Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence Act or the TRACED Act

On January 16, 2019, Senator John Thune introduced. S.151 - Pallone-Thune TRACED Act. 

On May 21, 2019, Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Reported by Senator Wicker with an amendment in the nature of a substitute. With written report No. 116-41. On May 23, 2019, it was Passed/agreed to in Senate: Passed Senate with an amendment by Yea-Nay Vote. 97 - 1. Record Vote Number: 127. On December 04, 2019, it was Passed/agreed to in House: On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended Agreed to by the Yeas and Nays: (2/3 required): 417 - 3 (Roll no. 647).(text: CR H9235-9239). On December 19, 2019, it had to go to Resolving differences -- Senate actions: Senate agreed to the House amendment to S. 151 by Voice Vote. 

On December 20, 2019, it was Presented to President. 12/19/2019 Resolving differences -- Senate actions: Senate agreed to the House amendment to S. 151 by Voice Vote. 

The committees and subcommittees that the bill had a visit with were: 
Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation
01/16/2019 Referred to 04/03/2019
Markup by05/21/2019

House Energy and Commerce 05/24/2019 

This bill implements a forfeiture penalty for violations (with or without intent) of the prohibition on certain robocalls. The bill also removes an annual reporting requirement for enforcement relating to unsolicited facsimile advertisements.

The bill requires voice service providers to develop call authentication technologies.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) shall promulgate rules establishing when a provider may block a voice call based on information provided by the call authentication framework, but also must establish a process to permit a calling party adversely affected by the framework to verify the authenticity of their calls. The FCC shall also initiate a rulemaking to help protect a subscriber from receiving unwanted calls or texts from a caller using an unauthenticated number.

This bill requires the Department of Justice and the FCC to assemble an interagency working group to study and report to Congress on the enforcement of the prohibition of certain robocalls. Specifically, the working group will look into how to better enforce against robocalls by examining issues like the types of laws, policies, or constraints that could be inhibiting enforcement.

The bill requires the FCC to initiate a proceeding to determine whether its policies regarding access to number resources could be modified to help reduce access to numbers by potential robocall violators.

Just waiting for the POTUS to sign! 

Article by: Michael Palmer