[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4641 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4641

   To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit the making of 
  political robocalls during certain periods, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 22, 2010

Ms. Zoe Lofgren of California (for herself, Mr. Campbell, Mr. Frank of 
 Massachusetts, Ms. Bean, Mr. Filner, and Mrs. Napolitano) introduced 
    the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the 
                               Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit the making of 
  political robocalls during certain periods, 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 ``Robocall Privacy Act of 2010''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) Abusive political robocalls harass voters and 
        discourage them from participating in the political process.
            (2) Abusive political robocalls infringe on the privacy 
        rights of individuals by disturbing them in their homes.

SEC. 3. BAN ON CERTAIN POLITICAL ROBOCALLS.

    (a) Criminal Penalty.--Chapter 29 of title 18, United States Code, 
is amended by adding at the end the following new section:
``Sec. 612. Political robocalls
    ``(a) Ban on Making Certain Political Robocalls.--Whoever during 
the specified period knowingly makes or causes to be made a political 
robocall--
            ``(1) to any person during the period beginning at 9 p.m. 
        and ending at 8 a.m. in the place to which the call is 
        directed; or
            ``(2) to the same telephone number more than twice on the 
        same day,
shall be fined under this title.
    ``(b) Exception for Calls Disclosing Certain Information.--
Subsection (a) shall not apply with respect to a political robocall if 
the person making or causing the political robocall to be made--
            ``(1) discloses at the beginning of the call--
                    ``(A) that the call is a recorded message; and
                    ``(B) the name of the sponsor or originator of the 
                call; and
            ``(2) transmits the telephone number and the name of the 
        person making the political robocall or causing the political 
        robocall to be made visible to the caller identification 
        service of the recipient,
    ``(c) Definitions.--For purposes of this section, the following 
definitions apply:
            ``(1) Election; federal office.--The terms `election' and 
        `Federal office' have the meanings given such terms in section 
        301 of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 
        431).
            ``(2) Political robocall.--The term `political robocall' 
        means any outbound telephone call--
                    ``(A) in which a person is not available to speak 
                with the person answering the call, and the call 
                instead plays a recorded message; and
                    ``(B) which promotes, supports, attacks, or opposes 
                a candidate for Federal office.
            ``(3) Specified period.--The term `specified period' means, 
        with respect to any candidate who is promoted, supported, 
        attacked, or opposed in a political robocall--
                    ``(A) the 60-day period ending on the date of any 
                general, special, or run-off election for the office 
                sought by such candidate; and
                    ``(B) the 30-day period ending on the date of any 
                primary or preference election, or any convention or 
                caucus of a political party that has authority to 
                nominate a candidate, for the office sought by such 
                candidate.''.
    (b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of sections for chapter 29 of 
such title is amended by adding at the end the following:

``612. Political robocalls.''.

SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE.

    The amendments made by this Act shall take effect on the date of 
the enactment of this Act, except that section 612 of title 18, United 
States Code (as added by section 3), shall not apply with respect to 
any political robocall described in such section which is made or 
caused to be made prior to the date of the enactment of this Act.
                                 <all>