Robo COP Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 805 To direct the Federal Trade Commission to revise the regulations regarding the ‘‘do-not-call’’ registry to prohibit politically-oriented recorded message telephone calls to telephone numbers listed on that registry. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 28, 2019 Ms. FOXX of North Carolina introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce A BILL To direct the Federal Trade Commission to revise the regula- tions regarding the ‘‘do-not-call’’ registry to prohibit po- litically-oriented recorded message telephone calls to tele- phone numbers listed on that registry. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Robo Calls Off Phones 4 Act’’ or the ‘‘Robo COP Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:04 Feb 05, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H805.IH H805 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 805 IH SEC. 2. POLITICALLY-ORIENTED RECORDED MESSAGE 1 PHONE CALLS PROHIBITED. 2 (a) PROHIBITED.—Notwithstanding any other provi- 3 sion of law, the Federal Trade Commission shall, not later 4 than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, 5 revise the ‘‘do-not-call’’ registry provisions of the Tele- 6 marketing Sales Rule (16 C.F.R. 310.1 et seq.) to prohibit 7 politically-oriented recorded message telephone calls to 8 telephone numbers listed on that registry. 9 (b) DEFINITION OF POLITICALLY-ORIENTED RE- 10 CORDED MESSAGE CALLS.—For purposes of this section, 11 the term ‘‘politically-oriented recorded message telephone 12 call’’ means any outbound telephone call— 13 (1) in which a person is not available to speak 14 with the person answering the call, and the call in- 15 stead plays a recorded message; and 16 (2)(A) the purpose of which is to promote, ad- 17 vertise, campaign, or solicit donations, for or against 18 any political candidate or regarding any political 19 issue; or 20 (B) uses in the recorded message any political 21 candidate’s name. 22 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:04 Feb 05, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H805.IH H805 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS