Broadcasting & Cable reports:
The House Energy & Commerce Committee has voted unanimously to dramatically raise the per-violation fines for illegal robocalls. That was part of an omnibus bill, the “Stopping Bad Robocalls Act,” which also passed unanimously (48-0)* as part of a markup for a couple dozen bills.
The bill, actually a combination of five bills, had passed unanimously out of the Communications Subcommittee June 25. Fines in the bill were raised from $1,500 per violation to $10,000 per.
“The American people are fed up with robocalls,” Chairman Frank Pallone Jr. (D-NJ) said. “Who can blame them – an estimated 47 billion robocalls were made last year. That’s outrageous. Today this Committee will provide some much needed relief.”
House Energy and Commerce also cleared the full legislation on a rare unanimous vote. After, Pallone, the cmte chair, said he expected a full House vote soon.
Senate already voted on a diff bill against robocalls. We may soon have a robocall law.
— Tony Romm (@TonyRomm) July 17, 2019
?☎️ @EnergyCommerce passed the #StopBadRobocalls Act to end life-intruding & fraudulent robocalls. Last year, there were an estimated 450M robocalls to #Tampa neighbors! It’s gotten so bad that many of us simply refuse to pick up the phone. pic.twitter.com/gMLXbCIz2I
— US Rep Kathy Castor (@USRepKCastor) July 17, 2019
?PASSED: Stopping Bad Robocalls Act – legislation aimed to help end illegal robocalls – just passed the committee with bipartisan support. The bill now moves to the House for consideration. ??☎ pic.twitter.com/I2FClQRYD3
— Energy & Commerce GOP (@HouseCommerce) July 17, 2019