IB
Union Calendar No. 525
106TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 3100
[Report No. 106–872]
To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to prohibit telemarketers from
interfering with the caller identification service of any person to whom
a telephone solicitation is made, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
OCTOBER 19, 1999
Mr. FRELINGHUYSEN introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Commerce
SEPTEMBER 20, 2000
Additional sponsors: Mr. GILCHREST, Mr. SALMON, Mr. FRANKS of New Jer-
sey, Mr. LOBIONDO, Mr. PETRI, Mr. LATOURETTE, Mrs. EMERSON, Mr.
BASS, Mr. MCHUGH, Mr. HILLIARD, Mr. COOK, Mr. UPTON, Mr.
KUYKENDALL, Ms. BERKLEY, Mr. CASTLE, Mr. GREENWOOD, Mr.
LATHAM, Mr. QUINN, Mr. HORN, Mr. REGULA, Mr. BILBRAY, Mr.
FRANK of Massachusetts, Mr. MORAN of Virginia, Mr. GEJDENSON, Mr.
KUCINICH, Mr. MINGE, Mr. DUNCAN, Mr. CLEMENT, Mr. ROTHMAN, Mr.
GANSKE, Mr. LUCAS of Kentucky, Mr. MEEKS of New York, Mr. BRADY
of Pennsylvania, Mr. LARSON, Mr. CAMP, Ms. CARSON, Ms. MILLENDER-
MCDONALD, Mr. BACA, Mr. GOODLING, Mr. SOUDER, Mr. DAVIS of Vir-
ginia, Mr. DICKEY, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. METCALF, Mr. PETERSON of Min-
nesota, Ms. MCKINNEY, Mr. PASCRELL, Mr. PALLONE, Mr. NEY, Mr.
WATKINS, Mr. HILLEARY, Mr. EVANS, Mr. HOBSON, Mr. WAMP, Mr.
CRAMER, Ms. RIVERS, Mr. TAUZIN, and Mr. SHERMAN
SEPTEMBER 20, 2000
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole
House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed
[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic]
[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on October 19, 1999]
A BILL
To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to prohibit tele-
marketers from interfering with the caller identification
service of any person to whom a telephone solicitation
is made, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Know Your Caller Act
of 2000’’.
SEC. 2. PROHIBITION OF INTERFERENCE WITH CALLER
IDENTIFICATION SERVICES.
Section 227 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47
U.S.C. 227) is amended—
(1) by redesignating subsections (e) and (f) as
subsections (f) and (g), respectively; and
(2) by inserting after subsection (d) the following
new subsection:
‘‘(e) PROHIBITION ON INTERFERENCE WITH CALLER
IDENTIFICATION SERVICES.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—It shall be unlawful for any
person within the United States, in making any tele-
phone solicitation—
‘‘(A) to interfere with or circumvent the ca-
pability of a caller identification service to ac-
cess or provide to the recipient of the telephone
call involved in the solicitation any information
regarding the call that such service is capable of
providing; and
‘‘(B) to fail to provide caller identification
information in a manner that is accessible by a
caller identification service, if such person has
capability to provide such information in such a
manner.
For purposes of this section, the use of a telecommuni-
cations service or equipment that is incapable of
transmitting caller identification information shall
not, of itself, constitute interference with or cir-
cumvention of the capability of a caller identification
service to access or provide such information.
‘‘(2) REGULATIONS.—Not later than 6 months
after the enactment of the Know Your Caller Act of
2000, the Commission shall prescribe regulations to
implement this subsection, which shall—
‘‘(A) specify that the information regarding
a call that the prohibition under paragraph (1)
applies to includes—
‘‘(i) the name of the person or entity
who makes the telephone call involved in the
solicitation;
‘‘(ii) the name of the person or entity
on whose behalf the solicitation is made;
and
‘‘(iii) a valid and working telephone
number at which the person or entity on
whose behalf the telephone solicitation is
made may be reached during regular busi-
ness hours for the purpose of requesting that
the recipient of the solicitation be placed on
the do-not-call list required under section
64.1200 of the Commission’s regulations (47
CFR 64.1200) to be maintained by such
person or entity; and
‘‘(B) provide that any person or entity who
receives a request from a person to be placed on
such do-not-call list may not use such person’s
name and telephone number for telemarketing,
mail marketing, or other marketing purpose (in-
cluding transfer or sale to any other entity for
marketing use) other than enforcement of such
list.
‘‘(3) PRIVATE RIGHT OF ACTION.—A person or
entity may, if otherwise permitted by the laws or
rules of court of a State, bring in an appropriate
court of that State—
‘‘(A) an action based on a violation of this
subsection or the regulations prescribed under
this subsection to enjoin such violation;
‘‘(B) an action to recover for actual mone-
tary loss from such a violation, or to receive
$500 in damages for each such violation, which-
ever is greater; or
‘‘(C) both such actions.
If the court finds that the defendant willfully or
knowingly violated this subsection or the regulations
prescribed under this subsection, the court may, in its
discretion, increase the amount of the award to an
amount equal to not more than 3 times the amount
available under subparagraph (B) of this paragraph.
‘‘(4) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this sub-
section:
‘‘(A) CALLER
IDENTIFICATION
SERVICE.—
The term ‘caller identification service’ means
any service or device designed to provide the user
of the service or device with the telephone number
of an incoming telephone call.
‘‘(B) TELEPHONE
CALL.—The term ‘tele-
phone call’ means any telephone call or other
transmission which is made to or received at a
telephone number of any type of telephone service
and includes telephone calls made using the
Internet (irrespective of the type of customer
premises equipment used in connection with such
services). Such term also includes calls made by
an automatic telephone dialing system, an inte-
grated services digital network, and a commer-
cial mobile radio source.’’.
SEC. 3. EFFECT ON STATE LAW AND STATE ACTIONS.
(a) EFFECT ON STATE LAW.—Subsection (f)(1) of sec-
tion 227 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C.
227(f)(1)), as so redesignated by section 2(1) of this Act,
is further amended by inserting after ‘‘subsection (d)’’ the
following: ‘‘and the prohibition under paragraphs (1) and
(2) of subsection (e),’’.
(b) ACTIONS BY STATES.—The first sentence of sub-
section (g)(1) of section 227 of the Communications Act of
1934 (47 U.S.C. 227(g)(1)), as so redesignated by section
2(1) of this Act, is further amended by striking ‘‘telephone
calls’’ and inserting ‘‘telephone solicitations, telephone calls,
or’’.
SEC. 4. STUDY REGARDING TRANSMISSION OF CALLER
IDENTIFICATION INFORMATION.
The Federal Communications Commission shall con-
duct a study to determine—
(1) the extent of the capability of the public
switched network to transmit the information that
can be accessed by caller identification services;
(2) the types of telecommunications equipment
being used in the telemarketing industry, the extent of
such use, and the capabilities of such types of equip-
ment to transmit the information that can be accessed
by caller identification services; and
(3) the changes to the public switched network
and to the types of telecommunications equipment
commonly being used in the telemarketing industry
that would be necessary to provide for the public
switched network to be able to transmit caller identi-
fication information on all telephone calls, and the
costs (including costs to the telemarketing industry)
to implement such changes.
The Commission shall complete the study and submit a re-
port to the Congress on the results of the study, not later
than one year after the date of the enactment of this Act.
Union Calendar No. 525
106TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 3100
[Report No. 106–872]
A BILL
To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to pro-
hibit telemarketers from interfering with the call-
er identification service of any person to whom a
telephone solicitation is made, and for other pur-
poses.
SEPTEMBER 20, 2000
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Com-
mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union,
and ordered to be printed