"As the scourge of spoofed calls and robocalls reaches epidemic levels, the bipartisan TRACED Act will provide every person with a phone much needed relief," Senator Ed Markey (D-MA), a cosponsor of the proposed legislation, said in a statement. "It's a simple formula: call authentication, blocking and enforcement, and this bill achieves all three."
With this legislation, the statute of limitations on penalties for robocall violations would be extended from two years to three, and the FCC would be instructed to propose new rules aimed at protecting individuals from receiving calls or messages from those using unauthenticated numbers. Further, an interagency working group -- which would be made up of both federal agencies and state entities such as the Departments of Justice, Commerce, State and Homeland Security, the FCC, the FTC, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and state attorneys general -- would be tasked with providing Congress with recommendations regarding both prevention and prosecution of robocall violations as well as strategies for how federal agencies might implement those recommendations.
Additionally, the TRACED Act would require the FCC to ensure voice service providers implement call authentication frameworks that can verify incoming calls are legitimate before they reach consumers.