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 En-
ergy and Commerce 
A BILL 
To deter criminal robocall violations and improve enforce-
ment of section 227(b) of the Communications Act of 
1934, 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 ‘‘Telephone Robocall 
Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence Act’’ or the 
‘‘TRACED Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FORFEITURE. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 227 of the Communica-
tions Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 227) is amended— 
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(1) in subsection (b), by adding at the end the 
following: 
‘‘(4) CIVIL FORFEITURE.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Any person that is de-
termined by the Commission, in accordance 
with paragraph (3) or (4) of section 503(b), to 
have violated any provision of this subsection 
shall be liable to the United States for a for-
feiture penalty pursuant to section 503(b)(1). 
The amount of the forfeiture penalty deter-
mined under this subparagraph shall be deter-
mined in accordance with subparagraphs (A) 
through (F) of section 503(b)(2). 
‘‘(B) VIOLATION WITH INTENT.—Any per-
son that is determined by the Commission, in 
accordance with paragraph (3) or (4) of section 
503(b), to have violated this subsection with the 
intent to cause such violation shall be liable to 
the United States for a forfeiture penalty. The 
amount of the forfeiture penalty determined 
under this subparagraph shall be equal to an 
amount determined in accordance with subpara-
graphs (A) through (F) of section 503(b)(2) 
plus an additional penalty not to exceed 
$10,000. 
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‘‘(C) RECOVERY.—Any forfeiture penalty 
determined under subparagraph (A) or (B) 
shall be recoverable under section 504(a). 
‘‘(D) PROCEDURE.—No forfeiture liability 
shall be determined under subparagraph (A) or 
(B) against any person unless such person re-
ceives the notice required by paragraph (3) or 
(4) of section 503(b). 
‘‘(E) STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS.—No for-
feiture penalty shall be determined or imposed 
against any person— 
‘‘(i) under subparagraph (A) if the 
violation charged occurred more than 1 
year prior to the date of issuance of the re-
quired notice or notice of apparent liabil-
ity; and 
‘‘(ii) under subparagraph (B) if the 
violation charged occurred more than 3 
years prior to the date of issuance of the 
required notice or notice of apparent liabil-
ity. 
‘‘(F) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Notwith-
standing any law to the contrary, the Commis-
sion may not determine or impose a forfeiture 
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penalty on a person under both subparagraphs 
(A) and (B) based on the same conduct.’’; and 
(2) by striking subsection (h). 
(b) APPLICABILITY.—The amendments made by this 
section shall not affect any action or proceeding com-
menced before and pending on the date of enactment of 
this Act. 
(c) DEADLINE
FOR REGULATIONS.—The Federal 
Communications Commission shall prescribe regulations 
to implement the amendments made by this section not 
later than 270 days after the date of enactment of this 
Act. 
SEC. 3. CALL AUTHENTICATION. 
(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
(1) STIR/SHAKEN AUTHENTICATION FRAME-
WORK.—The term ‘‘STIR/SHAKEN authentication 
framework’’ means the secure telephone identity re-
visited and signature-based handling of asserted in-
formation using tokens standards proposed by the 
information and communications technology industry 
to attach a certificate of authenticity to each phone 
to verify the source of each call. 
(2) VOICE
SERVICE.—The term ‘‘voice serv-
ice’’— 
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(A) means any service that is inter-
connected with the public switched telephone 
network and that furnishes voice communica-
tions to an end user using resources from the 
North American Numbering Plan or any suc-
cessor to the North American Numbering Plan 
adopted by the Commission under section 
251(e)(1) of the Communications Act of 1934 
(47 U.S.C. 251(e)(1)); and 
(B) includes— 
(i) transmissions from a telephone 
facsimile machine, computer, or other de-
vice to a telephone facsimile machine; and 
(ii) without limitation, any service 
that enables real-time, two-way voice com-
munications, including any service that re-
quires internet protocol-compatible cus-
tomer 
premises 
equipment 
(commonly 
known as ‘‘CPE’’) and permits out-bound 
calling, whether or not the service is one- 
way or two-way voice over internet pro-
tocol. 
(b) AUTHENTICATION FRAMEWORK.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraphs (2) 
and (3), not later than 18 months after the date of 
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enactment of this Act, the Federal Communications 
Commission shall require a provider of voice service 
to implement the STIR/SHAKEN authentication 
framework in the internet protocol networks of voice 
service providers. 
(2) IMPLEMENTATION.—The Federal Commu-
nications Commission shall not take the action de-
scribed in paragraph (1) if the Commission deter-
mines that a provider of voice service, not later than 
12 months after the date of enactment of this Act— 
(A) has adopted the STIR/SHAKEN au-
thentication framework for calls on the internet 
protocol networks of voice service providers; 
(B) has agreed voluntarily to participate 
with other providers of voice service in the 
STIR/SHAKEN authentication framework; 
(C) has begun to implement the STIR/ 
SHAKEN authentication framework; and 
(D) will be capable of fully implementing 
the STIR/SHAKEN authentication framework 
not later than 18 months after the date of en-
actment of this Act. 
(3) IMPLEMENTATION REPORT.—Not later than 
12 months after the date of enactment of this Act, 
the Federal Communications Commission shall sub-
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mit to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 
Transportation of the Senate and the Committee on 
Energy and Commerce of the House of Representa-
tives a report on the determination required under 
paragraph (2), which shall include— 
(A) an analysis of the extent to which pro-
viders of a voice service have implemented the 
STIR/SHAKEN authentication framework; and 
(B) an assessment of the efficacy of the 
STIR/SHAKEN authentication framework, as 
being implemented under this section, in ad-
dressing all aspects of call authentication. 
(4) REVIEW
AND
REVISION
OR
REPLACE-
MENT.—Not later than 3 years after the date of en-
actment of this Act, and every 3 years thereafter, 
the Federal Communications Commission, after pub-
lic notice and an opportunity for comment, shall— 
(A) assess the efficacy of the call authen-
tication framework implemented under this sec-
tion; 
(B) based on the assessment under sub-
paragraph (A), revise or replace the call au-
thentication framework under this section if the 
Commission determines it is in the public inter-
est to do so; and 
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(C) submit to the Committee on Com-
merce, Science, and Transportation of the Sen-
ate and the Committee on Energy and Com-
merce of the House of Representatives a report 
on the findings of the assessment under sub-
paragraph (A) and on any actions to revise or 
replace the call authentication framework under 
subparagraph (B). 
(5) EXTENSION
OF
IMPLEMENTATION
DEAD-
LINE.—The Federal Communications Commission 
may extend any deadline for the implementation of 
a call authentication framework required under this 
section by 12 months or such further amount of 
time as the Commission determines necessary if the 
Commission determines that purchasing or upgrad-
ing equipment to support call authentication would 
constitute a substantial hardship for a provider or 
category of providers. 
(c) SAFE HARBOR AND OTHER REGULATIONS.— 
(1) IN
GENERAL.—The Federal Communica-
tions Commission shall promulgate rules— 
(A) establishing when a provider of voice 
service may block a voice call based, in whole or 
in part, on information provided by the call au-
thentication framework under subsection (b); 
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(B) establishing a safe harbor for a pro-
vider of voice service from liability for unin-
tended or inadvertent blocking of calls or for 
the unintended or inadvertent misidentification 
of the level of trust for individual calls based, 
in whole or in part, on information provided by 
the call authentication framework under sub-
section (b); and 
(C) establishing a process to permit a call-
ing party adversely affected by the information 
provided by the call authentication framework 
under subsection (b) to verify the authenticity 
of the calling party’s calls. 
(2) CONSIDERATIONS.—In establishing the safe 
harbor under paragraph (1), the Federal Commu-
nications Commission shall consider limiting the li-
ability of a provider based on the extent to which the 
provider— 
(A) blocks or identifies calls based, in 
whole or in part, on the information provided 
by the call authentication framework under sub-
section (b); 
(B) implemented procedures based, in 
whole or in part, on the information provided 
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by the call authentication framework under sub-
section (b); and 
(C) used reasonable care. 
(d) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec-
tion shall preclude the Federal Communications Commis-
sion from initiating a rulemaking pursuant to its existing 
statutory authority. 
SEC. 4. PROTECTIONS FROM SPOOFED CALLS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after the 
date of enactment of this Act, and consistent with the call 
authentication framework under section 3, the Federal 
Communications Commission shall initiate a rulemaking 
to help protect a subscriber from receiving unwanted calls 
or text messages from a caller using an unauthenticated 
number. 
(b) CONSIDERATIONS.—In promulgating rules under 
subsection (a), the Federal Communications Commission 
shall consider— 
(1) the Government Accountability Office report 
on combating the fraudulent provision of misleading 
or inaccurate caller identification required by section 
503(c) of division P of the Consolidated Appropria-
tions Act 2018 (Public Law 115–141); 
(2) the best means of ensuring that a sub-
scriber or provider has the ability to block calls from 
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a caller using an unauthenticated North American 
Numbering Plan number; 
(3) the impact on the privacy of a subscriber 
from unauthenticated calls; 
(4) the effectiveness in verifying the accuracy of 
caller identification information; and 
(5) the availability and cost of providing protec-
tion from the unwanted calls or text messages de-
scribed in subsection (a). 
SEC. 5. INTERAGENCY WORKING GROUP. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General, in con-
sultation with the Chairman of the Federal Communica-
tions Commission, shall convene an interagency working 
group to study Government prosecution of violations of 
section 227(b) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 
U.S.C. 227(b)). 
(b) DUTIES.—In carrying out the study under sub-
section (a), the interagency working group shall— 
(1) determine whether, and if so how, any Fed-
eral laws, including regulations, policies, and prac-
tices, or budgetary or jurisdictional constraints in-
hibit the prosecution of such violations; 
(2) identify existing and potential Federal poli-
cies and programs that encourage and improve co-
ordination among Federal departments and agencies 
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and States, and between States, in the prevention 
and prosecution of such violations; 
(3) identify existing and potential international 
policies and programs that encourage and improve 
coordination between countries in the prevention and 
prosecution of such violations; and 
(4) consider— 
(A) the benefit and potential sources of ad-
ditional resources for the Federal prevention 
and prosecution of criminal violations of that 
section; 
(B) whether to establish memoranda of un-
derstanding regarding the prevention and pros-
ecution of such violations between— 
(i) the States; 
(ii) the States and the Federal Gov-
ernment; and 
(iii) the Federal Government and a 
foreign government; 
(C) whether to establish a process to allow 
States to request Federal subpoenas from the 
Federal Communications Commission; 
(D) whether extending civil enforcement 
authority to the States would assist in the suc-
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cessful prevention and prosecution of such vio-
lations; 
(E) whether increased forfeiture and im-
prisonment penalties are appropriate, such as 
extending imprisonment for such a violation to 
a term longer than 2 years; 
(F) whether regulation of any entity that 
enters into a business arrangement with a com-
mon carrier regulated under title II of the Com-
munications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 201 et 
seq.) for the specific purpose of carrying, rout-
ing, or transmitting a call that constitutes such 
a violation would assist in the successful pre-
vention and prosecution of such violations; and 
(G) the extent to which, if any, Depart-
ment of Justice policies to pursue the prosecu-
tion of violations causing economic harm, phys-
ical danger, or erosion of an inhabitant’s peace 
of mind and sense of security inhibits the pre-
vention or prosecution of such violations. 
(c) MEMBERS.—The interagency working group shall 
be composed of such representatives of Federal depart-
ments and agencies as the Attorney General considers ap-
propriate, such as— 
(1) the Department of Commerce; 
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(2) the Department of State; 
(3) the Department of Homeland Security; 
(4) the Federal Communications Commission; 
(5) the Federal Trade Commission; and 
(6) the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protec-
tion. 
(d) NON-FEDERAL STAKEHOLDERS.—In carrying 
out the study under subsection (a), the interagency work-
ing group shall consult with such non-Federal stake-
holders as the Attorney General determines have the rel-
evant expertise, including the National Association of At-
torneys General. 
(e) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 270 days 
after the date of enactment of this Act, the interagency 
working group shall submit to the Committee on Com-
merce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate and the 
Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of 
Representatives a report on the findings of the study 
under subsection (a), including— 
(1) any recommendations regarding the preven-
tion and prosecution of such violations; and 
(2) a description of what progress, if any, rel-
evant Federal departments and agencies have made 
in implementing the recommendations under para-
graph (1). 
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SEC. 6. ACCESS TO NUMBER RESOURCES. 
(a) IN GENERAL.— 
(1) EXAMINATION OF FCC POLICIES.—Not later 
than 180 days after the date of enactment of this 
Act, the Federal Communications Commission shall 
commence a proceeding to determine whether Fed-
eral Communications Commission policies regarding 
access to number resources, including number re-
sources for toll free and non-toll free telephone num-
bers, could be modified, including by establishing 
registration and compliance obligations, to help re-
duce access to numbers by potential perpetrators of 
violations of section 227(b) of the Communications 
Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 227(b)). 
(2) REGULATIONS.—If the Federal Commu-
nications Commission determines under paragraph 
(1) that modifying the policies described in that 
paragraph could help achieve the goal described in 
that paragraph, the Commission shall prescribe reg-
ulations to implement those policy modifications. 
(b) 
AUTHORITY.—Any 
person 
who 
knowingly, 
through an employee, agent, officer, or otherwise, directly 
or indirectly, by or through any means or device whatso-
ever, is a party to obtaining number resources, including 
number resources for toll free and non-toll free telephone 
numbers, from a common carrier regulated under title II 
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of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 201 et 
seq.), in violation of a regulation prescribed under sub-
section (a) of this section, shall, notwithstanding section 
503(b)(5) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 
503(b)(5)), be subject to a forfeiture penalty under section 
503 of that Act. A forfeiture penalty under this subsection 
shall be in addition to any other penalty provided for by 
law. 
Æ 
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