Protecting Patients and Doctors from Unlawful Robocalls Act of 2019

Bill: 116-hr-3780
Sponsor: full_name: Rep. Dingell, Debbie [D-MI-12]
Introduced: 2019-07-16
Policy area: Science, Technology, Communications
Subjects: Administrative law and regulatory procedures

Advisory bodies

Consumer affairs

Crime prevention

Federal Communications Commission (FCC)

Fraud offenses and financial crimes

Health facilities and institutions

Hospital care

Intergovernmental relations

Telephone and wireless communication
Latest action: action_date: 2019-07-17
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Communications and Technology.

Summaries:
action_date: 2019-07-16
action_desc: Introduced in House
text: <p><b>Protecting Patients and Doctors from Unlawful Robocalls Act of 2019</b></p> <p>This bill requires the Federal Communications Commission to establish the Hospital Robocall Protection Group to develop best practices for combating unlawful robocalls made to hospitals and to devise strategies for hospitals to protect themselves from such calls. </p>

tv_txt: I 116th CONGRESS 1st Session H. R. 3780 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES July 16, 2019 Mrs. Dingell (for herself and Mr. Burgess ) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce A BILL To direct the Federal Communications Commission to establish an advisory committee to develop best practices regarding how to combat unlawful robocalls made to hospitals and how hospitals can protect themselves from such calls, and for other purposes.

1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Protecting Patients and Doctors from Unlawful Robocalls Act of 2019 . 2. Hospital Robocall Protection Group (a) Establishment Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Commission shall establish an advisory committee to be known as the Hospital Robocall Protection Group . (b) Membership The Group shall be composed only of the following members: (1) An equal number of representatives from each of the following: (A) Voice service providers that serve hospitals. (B) Companies that focus on mitigating unlawful robocalls. (C) Consumer advocacy organizations. (D) Providers of one-way voice over internet protocol services described in subsection (e)(4)(B)(ii). (E) Hospitals. (F) State government officials focused on combatting unlawful robocalls. (2) One representative of the Commission. (3) One representative of the Federal Trade Commission. (c) Issuance of best practices Not later than 180 days after the date on which the Group is established under subsection (a), the Group shall issue best practices regarding the following: (1) How voice service providers can better combat unlawful robocalls made to hospitals. (2) How hospitals can better protect themselves from such calls, including by using unlawful robocall mitigation techniques. (3) How the Federal Government and State governments can help combat such calls. (d) Proceeding by FCC Not later than 180 days after the date on which the best practices are issued by the Group under subsection (c), the Commission shall conclude a proceeding to assess the extent to which the voluntary adoption of such best practices can be facilitated to protect hospitals and other institutions. (e) Definitions In this section: (1) Commission The term Commission means the Federal Communications Commission. (2) Group The term Group means the Hospital Robocall Protection Group established under subsection (a). (3) State The term State has the meaning given such term in section 3 of the Communications Act of 1934 ( 47 U.S.C. 153 ). (4) 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.