Thank you Jackie Spier!!

We routinely block numbers that come from robocalls after they come in, but are only allowed 25 blocked numbers on Verizon. We can easily block that number of calls in a week or two. Then, we have to clear the set and start over. The system does not offer us as much protection as we would like.

Hooray! About 90% of the calls I receive are robocalls. I don't even answer my phone anymore.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm! after years of ever increasing violations of the Do Not Call List (aka the sucker list)someone in DC figured that they could mint some political capital by suggesting that maybe there's a problem that needs correcting. With the violators now spoofing local active telephone numbers I would submit that it is doubtful that call blocking is going to work.
Better to use technology to track down the true source and exact extreme punishment on the perps - like $10 and 1 day in the slammer for each outgoing call violation. Plus legislation that makes contracts unenforceable for goods or services arranged through cold calling of any type. Basically the only realistic solution is to destroy the business path for transactions carried out in this manner. As is so often the case FOLLOW THE MONEY!

Thank you, Jackie! You rock!!!

Bravo! Glad one of our local representatives is taking this up. No question 'do not call' is very badly broken.

To Stan's point it's not obvious that what this bill proposes will fix the problem. Instead of being prescriptive as to the 'how', perhaps a better approach would be to direct that the phone company/cell carrier must fix it, and that the carrier will pay a fine for violations above a 'certain level'. This would incentivize the carrier to find the best solution, and to work continuously to improve it to reduce carrier cost.

We'd also need a way to track robocall frequency so we know if the carrier is making progress, and to determine what fine(s) may be appropriate. The carrier could be required to collect that information in an audit-able database. Statistically valid surveys could be done to determine what portion of the database is due to robocalls. If the Q of robocalls doesn't drop 50% every year so that the number of robocalls approaches the noise floor within a few years, fines would be levied on the carrier.

Just a few suggestions. In truth I don't much care how the robocall plague is fixed as long as the end result is it goes away! In my lifetime.

Jon Castor makes good points but if carriers can track down one of these vermin they will need the participation of government to effectively, permanently terminate the source as many of these calls actually originate from outside our country. Only government can freeze the local assets of the perps, punish banks which facilitate their cash flow, or punish foreign governments that refuse to shut down calls originating from within their country.
Until there is a price to be paid for conducting business in this manner the problem won't go away. Our government needs to be a proactive partner in shutting down the foreign sources of these calls.

[Post removed; stick to the topic of the thread; there are other threads on the topic you raised]

This is a great start but make sure there is no exemption for politicians or political parties. I get ROBO calls from my congresswoman and political parties seeking money. Also give this some teeth like being able to file suit against the Telecom companies if they fail to enforce this, after all they make money from these calls which is why we get them so often...

Blocking numbers is no use because 90% of the spam calls are spoofed numbers, generally pretending to be local to my area. If there is a technical fix for that problem, I'm all for it.

Nothing has worked so far. Maybe this will. Can we include all those contractors that call for work saying they are in my area

But let's be clear: the headline "Speier bill to provide free filtering... " is really "Speier bill to force companies to invent the technology to provide filtering and provide it for free".

A key cause of the robocall problem is that the Caller ID system was designed many years ago before security concerns, and it's simply not secure... anyone can fake any Caller ID number. A LOT of technology will have to be invented and implemented to truly solve this problem.