House lawmakers advanced this week the Stopping Bad Robocalls Act, noting the bill serves as legislator’s latest attempt to curb fraudulent robocalls.
The legislation contained language amended in recent weeks by the Credit Union National Association (CUNA). The effort addressed CUNA concerns the bill would limit credit unions’ ability to reach members for legitimate business concerns.
“We appreciate the improvements that were made to this bill through the committee process,” Ryan Donovan, CUNA chief advocacy officer, said. “We look forward to engaging lawmakers further to ensure that Congressional remedies don’t impede credit unions’ ability to communicate with their members.”
CUNA officials recently wrote to the House Energy and Commerce Committee requesting three key changes to the bill, including a notice and complaint mechanism for opt-in white-list call blocking; redress for erroneous call blocking by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC); and cost protection for callers using the notice and complaint process for call-blocking services.
CUNA officials also forwarded correspondence to the FCC advocating requiring providers to unblock legal calls because the Commission has no authority to authorize the blocking of legal communications.
“The FCC should permit voice service providers to block only calls that have not been properly authenticated under the framework or authenticated, but the provider has concluded with a high degree of certainty that the call was placed illegally,” CUNA wrote.