[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 7124 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 7124

     To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to direct the Federal 
   Communications Commission to promulgate regulations that require 
 providers of voice service to offer a robocall-blocking service at no 
       additional charge to the customer, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 29, 2024

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

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
     To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to direct the Federal 
   Communications Commission to promulgate regulations that require 
 providers of voice service to offer a robocall-blocking service at no 
       additional charge to the customer, 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 ``Roboblock Act''.

SEC. 2. OFFERING OF ROBOCALL-BLOCKING SERVICE AT NO CHARGE TO CUSTOMER.

    Section 227 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 227) is 
amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(k) Offering of Robocall-Blocking Service at No Charge to 
Customer.--
            ``(1) Regulations.--Not later than 180 days after the date 
        of the enactment of this subsection, the Commission shall 
        promulgate regulations that require a provider of voice service 
        to offer a robocall-blocking service to each customer of the 
        provider, at no additional charge to the customer.
            ``(2) Definitions.--In this subsection:
                    ``(A) Robocall.--
                            ``(i) In general.--The term `robocall' 
                        means a call made or text message sent--
                                    ``(I) using equipment, whether 
                                hardware, software, or a combination 
                                thereof and including an automatic 
                                telephone dialing system, that makes a 
                                call or sends a text message to--
                                            ``(aa) stored telephone 
                                        numbers; or
                                            ``(bb) telephone numbers 
                                        produced using a random or 
                                        sequential number generator; or
                                    ``(II) using an artificial or 
                                prerecorded voice or an artificially 
                                generated message.
                            ``(ii) Limitation.--For purposes of clause 
                        (i)(I), the term `robocall' does not include a 
                        call made or text message sent using equipment 
                        that requires substantial human intervention to 
                        make or send the call or text message.
                    ``(B) Robocall-blocking service.--The term 
                `robocall-blocking service' means a service that gives 
                a customer of a provider of voice service the ability 
                to block robocalls that are highly likely to be 
                illegal.
                    ``(C) Text message.--
                            ``(i) In general.--The term `text message' 
                        means a message consisting of text, images, 
                        sounds, or other information that is 
                        transmitted to or from a device that is 
                        identified as the receiving or transmitting 
                        device by means of a 10-digit telephone number, 
                        N11 service code, short code telephone number, 
                        or email address, or that is transmitted 
                        through application-to-person messaging, and 
                        includes--
                                    ``(I) a short message service 
                                (commonly referred to as `SMS') 
                                message;
                                    ``(II) a multimedia message service 
                                (commonly referred to as `MMS') 
                                message; and
                                    ``(III) a rich communication 
                                service (commonly referred to as `RCS') 
                                message.
                            ``(ii) Limitation.--The term `text message' 
                        does not include a real-time, two-way voice or 
                        video communication.
                    ``(D) Voice service.--The term `voice service' has 
                the meaning given such term in section 4(a) of the 
                Pallone-Thune TRACED Act (47 U.S.C. 227b(a)).''.
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