MATSUI INTRODUCES LEGISLATION TO EXPOSE ILLEGAL ROBOCALLERS AND PROTECT AMERICAN CONSUMERS

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, CongresswomanDoris Matsui (CA-07),Ranking Member of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, introduced the Stop Scams and Spam Act, legislation that would direct the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to develop a tracking system to monitor and publish the top 100 illegal robocall and robotext campaigns.

“Predatory robocalls and texts bombard our phones everyday – harassing Americans and threatening our privacy and financial wellbeing,” said Congresswoman Matsui. “That’s why I’m joining my colleagues to crack down on illegal robocallers, robotexters, and their scams. The Stop Scams and Spam Act exposes the worst of these illegal campaigns – shining a light on their fraudulent activities to protect everyday Americans.”

In 1991, in an effort to address a growing number of telephone marketing calls, Congress enacted the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). The TCPA restricts the making of telemarketing calls and the use of automatic telephone dialing systems (robocallers) and artificial or prerecorded voice messages. The rules apply to common carriers as well as to other marketers.

In 2021, the Supreme Court ruling in Facebook, Inc. v. Duguid narrowed the definition of auto-dialer technology, excluding the bulk of robocalls taking place today from the commonsense consumer protections included in the TCPA. That has led to American consumers as a whole receiving approximately 4 billion robocalls per month.

Full text of the Stop Scams and Spam Act is available HERE.

Congresswoman Matsui has been a vocal proponent of additional measures to protect consumers from the onslaught of robocalls. She also authors the FCC Legal Enforcement Act with Senator Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), legislation that would provide the FCC more authority to hold robocallers accountable.

The Stop Scams and Spam Act is a provision of the larger Do Not Disturb Act, led by Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (NJ-06). A section-by-section summary of that legislation is available HERE.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

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