House passes bipartisan bill cracking down on illegal robocalls

Note: This information was provided by the office of Rep. Greg Gianforte

WASHINGTON — On a vote of 417-3, the U.S. House of Representatives passed Wednesday a bipartisan bill co-sponsored by Montana’s federal legislators to crack down on illegal robocalls.

“Robocalls are not only a nuisance, they’re a threat to honest, hardworking Montanans. Illegal robocalls seek to exploit them and steal their personal, private information and their money,” Rep. Greg Gianforte, R-Mont., a sponsor of the House version of the bill, said. “It’s time to put an end to the stories I hear too often from Montanans about illegal robocalls.”

The bill voted on in the House is a compromise between a bill by Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., sponsored by Sens. Jon Tester, D-Mont., and Steve Daines, R-Mont., and the House bill by Rep. Fank Pallone Jr., D-N.J., that Gianforte sponsored.

“Today, we’re taking a huge step toward providing relief from robocalls with the Pallone-Thune TRACED Act,” said Gianforte, who is running for Montana governor next year. “It gives consumers tools to block illegal robocalls at no cost. It also holds illegal robocallers accountable for their scams, including higher fines and more prison time.”

The Pallone-Thune TRACED Act requires carriers to offer call-authentication technology to consumers and small businesses at no additional charge; requires opt-in or opt-out robocall blocking be offered at no additional charge to consumers; and requires the Federal Communications Commission to work to stop one-ring scams.

The bill also increases penalties against illegal robocallers, including higher fines, more jail time, and a longer statute of limitations.

The legislation included Gianforte’s bipartisan Tracing Back and Catching Unlawful Robocalls Act, which requires the FCC to publish an annual report on the telecommunication industry’s efforts to trace suspected illegal robocalls to their origins and provide a list of voice service providers who are not sufficiently participating in efforts to stop illegal calls.

In 2018, Americans received 26.3 billion robocalls, or about 50,000 robocalls per minute, according to a study released in January. Robocalls increased in 2018 by 46 percent from 2017.

In July 2019, the U.S. House passed the bipartisan Stopping Bad Robocalls Act which included Gianforte’s Tracing Back and Catching Unlawful Robocalls Act, on a vote of 429-3. Earlier in the month, the House Energy and Commerce Committee passed the bill by a vote of 48-0.

In June 2019, Gianforte introduced the bipartisan Tracing Back and Catching Unlawful Robocallers Act, H.R. 3434.

In May 2019, Gianforte pressed officials from the Federal Trade Commission and the FCC about what steps they are taking to prevent illegal robocalls.

Earlier in May, Gianforte shared with lawmakers the story of a young woman from Bozeman who received a call from her little brother’s phone number, but it was from a robocall scammer. The woman was shaken since her brother had died of a heroin overdose a couple of months before the call.

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Havre Daily News staff contributed to this report