Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), Communications and Technology Subcommittee Ranking Member Anna Eshoo (D-CA), and Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade Subcommittee Ranking Member Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) today sent a letter to full Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI) requesting a joint subcommittee hearing on steps Congress can take to protect consumers from the growing number of unwanted and potentially predatory robocalls.
The lawmakers wrote that the hearing should focus on updating and rewriting the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) of 1991 for the 21st Century. When Congress passed the law 25 years ago, only 7.5 million cellphones were in use in the U.S. and people still relied almost exclusively on their landlines. The number of nuisance calls is also on the rise. Last year, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) received 170,000 complaints of robocalls-in stark contrast to the 37,700 complaints of these types of calls in 2004.
“Technology is allowing telemarketers to circumvent existing rules, and while the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) have been doing what they can under the existing laws, consumer complaints are nonetheless on the rise," the three Democratic committee leaders wrote in their letter. “The public has clearly spoken, and it is time for Congress to explore whether there is more we can do to protect consumers from these unwanted intrusions and examine whether the laws should be updated for the 21st Century."
Stating that these calls violate consumers’ privacy and often lead to fraud, frequently targeting seniors, people of color, military personnel and financially vulnerable consumers, the committee leaders said the committee should consider whether such calls that result in fraud should be subject to higher penalties from the FTC.
The hearing should also address several other issues, including:
* The TCPA draws a distinction between wireless and landline phones. Given the degree of wireless substitution, we should consider whether the law should be technology neutral.
* Given a vague definition for a prohibited autodialer, we should consider whether a smartphone is now an auto dialer.
* The FCC has told us that it could use new tools to prosecute illegal robocallers. We should consider whether statutory fines imposed by Congress nearly 25 years are still sufficient.
* We should consider strengthening TCPA to close loopholes created by FCC when it decided that some robocallers should be exempted from a consumer consent requirement if they are calling a cellphone.
