S. 151: Pallone-Thune Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence Act

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S. 151: Pallone-Thune Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence Act

116th Congress · introduced 2019-01-16 · Science, Technology, Communications · Latest: Became Public Law No: 116-105.

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Official title

Pallone-Thune Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence Act

Plain summary

Pallone-Thune Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence Act or the Pallone-Thune TRACED Act This bill establishes rules and requirements to deter criminal robocall violations. Specifically, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) must require voice service providers to develop call authentication technologies; initiate a rulemaking to protect a subscriber from receiving unwanted calls or texts from a caller using an unauthenticated number; establish when a provider may block a voice call based on information provided by the call authentication framework, but also establish a process to permit a calling party adversely affected by the framework to verify the authenticity of their calls; streamline the ways in which a private entity may voluntarily share information with the FCC relating to a call or text message that violates robocall restrictions; determine whether its policies regarding access to number resources could be modified to help reduce access to numbers by potential robocall violators; report on the implementation of the reassigned number database; implement consumer protections for exempted classes of robocalls; ensure opt-out/opt-in robocall blocking services provide transparency and redress options for consumers and callers with no additional line item charge to consumers or additional charge to callers for resolving complaints related to erroneously blocked calls; study whether to require a provider of a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service to give the FCC its contact information and retain a record of each call transmitted over the VoIP service that is sufficient to trace a call back to its source; provide the Department of Justice with any evidence obtained suggesting a robocall violation made with an intent to defraud or cause harm; protect called parties from one-ring scams (where a caller allows the call to ring for a short duration to prompt the called party to return the call and incur charges); establish a registration process for a single consortium that conducts private-led efforts to trace back the origin of suspected unlawful robocalls; and establish the Hospital Robocall Protection Group to issue best practices for combating unlawful robocalls made to hospitals, helping hospitals protect themselves, and assisting federal and state governments to combat such calls. The bill also implements a forfeiture penalty for violations (with or without intent) of the prohibitions on certain robocalls.

Congressional Research Service summary (Public Law), quoted unchanged (nonpartisan). Read the source.

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Officials and money

Sponsor: Sen. Thune, John [R-SD] · 84 cosponsors

Cost estimate: CBO cost estimate: S. 151, TRACED Act (2019-05-09)

Cosponsors on this site

Edward J. Markey (D-MA), Jerry Moran (R-KS), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), John Hoeven (R-ND), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Richard J. Durbin (D-IL), Deb Fischer (R-NE), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Thom Tillis (R-NC), Angus S. King, Jr. (I-ME), Todd Young (R-IN), Roger F. Wicker (R-MS), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Ron Johnson (R-WI), Rick Scott (R-FL), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Steve Daines (R-MT), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), John Barrasso (R-WY), John Cornyn (R-TX), Gary C. Peters (D-MI), Jack Reed (D-RI), John Boozman (R-AR), Tina Smith (D-MN), Mike Rounds (R-SD), James Lankford (R-OK), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Susan M. Collins (R-ME), John Kennedy (R-LA), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Margaret Wood Hassan (D-NH), Tom Cotton (R-AR), Mike Crapo (R-ID), Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI), Michael F. Bennet (D-CO), Christopher A. Coons (D-DE) and 24 more.

Sponsor's campaign money: Sen. Thune, John [R-SD] reported raising $4.7 million (2025–2026). Details. Shown for context only; it does not mean any donor supported this bill.

Recorded votes

• Senate vote 127 (2019): On Passage of the Bill, S151 (2019-05-23): Bill Passed
• House roll call 647 (2019): On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass, as Amended, S151 (2019-12-04): Passed

Sources

• Congressional Research Service summary (Public Law)
• Congress.gov
• Data: GovInfo BILLSTATUS bulk data (Library of Congress), BILLSTATUS-116s151.xml <https://www.govinfo.gov/bulkdata/BILLSTATUS/116/s>

Record fed-us-cong116-s151 · catalog fed-us-congress-bills-cong116 · updated 2026-11-15 by psicol fed-bills-cong116