Rep. Cisneros Supports Legislation To Crack Down On Robocalls

Statement

Representative Gilbert R. Cisneros, Jr. (CA-39) released the following statement after the House passed the Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence (TRACED) Act. Rep. Cisneros is a co-sponsor of and voted for the House version, H.R. 3375, The Stopping Bad Robocalls Act. The TRACED Act will now head to the President's desk.

"I am proud to have joined my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to protect families from unwanted robocalls and illegal scams," said Rep. Cisneros. "With over 47 billion robocalls made last year, countless Americans are inundated with calls from bad actors. This common-sense legislation will provide much-needed relief to families and give them the ability to receive verification on calls and block calls they do not want. I look forward to the President signing this into law."

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regularly cite "unwanted and illegal robocalls" as their number one complaint, receiving millions of complaints each year. The number of robocalls in the United States hit a record 5.23 billion estimated calls in March 2019, according to YouMail, a robocall-blocking company. The TRACED Act requires phone companies to offer screening technology to identify and block spam robocalls at no cost to customers and increases penalties for perpetrators of illegal robocalls.

Individuals who have not yet done so already can register their phones with the FTC's Do Not Call Registry at www.donotcall.gov or 1-888-382-1222 to reduce unwanted telemarketing calls. Federal law requires telemarketers to stop calls to numbers registered on this list within 30 days. The registry also allows you to file complaints for violations to help the FTC and FCC prosecute offenders. Individuals who need assistance registering their number of filing a complaint can contact the Congressman's District Office at 714-459-4575 for assistance.

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