[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 722 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







107th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 722

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

                             April 5, 2001

    Mr. Frist (for himself, Mr. Reed, and Mr. Lugar) 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 ``Telemarketer Identification Act of 
2001''.

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

    (a) In General.--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):
    ``(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 commercial 
        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 18 months after the date 
        of the enactment of the Telemarketer Identification Act of 
        2001, the Commission shall prescribe regulations to implement 
        this subsection. The regulations shall--
                    ``(A) require any person or entity making a 
                commercial 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, 
                        or the name of the person or entity making the 
                        solicitation; and
                            ``(ii) a valid and working telephone number 
                        at which the person or entity making such 
                        solicitation 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 C.F.R. 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 purpose 
                (including transfer or sale to any other entity for 
                telemarketing 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).
            ``(4) Definitions.--In 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.''.
    (b) Delayed Effective Date.--
            (1) In general.--The regulations prescribed by the Federal 
        Communications Commission under subsection (e) of section 227 
        of the Communications Act of 1934, as added by subsection (a), 
        shall take effect on the date that is two years after the date 
        of the enactment of this Act.
            (2) Additional delay for good cause shown.--The Commission 
        may grant a wavier from compliance with the regulations 
        referred to in paragraph (1) for a period of not more than 24 
        months upon application (made at such time, in such form, and 
        containing such information as the Commission may require), and 
        after notice to the public and an opportunity for comment, to 
        any person who demonstrates to the satisfaction of the 
        Commission that--
                    (A) it will comply with the regulations before the 
                expiration of the period of time for which the waiver 
                is requested;
                    (B) without the requested waiver, timely compliance 
                with the regulations would be technically infeasible 
                because of technical problems associated with the 
                telecommunications equipment used by the applicant; and
                    (C) replacement or upgrading of the 
                telecommunications equipment used by the applicant in 
                order to comply with the regulations in a timely manner 
                without the waiver--
                            (i) would impose an unduly onerous 
                        financial burden on the applicant;
                            (ii) is not feasible because the equipment, 
                        software, or technical assistance necessary for 
                        the replacement or upgrade is not available; or
                            (iii) cannot be completed before the 
                        effective date of the regulations.

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,''.
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