Panetta Co-Sponsors Legislation to Combat Robocalls and Scammers

WASHINGTON, DC – On Monday, July 22, Congressman Jimmy Panetta (D-Carmel Valley) announced his co-sponsorship of three pieces of legislation to stop abusive robocall practices.
The bipartisan Stopping Bad Robocalls Act will enact strong consumer protections for authorized calls and empower the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) with strong enforcement tools to reign in robocallers.  The legislation would also ensure that consumers have the ability to stop calls they previously authorized and require incoming calls to have authentic caller identification information before they are delivered to customers.
The Help Americans Never Get Unwanted Phone calls (HANGUP) Act repeals a loophole allowing contractors to robocall anyone with debt owed to or guaranteed by the federal government.  This includes most student loans and many loans to veterans, farmers, and small businesses.
The Regulatory Oversight Barring Obnoxious (ROBO) Calls and Texts Act creates a new Robocall Division within the Enforcement Bureau at the FCC and supports the advancement of robocall blocking technology.
"The pervasive, persistent, and proliferating robocalls have become more than just a pain in the ear for many residents on the Central Coast; the calls are an invasion of our privacy.  That is why I cosponsored legislation that would equip our agencies with the tools necessary to help prevent the abusive practices by robocallers and better restrict unauthorized robocalls.  Moreover, these bipartisan bills would help us to again trust that the number we see on our caller ID is actually the person calling," said Congressman Panetta.
In 2018, an estimated 47.8 billion robocalls were placed nationwide, an increase of 17 billion calls from 2017.  Illegal robocalls affect American life in increasingly harmful ways, from scams to defraud consumers to disrupting our health care system, and more.  Congressman Panetta has heard constituent complaints about these calls, and is supporting bills that take a variety of approaches to stop abusive robocall practices.