Rep. David Kustoff introduced legislation Thursday targeted at increasing penalties for individuals and companies behind illegal robocalls.
The bipartisan DO NOT Call Act would impose prison sentences of up to one year for willful violations of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act and up to three years for repeated violations. The bill would also double the maximum fine for falsifying caller ID information from $10,000 to $20,000.
Kustoff, who represents Tennessee’s 8th Congressional District, introduced the measure with Rep. Deborah Ross of North Carolina. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto introduced a companion bill in the Senate.
“Americans are receiving these disruptive robocalls every day,” Kustoff said. “Scammers are using artificial intelligence to mimic voices and spoof Caller ID, making these calls even harder to detect. This bipartisan bill gives our justice system more power to crack down on these bad actors and protect vulnerable people from fraud.”
Americans received more than 52.8 billion robocalls in 2024, according to the legislation. Scams and fraudulent schemes cost consumers over $40 billion.
Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti backed the legislation.
“Everybody hates robocalls,” Skrmetti said. “While there are certain limited situations where they make sense, by and large they are a way of letting someone waste our time without wasting their time. I appreciate the efforts of Congressman Kustoff to stop this relentless annoyance and look forward to using the tools he is providing to protect Tennesseans from obnoxious interruptions.”
