[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2029 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







106th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2029

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to prohibit telemarketers from 
  interfering with the caller identification service of any person to 
     whom a telephone solicitation is made, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            February 3, 2000

 Mr. Frist (for himself, Mr. Robb, Ms. Collins, Mr. Helms, Mr. Leahy, 
 Mr. Reed, Mr. Sessions, Mr. Abraham, Mr. Durbin, Mrs. Murray, and Mr. 
   Hollings) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
   referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to prohibit telemarketers from 
  interfering with the caller identification service of any person to 
     whom a telephone solicitation is made, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Know Your Caller Act of 2000''.

SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON INTERFERENCE WITH CALLER IDENTIFICATION 
              SERVICES.

    Section 227 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 227) is 
amended--
            (1) by redesignating subsections (e) and (f) as subsections 
        (f) and (g), respectively; and
            (2) by inserting after subsection (d) the following new 
        subsection:
    ``(e) Prohibition on Interference With Caller Identification 
Services.--
            ``(1) In general.--It shall be unlawful for any person or 
        entity within the United States, in making any telephone 
        solicitation, to interfere with or circumvent the ability of a 
        caller identification service to access or provide to the 
        recipient of the call the information about the call (as 
        required under the regulations issued under paragraph (2)) that 
        such service is capable of providing.
            ``(2) Regulations.--Not later than 6 months after the date 
        of the enactment of the Know Your Caller Act of 2000, the 
        Commission shall prescribe regulations to implement this 
        subsection which shall--
                    ``(A) require any person or entity making a 
                telephone solicitation to make such solicitation in a 
                manner such that a recipient of such solicitation 
                having a caller identification service capable of 
                providing such information will be provided by such 
                service with--
                            ``(i) the name of the person or entity on 
                        whose behalf such solicitation is being made; 
                        and
                            ``(ii) a valid and working telephone number 
                        at which the caller or the person or entity on 
                        whose behalf such solicitation was made may be 
                        reached during regular business hours for the 
                        purpose of requesting that the recipient of 
                        such solicitation be placed on the do-not-call 
                        list required under section 64.1200 of the 
                        Commission's regulations (47 CFR 64.1200) to be 
                        maintained by the person making such 
                        solicitation; and
                    ``(B) provide that any person or entity who 
                receives a request from a person to be placed on such 
                do-not-call list may not use such person's name and 
                telephone number for any other telemarketing, mail 
                marketing, or other marketing purpose (including 
                transfer or sale to any other entity for marketing use) 
                other than enforcement of such list.
            ``(2) Private right of action.--A person or entity may, if 
        otherwise permitted by the laws or rules of court of a State, 
        bring in an appropriate court of that State--
                    ``(A) an action based on a violation of this 
                subsection or the regulations prescribed under this 
                subsection to enjoin such violation;
                    ``(B) an action to recover for actual monetary loss 
                from such a violation, or to receive $5,000 in damages 
                for each such violation, whichever is greater; or
                    ``(C) both such actions.
        If the court finds that the defendant willfully or knowingly 
        violated this subsection or the regulations prescribed under 
        this subsection, the court may, in its discretion, increase the 
        amount of the award to an amount equal to not more than 3 times 
        the amount available under subparagraph (B).
            ``(3) Definitions.--For purposes of this subsection:
                    ``(A) Caller identification service.--The term 
                `caller identification service' means any service or 
                device designed to provide the user of the service or 
                device with the telephone number of an incoming 
                telephone call.
                    ``(B) Telephone call.--The term `telephone call' 
                means any telephone call or other transmission which is 
                made to or received at a telephone number of any type 
                of telephone service. Such term includes calls made by 
                an automatic telephone dialing system, an integrated 
                services digital network, and a commercial mobile radio 
                source.''.

SEC. 3. EFFECT ON STATE LAW AND STATE ACTIONS.

    (a) Effect on State Law.--Subsection (f)(1) of section 227 of the 
Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 227), as redesignated by section 
2 of this Act, is further amended--
            (1) in subparagraph (C), by striking ``or'' at the end;
            (2) in subparagraph (D), by striking the period and 
        inserting ``; or''; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following new subparagraph:
                    ``(E) interfering with or circumventing caller 
                identification services.''.
    (b) Actions by States.--The first sentence of subsection (g)(1) of 
such section 227, as so redesignated, is further amended by inserting 
after ``this section,'' the following: ``or has engaged or is engaging 
in a pattern or practice of interfering with or circumventing caller 
identification services of residents of that State in violation of 
subsection (e) or the regulations prescribed under such 
subsection,''.*ERR08*
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