Title: Tracing Back and Catching Unlawful Robocallers Act of 2019
Policy area: Science, Technology, Communications

Summary:
Tracing Back and Catching Unlawful Robocallers Act of 2019
This bill requires the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to report annually on the status of private-led efforts to trace the origin of suspected unlawful robocalls and to list telecommunication service providers that have not sufficiently participated. The FCC shall also foster the establishment of a single consortium to conduct private-led efforts to trace the origin of suspected unlawful robocalls.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3434 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3434

 To require the Federal Communications Commission to publish an annual 
    report on suspected unlawful robocalls, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 24, 2019

 Mr. Butterfield (for himself, Mr. Johnson of Ohio, Mr. Soto, and Mr. 
  Gianforte) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                    Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To require the Federal Communications Commission to publish an annual 
    report on suspected unlawful robocalls, and for other purposes.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Tracing Back and Catching Unlawful 
Robocallers Act of 2019''.

SEC. 2. ANNUAL ROBOCALL REPORT.

    (a) In General.--Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment 
of this Act, and annually thereafter, the Commission shall make 
publicly available on the website of the Commission, and submit to the 
Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of Representatives and 
the Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation of the Senate, a 
report on the status of private-led efforts to trace back the origin of 
suspected unlawful robocalls by the registered consortium and the 
participation of voice service providers in such efforts.
    (b) Contents of Report.--The report required under subsection (a) 
shall include, at minimum, the following:
            (1) A description of private-led efforts to trace back the 
        origin of suspected unlawful robocalls by the registered 
        consortium and the actions taken by the registered consortium 
        to coordinate with the Commission.
            (2) A list of voice service providers identified by the 
        registered consortium that participated in private-led efforts 
        to trace back the origin of suspected unlawful robocalls 
        through the registered consortium.
            (3) A list of each voice service provider that received a 
        request from the registered consortium to participate in 
        private-led efforts to trace back the origin of suspected 
        unlawful robocalls and refused to participate, as identified by 
        the registered consortium.
            (4) The reason, if any, each voice service provider 
        identified by the registered consortium provided for not 
        participating in private-led efforts to trace back the origin 
        of suspected unlawful robocalls.
            (5) A description of how the Commission may use the 
        information provided to the Commission by voice service 
        providers or the registered consortium that have participated 
        in private-led efforts to trace back the origin of suspected 
        unlawful robocalls in the enforcement efforts by the 
        Commission.
    (c) Additional Information.--Not later than 210 days after the date 
of the enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the Commission 
shall issue a notice to the public seeking additional information from 
voice service providers and the registered consortium of private-led 
efforts to trace back the origin of suspected unlawful robocalls 
necessary for the report by the Commission required under subsection 
(a).
    (d) Registration of Consortium of Private-Led Efforts To Trace Back 
the Origin of Suspected Unlawful Robocalls.--
            (1) In general.--Not later than 90 days after the date of 
        enactment of this Act, the Commission shall issue rules to 
        establish a registration process for the registration of a 
        single consortium that conducts private-led efforts to trace 
        back the origin of suspected unlawful robocalls. The consortium 
        shall meet the following requirements:
                    (A) Be a neutral third-party competent to manage 
                the private-led effort to trace back the origin of 
                suspected unlawful robocalls in the judgement of the 
                Commission.
                    (B) Maintain a set of written best practices about 
                the management of such efforts and regarding providers 
                of voice services' participation in private-led efforts 
                to trace back the origin of suspected unlawful 
                robocalls.
                    (C) Consistent with section 222(d)(2) of the 
                Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 222(d)(2)), any 
                private-led efforts to trace back the origin of 
                suspected unlawful robocalls conducted by the third-
                party focus on ``fraudulent, abusive, or unlawful'' 
                traffic.
                    (D) File a notice with the Commission that the 
                consortium intends to conduct private-led efforts to 
                trace back in advance of such registration.
            (2) Annual notice by the commission seeking 
        registrations.--Not later than 120 days after the date of 
        enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the Commission 
        shall issue a notice to the public seeking the registration 
        described in paragraph (1).
    (e) List of Voice Service Providers.--The Commission may publish a 
list of voice service providers from which other voice service 
providers may refuse to accept calls, based on information obtained 
from the consortium about voice service providers that refuse to 
participate in private-led efforts to trace back the origin of 
suspected unlawful robocalls, and other information the Commission may 
collect about service providers that are found to originate or transmit 
substantial amounts of illegal calls.
    (f) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) Commission.--The term ``Commission'' means the Federal 
        Communications Commission.
            (2) Private-led effort to trace back.--The term ``private-
        led effort to trace back'' means an effort made by the 
        registered consortium of voice service providers to establish a 
        methodology for determining the origin of a suspected unlawful 
        robocall.
            (3) Registered consortium.--The term ``registered 
        consortium'' means the consortium registered under subsection 
        (d).
            (4) Suspected unlawful robocall.--The term ``suspected 
        unlawful robocall'' means a call that the Commission or a voice 
        service provider reasonably believes was made in violation of 
        subsection (b) or (e) of section 227 of the Communications Act 
        of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 227).
            (5) Voice service.--The term ``voice service''--
                    (A) means any service that is interconnected with 
                the public switched telephone network and that 
                furnishes voice communications to an end user using 
                resources from the North American Numbering Plan or any 
                successor 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 device to 
                        a telephone facsimile machine; and
                            (ii) without limitation, any service that 
                        enables real-time, two-way voice 
                        communications, including any service that 
                        requires internet protocol-compatible customer 
                        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 protocol.
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