This morning House Committee on Energy and Commerce Chairman Frank Pallone (D-NJ) and Ranking Member Greg Walden (R-ORE) announced bi-partisan agreement on a composite robocall bill, which will also be named the Stopping Bad Robocalls Act. The new bill, which draws on elements of various proposals before the Committee and includes provisions which echo elements of the Senate passed TRACED Act, is expected to be considered by the Subcommittee on Communications and Technology next week.

According to the Committee’s release, the key elements of the bill are as follows:

• Requires that phone carriers implement call authentication technology so consumers can trust their caller ID again, with no additional line-item for consumers, and includes a process to help rural carriers implement this technology.

• Allows carriers to offer call blocking services to consumers with no additional line charge on an opt-out basis with important transparency safeguards to make sure important calls aren’t inadvertently blocked.

• Directs the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to issue rules to protect consumers from calls they didn’t agree to receive and to ensure consumers can withdraw consent.

• Requires the FCC to enact safeguards so companies can’t abuse robocall exemptions.

• Ensures the FCC has the authority and the tools to take strong, quick action when it tracks down robocallers, including by extending the statute of limitations from one year to three, and in some instances four, years for callers violating robocall prohibitions.

• Mandates the FCC to submit a report to Congress on the implementation of its reassigned numbers database to make sure the Commission is effectively protecting consumers from unwanted calls.

Further analysis to come from TCPAWorld.