[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 90 Introduced in House (IH)]







107th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 H. R. 90

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 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 3, 2001

Mr. Frelinghuysen introduced the following bill; which was referred to 
                  the Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 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 2001''.

SEC. 2. PROHIBITION OF 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 
        within the United States, in making any telephone 
        solicitation--
                    ``(A) to interfere with or circumvent the 
                capability of a caller identification service to access 
                or provide to the recipient of the telephone call 
                involved in the solicitation any information regarding 
                the call that such service is capable of providing; and
                    ``(B) to fail to provide caller identification 
                information in a manner that is accessible by a caller 
                identification service, if such person has capability 
                to provide such information in such a manner.
        For purposes of this section, the use of a telecommunications 
        service or equipment that is incapable of transmitting caller 
        identification information shall not, of itself, constitute 
        interference with or circumvention of the capability of a 
        caller identification service to access or provide such 
        information.
            ``(2) Regulations.--Not later than 6 months after the 
        enactment of the Know Your Caller Act of 2001, the Commission 
        shall prescribe regulations to implement this subsection, which 
        shall--
                    ``(A) specify that the information regarding a call 
                that the prohibition under paragraph (1) applies to 
                includes--
                            ``(i) the name of the person or entity who 
                        makes the telephone call involved in the 
                        solicitation;
                            ``(ii) the name of the person or entity on 
                        whose behalf the solicitation is made; and
                            ``(iii) a valid and working telephone 
                        number at which the person or entity on whose 
                        behalf the telephone solicitation is made may 
                        be reached during regular business hours for 
                        the purpose of requesting that the recipient of 
                        the 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 such person or entity; 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 telemarketing, mail marketing, or 
                other marketing purpose (including transfer or sale to 
                any other entity for marketing use) other than 
                enforcement of such list.
            ``(3) 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 $500 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) of this paragraph.
            ``(4) 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 and includes telephone calls made 
                using the Internet (irrespective of the type of 
                customer premises equipment used in connection with 
                such services). Such term also 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(f)(1)), as so redesignated by 
section 2(1) of this Act, is further amended by inserting after 
``subsection (d)'' the following: ``and the prohibition under 
paragraphs (1) and (2) of subsection (e),''.
    (b) Actions by States.--The first sentence of subsection (g)(1) of 
section 227 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 227(g)(1)), as 
so redesignated by section 2(1) of this Act, is further amended by 
striking ``telephone calls'' and inserting ``telephone solicitations, 
telephone calls, or''.

SEC. 4. STUDY REGARDING TRANSMISSION OF CALLER IDENTIFICATION 
              INFORMATION.

    The Federal Communications Commission shall conduct a study to 
determine--
            (1) the extent of the capability of the public switched 
        network to transmit the information that can be accessed by 
        caller identification services;
            (2) the types of telecommunications equipment being used in 
        the telemarketing industry, the extent of such use, and the 
        capabilities of such types of equipment to transmit the 
        information that can be accessed by caller identification 
        services; and
            (3) the changes to the public switched network and to the 
        types of telecommunications equipment commonly being used in 
        the telemarketing industry that would be necessary to provide 
        for the public switched network to be able to transmit caller 
        identification information on all telephone calls, and the 
        costs (including costs to the telemarketing industry) to 
        implement such changes.
The Commission shall complete the study and submit a report to the 
Congress on the results of the study, not later than one year after the 
date of the enactment of this Act.
                                 <all>