US House Passes Stopping Bad Robocalls Act

The US House of Representatives yesterday passed the Stopping Bad Robocalls Act, HR 3375, by a sweeping 429-3 vote.  In response to the passage of the bill, Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), Ranking Member Greg Walden (R-OR), Communications and Technology Subcommittee Chairman Mike Doyle (D-PA) and Communications and Technology Subcommittee Ranking Member Bob Latta (R-OH) released the following statement: “Today, the House of Representatives voted to restore Americans’ confidence in the telephone system and put consumers back in charge of their phones.  We’re proud of the strong support our bipartisan Stopping Bad Robocalls Act received this afternoon and look forward to working with our colleagues in the Senate to produce a bill that the President can sign into law.  The American people are counting on us to help end the robocall epidemic, and we will deliver for them.”

Among other things, the bipartisan Stopping Bad Robocalls Act:

• 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-item charge, 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.

A section-by-Section summary is available here.

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The Regulatory Mix Today: US House Passes Stopping Bad Robocalls Act, Senators Reintroduce AIRWAVES Act, FCC Emergency Alert Test

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Senators Reintroduce the AIRWAVES Act

Senators Cory Gardner (R-CO), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Marco Rubio (R-FL), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), and Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) announced the reintroduction of the Advancing Innovation and Reinvigorating Widespread Access to Viable Electromagnetic Spectrum (AIRWAVES) Act, which will encourage the federal government to continue to free up spectrum for commercial licensed and unlicensed use and leverage the success of spectrum auctions to help close the urban-rural divide.

Among other things, the legislation:

• Establishes a spectrum pipeline that will provide more capacity for wireless providers to improve existing service and expand to new areas, as well as to provide greater access to spectrum for innovators to develop important next-generation technologies. 
• Requires 10% of all of the proceeds from spectrum auctions in the bill to go directly to wireless broadband infrastructure buildout in unserved and underserved areas throughout rural communities across the country.
• The legislation aims to make more efficient use of spectrum and requires the federal government to auction off more spectrum in a timely manner, as well as free up additional unlicensed spectrum to support wireless devices like tablets, as well as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth technologies. 

“The AIRWAVES Act is bipartisan, commonsense legislation that frees up more spectrum for commercial licensed and unlicensed users and will help bridge the divide between urban and rural Colorado,” said Senator Gardner. “This legislation offers innovative ways to avoid a spectrum crunch, pave the way for 5G service, and provide critical resources to rural America to continue rural buildout in unserved and underserved areas throughout Colorado and the country.”

“Granite State businesses and families alike need fast and reliable internet access, but lack of spectrum capacity can stand in the way of getting us there,” said Senator Hassan. “The bipartisan AIRWAVES Act would free up badly-needed spectrum to help speed up the development of innovative 5G technologies and, crucially, it would also make meaningful investments in expanding rural broadband infrastructure in places like New Hampshire.” 

FCC Emergency Alert Test

The FEMA and the FCC announced that they will conduct a nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System (EAS) on Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2019.  The nationwide test will be sent to radio and television stations beginning at 2:20 p.m. EDT and will be conducted through FEMA’s Integrated Public Alert and Warning System.   The test message will originate from designated radio stations, known as Primary Entry Point stations, which participate in a component of IPAWS called the National Public Warning System.

All other radio and television stations, cable, wireline service providers, and direct broadcast satellite service providers should subsequently receive and broadcast the test message. This year’s test will evaluate the readiness of the national alerting capability in the absence of internet connectivity. The test will be approximately one minute long, have a limited impact on the public with only minor interruption of radio and television programs, and will be similar to regular monthly EAS tests. Both the audio message and text crawl should be accessible to people with disabilities. 

The test will not include a message on cell phones via Wireless Emergency Alerts.

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The Regulatory Mix, Inteserra’s blog of telecom related regulatory activities, is a snapshot of PUC, FCC, legislative, and occasionally court issues that our regulatory monitoring team uncovers each day. Depending on their significance, some items may be the subject of an Inteserra Briefing.