DO NOT Call Act

Tougher penalties for robocallers

If enacted, the bill would add a new criminal penalty for willful and knowing violations of the ban on automated calls. A first conviction would carry up to 1 year in jail, fines under Title 18, or both. Aggravated offenses would carry up to 3 years in jail, fines, or both if the caller had a prior conviction; sent more than 100,000 calls in 24 hours, more than 1,000,000 calls in 30 days, or more than 10,000,000 calls in 1 year; intended to use the calls to further a felony; or caused $5,000 or more in total loss in any 1-year period. The bill would also raise certain civil penalties for giving wrong caller ID from $10,000 to $20,000. For the criminal rules, "call" would include automated voice calls and certain text messages to North American phone numbers, and "initiate" would include sending, making, or transmitting the call.