re12 ceives the notice required by paragraph (3) or 

13 (4) of section 503(b). 

14 ‘‘(E) STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS.—No for15 feiture penalty shall be determined or imposed 

16 against any person— 

17 ‘‘(i) under subparagraph (A) if the vio18 lation charged occurred more than 1 year 

19 prior to the date of issuance of the required 

20 notice or notice of apparent liability; and 

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

22 violation charged occurred more than 3 

23 years prior to the date of issuance of the re24 quired notice or notice of apparent liability. 


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1 ‘‘(F) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Notwith2 standing any law to the contrary, the Commis3 sion may not determine or impose a forfeiture 

4 penalty on a person under both subparagraphs 

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

6 (2) by striking subsection (h) and inserting the 

7 following: 

8 ‘‘(h) TCPA ENFORCEMENT REPORT.—The Commis9 sion shall submit an annual report to Congress regarding 

10 the enforcement during the preceding year of laws, regula11 tions, and policies relating to robocalls and spoofed calls, 

12 which report shall include— 

13 ‘‘(1) the number of complaints received by the 

14 Commission during the year alleging that a consumer 

15 received a robocall or spoofed call; 

16 ‘‘(2) the number of citations issued by the Com17 mission pursuant to section 503 during the year to 

18 enforce any law, regulation, or policy relating to a 

19 robocall or spoofed call; 

20 ‘‘(3) the number of notices of apparent liability 

21 issued by the Commission pursuant to section 503 

22 during the year to enforce any law, regulation, or 

23 policy relating to a robocall or spoofed call; and 

24 ‘‘(4) for each notice referred to in paragraph 

25 (3)— 


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1 ‘‘(A) the amount of the proposed forfeiture 

2 penalty involved; 

3 ‘‘(B) the person to whom the notice was 

4 issued; and 

5 ‘‘(C) the status of the proceeding.’’. 

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

7 section shall not affect any action or proceeding commenced 

8 before and pending on the date of enactment of this Act. 

9 (c) DEADLINE FOR REGULATIONS.—The Federal Com10 munications Commission shall prescribe regulations to im11 plement the amendments made by this section not later than 

12 270 days after the date of enactment of this 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 revis18 ited and signature-based handling of asserted infor19 mation using tokens standards proposed by the infor20 mation and communications technology industry. 

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

22 (A) means any service that is inter23 connected with the public switched telephone net24 work and that furnishes voice communications to 

25 an end user using resources from the North 


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1 American Numbering Plan or any successor to 

2 the North American Numbering Plan adopted by 

3 the Commission under section 251(e)(1) of the 

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

5 251(e)(1)); and 

6 (B) includes— 

7 (i) transmissions from a telephone fac8 simile machine, computer, or other device to 

9 a telephone facsimile machine; and 

10 (ii) without limitation, any service 

11 that enables real-time, two-way voice com12 munications, including any service that re13 quires internet protocol-compatible customer 

14 premises equipment (commonly known as 

15 ‘‘CPE’’) and permits out-bound calling, 

16 whether or not the service is one-way or 

17 two-way voice over internet protocol. 

18 (b) AUTHENTICATION FRAMEWORK.— 

19 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraphs (2) and 

20 (3), not later than 18 months after the date of enact21 ment of this Act, the Federal Communications Com22 mission shall require a provider of voice service to 

23 implement the STIR/SHAKEN authentication frame24 work in the internet protocol networks of the voice 

25 service provider. 


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1 (2) IMPLEMENTATION.—The Federal Commu2 nications Commission shall not take the action de3 scribed in paragraph (1) if the Commission deter4 mines that a provider of voice service, not later than 

5 12 months after the date of enactment of this Act— 

6 (A) has adopted the STIR/SHAKEN au7 thentication framework for calls on the internet 

8 protocol networks of the voice service provider; 

9 (B) has agreed voluntarily to participate 

10 with other providers of voice service in the 

11 STIR/SHAKEN authentication framework; 

12 (C) has begun to implement the STIR/ 

13 SHAKEN authentication framework; and 

14 (D) will be capable of fully implementing 

15 the STIR/SHAKEN authentication framework 

16 not later than 18 months after the date of enact17 ment of this Act. 

18 (3) IMPLEMENTATION REPORT.—Not later than 

19 12 months after the date of enactment of this Act, the 

20 Federal Communications Commission shall submit to 

21 the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transpor22 tation of the Senate and the Committee on Energy 

23 and Commerce of the House of Representatives a re24 port on the determination required under paragraph 

25 (2), which shall include— 


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1 (A) an analysis of the extent to which pro2 viders of a voice service have implemented the 

3 STIR/SHAKEN authentication framework, in4 cluding whether the availability of necessary 

5 equipment and equipment upgrades has im6 pacted such implementation; and 

7 (B) an assessment of the efficacy of the 

8 STIR/SHAKEN authentication framework, as 

9 being implemented under this section, in ad10 dressing all aspects of call authentication. 

11 (4) REVIEW AND REVISION OR REPLACEMENT.— 

12 Not later than 3 years after the date of enactment of 

13 this Act, and every 3 years thereafter, the Federal 

14 Communications Commission, after public notice and 

15 an opportunity for comment, shall— 

16 (A) assess the efficacy of the call authentica17 tion framework implemented under this section; 

18 (B) based on the assessment under subpara19 graph (A), revise or replace the call authentica20 tion framework under this section if the Commis21 sion determines it is in the public interest to do 

22 so; and 

23 (C) submit to the Committee on Commerce, 

24 Science, and Transportation of the Senate and 

25 the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the 


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1 House of Representatives a report on the find2 ings of the assessment under subparagraph (A) 

3 and on any actions to revise or replace the call 

4 authentication framework under subparagraph 

5 (B). 

6 (5) EXTENSION OF IMPLEMENTATION DEAD7 LINE.—The Federal Communications Commission 

8 may extend any deadline for the implementation of a 

9 call authentication framework required under this 

10 section by 12 months or such further amount of time 

11 as the Commission determines necessary if the Com12 mission determines that purchasing or upgrading 

13 equipment to support call authentication, or lack of 

14 availability of such equipment, would constitute a 

15 substantial hardship in meeting such deadline for a 

16 provider or category of providers of voice service. 

17 (c) SAFE HARBOR AND OTHER REGULATIONS.— 

18 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Federal Communications 

19 Commission shall promulgate rules— 

20 (A) establishing when a provider of voice 

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

22 in part, on information provided by the call au23 thentication framework under subsection (b); 

24 (B) establishing a safe harbor for a provider 

25 of voice service from liability for unintended or 


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1 inadvertent blocking of calls or for the unin2 tended or inadvertent misidentification of the 

3 level of trust for individual calls based, in whole 

4 or in part, on information provided by the call 

5 authentication framework under subsection (b); 

6 and 

7 (C) establishing a process to permit a call8 ing party adversely affected by the information 

9 provided by the call authentication framework 

10 under subsection (b) to verify the authenticity of 

11 the calling party’s calls. 

12 (2) CONSIDERATIONS.—In establishing the safe 

13 harbor under paragraph (1), the Federal Communica14 tions Commission shall consider limiting the liability 

15 of a provider of voice service based on the extent to 

16 which the provider of voice service— 

17 (A) blocks or identifies calls based, in whole 

18 or in part, on the information provided by the 

19 call authentication framework under subsection 

20 (b); 

21 (B) implemented procedures based, in whole 

22 or in part, on the information provided by the 

23 call authentication framework under subsection 

24 (b); and 

25 (C) used reasonable care. 


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1 (d) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this section 

2 shall preclude the Federal Communications Commission 

3 from initiating a rulemaking pursuant to its existing statu4 tory authority. 

5 SEC. 4. PROTECTIONS FROM SPOOFED CALLS. 

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

7 of enactment of this Act, and consistent with the call au8 thentication framework under section 3, the Federal Com9 munications Commission shall initiate a rulemaking to 

10 help protect a subscriber from receiving unwanted calls or 

11 text messages from a caller using an unauthenticated num12 ber. 

13 (b) CONSIDERATIONS.—In promulgating rules under 

14 subsection (a), the Federal Communications Commission 

15 shall consider— 

16 (1) the Government Accountability Office report 

17 on combating the fraudulent provision of misleading 

18 or inaccurate caller identification required by section 

19 503(c) of division P of the Consolidated Appropria20 tions Act 2018 (Public Law 115–141); 

21 (2) the best means of ensuring that a subscriber 

22 or provider has the ability to block calls from a caller 

23 using an unauthenticated North American Numbering 

24 Plan number; 


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

2 from unauthenticated calls; 

3 (4) the effectiveness in verifying the accuracy of 

4 caller identification information; and 

5 (5) the availability and cost of providing protec6 tion from the unwanted calls or text messages de7 scribed in subsection (a). 

8 SEC. 5. INTERAGENCY WORKING GROUP. 

9 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General, in consulta10 tion with the Chairman of the Federal Communications 

11 Commission, shall convene an interagency working group 

12 to study Government prosecution of violations of section 

13 227(b) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 

14 227(b)). 

15 (b) DUTIES.—In carrying out the study under sub16 section (a), the interagency working group shall— 

17 (1) determine whether, and if so how, any Fed18 eral laws, including regulations, policies, and prac19 tices, or budgetary or jurisdictional constraints in20 hibit the prosecution of such violations; 

21 (2) identify existing and potential Federal poli22 cies and programs that encourage and improve co23 ordination among Federal departments and agencies 

24 and States, and between States, in the prevention and 

25 prosecution of such violations; 


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1 (3) identify existing and potential international 

2 policies and programs that encourage and improve 

3 coordination between countries in the prevention and 

4 prosecution of such violations; and 

5 (4) consider— 

6 (A) the benefit and potential sources of ad7 ditional resources for the Federal prevention and 

8 prosecution of criminal violations of that section; 

9 (B) whether to establish memoranda of un10 derstanding regarding the prevention and pros11 ecution of such violations between— 

12 (i) the States; 

13 (ii) the States and the Federal Govern14 ment; and 

15 (iii) the Federal Government and a 

16 foreign government; 

17 (C) whether to establish a process to allow 

18 States to request Federal subpoenas from the 

19 Federal Communications Commission; 

20 (D) whether extending civil enforcement au21 thority to the States would assist in the success22 ful prevention and prosecution of such violations; 

23 (E) whether increased forfeiture and im24 prisonment penalties are appropriate, such as 


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1 extending imprisonment for such a violation to 

2 a term longer than 2 years; 

3 (F) whether regulation of any entity that 

4 enters into a business arrangement with a com5 mon carrier regulated under title II of the Com6 munications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 201 et seq.) 

7 for the specific purpose of carrying, routing, or 

8 transmitting a call that constitutes such a viola9 tion would assist in the successful prevention 

10 and prosecution of such violations; and 

11 (G) the extent to which, if any, Department 

12 of Justice policies to pursue the prosecution of 

13 violations causing economic harm, physical dan14 ger, or erosion of an inhabitant’s peace of mind 

15 and sense of security inhibits the prevention or 

16 prosecution of such violations. 

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

18 be composed of such representatives of Federal departments 

19 and agencies as the Attorney General considers appropriate, 

20 such as— 

21 (1) the Department of Commerce; 

22 (2) the Department of State; 

23 (3) the Department of Homeland Security; 

24 (4) the Federal Communications Commission; 

25 (5) the Federal Trade Commission; and 


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1 (6) the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protec2 tion. 

3 (d) NON-FEDERAL STAKEHOLDERS.—In carrying out 

4 the study under subsection (a), the interagency working 

5 group shall consult with such non-Federal stakeholders as 

6 the Attorney General determines have the relevant expertise, 

7 including the National Association of Attorneys General. 

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

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

10 working group shall submit to the Committee on Commerce, 

11 Science, and Transportation of the Senate and the Com12 mittee on Energy and Commerce of the House of Represent13 atives a report on the findings of the study under subsection 

14 (a), including— 

15 (1) any recommendations regarding the preven16 tion and prosecution of such violations; and 

17 (2) a description of what progress, if any, rel18 evant Federal departments and agencies have made in 

19 implementing the recommendations under paragraph 

20 (1). 

21 SEC. 6. ACCESS TO NUMBER RESOURCES. 

22 (a) IN GENERAL.— 

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

24 than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, 

25 the Federal Communications Commission shall comVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:05 May 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00030 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\S151.RS S151

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1 mence a proceeding to determine whether Federal 

2 Communications Commission policies regarding ac3 cess to number resources, including number resources 

4 for toll free and non-toll free telephone numbers, could 

5 be modified, including by establishing registration 

6 and compliance obligations, to help reduce access to 

7 numbers by potential perpetrators of violations of sec8 tion 227(b) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 

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

10 (2) REGULATIONS.—If the Federal Communica11 tions Commission determines under paragraph (1) 

12 that modifying the policies described in that para13 graph could help achieve the goal described in that 

14 paragraph, the Commission shall prescribe regula15 tions to implement those policy modifications. 

16 (b) AUTHORITY.—Any person who knowingly, through 

17 an employee, agent, officer, or otherwise, directly or indi18 rectly, by or through any means or device whatsoever, is 

19 a party to obtaining number resources, including number 

20 resources for toll free and non-toll free telephone numbers, 

21 from a common carrier regulated under title II of the Com22 munications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 201 et seq.), in viola23 tion of a regulation prescribed under subsection (a) of this 

24 section, shall, notwithstanding section 503(b)(5) of the Com25 munications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 503(b)(5)), be subject 


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1 to a forfeiture penalty under section 503 of that Act. A for2 feiture penalty under this subsection shall be in addition 

3 to any other penalty provided for by law. 


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Calendar No. 94 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 151 

[Report No. 116–41] 

A BILL 

To deter criminal robocall violations and improve 

tions Act of 1934, and for other purposes. enforcement of section 227(b) of the CommunicaMAY 21, 2019 

Reported with an amendment 


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