WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) – chairman of the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Manufacturing, Trade, and Consumer Protection – today applauded passage of S.151, the Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence Act, legislation that would provide regulators more time to find scammers, increase civil forfeiture penalties for those caught, promote call authentication and blocking adoption, and bring relevant federal agencies and state attorneys general together to address impediments to criminal prosecution of robocallers who intentionally break laws.

Included in the TRACED Act is Sen. Moran’s FCC Reporting Modernization Act, which would update current Federal Communications Commission (FCC) reporting requirements to include all Telephone Consumer Protection Act complaints and enforcement actions regarding robocalls and spoofed phone calls.

“Not only are robocalls annoying and disruptive, but they can be dangerous – too often coercing unsuspecting Americans to provide sensitive personal and financial information with highly-sophisticated deceit tactics,” said Sen. Moran. “The TRACED Act, which passed the Senate today with overwhelming bipartisan support, will help curb robocalls and will help identify the patterns scammers employ to help guide Congress’ lawmaking efforts to combat this pervasive issue.”

Sen. Moran’s FCC Reporting Modernization Act requires the FCC to report the following information to Congress every year:

• Number of complaints received by the FCC alleging that a consumer received a robocall or spoofed call;
• Number of citations issued by the FCC in enforcing against such complaints;
• Number of notices of apparent liability issued by the FCC to enforce policies against robocalls or spoofed calls, along with the amount of penalties involved, the recipient of the notice and the status of the proceeding.
   

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