Him. They came to kill the whole family. Learned about the freedom when volunteers from around the country taught methods of nonviolent resistance. Performingre charges Political Rights and getting ready to register to vote. This weekend, watch the city eastern. 5 30 p. M. The Senate CommerceCommittee Heard how telephone operators act under a law from 19 a one. Included attorneys and consumer advocates. This is one hour and 40 minutes. This hearing will get under way my apologies for being tardy but they you for your patience and welcome to todays hearing on the Telephone Consumer Protection Act nearly 25 years ago Congress Look to protect the privacy of individuals to prevent legitimate telemarketing practices and as a result a number of telemarketing practices have been reduced or eliminated for example, companies have to maintain the do not call list and not make solicitation calls before eight after 9 00 but it is showing its age with the opportunities to ensure consumers benefit from modern communication consumers should take advantage of new technology to help put them avoid falling victim from the do not call requirements. They have not received a recorded voice that they have one of cruz and to ensure the sec will take action against harassing practices and has the tools to bring bad actors to justice including those operating overseas the recently took a step to unanimously approved the legislation as part of of the fcc reauthorization act but today it is not only about abusive practices and stopping bad actors but also those that try to do the right thing and play by their rules and it is inadvertently hurting the good actors. Cell phones or uncommon and mobile phones were it extremely expensive there were strict rules to contact on the mobile phone but today that his model the ubiquitous but Smart Devices that do much more Consumer Behavior is different than it was a 1991. Consumer expectations and the benefits of better contact with schools or even though lenders would be unrecognizable to congress 25 years ago 90 percent of americans have a mobile phone half of all households are will only these percentages are higher for younger adults you cannot reach these people on their mobile phone to have a hard time reaching them at all the balance may now miss the mark for the benefits of a legitimate business practice that fcc plan is passed by congress to ensure the balance of the tcp a and that agency is creating more uncertainty. To create more questions and answers what is the autodialer . The commission will not answer that clearly the say anything other than a rotary Dial Telephone and then said it would not exact that definition or seek to determine a type of equipment that is within that definition banks and restaurants should not have to engage attorneys to know if they can call their customers without being sued another example of what to do with the number has been reassigned . Although claim to be addressed there is no way to know with certainty but what is certain if a phone number has been reassigned in you call in more than once you could be liable 500 per call even if they never a answer. Tcpa litigation is a booming business the second most cases is in federal court with 3700 filed last year alone representing a 45 percent increase over 2014. The companies affected may surprise you for example, twitter stated the following as a result of the hyper litigious environment we must choose between consumers information that they request from plaintiffs attorneys fighting the shakedown suits no company should be put to such a choice. The cost of getting the balance wrong is the cost to consumers and the economy of the contact that is not made for fear of running afoul of the in illdefined role Text Messages to let parents know about cancellations or six struggling households to keep the heat from being shut off or calls to lurch borrowers their risk of defaulting and followup calls to patients to make sure they understand their discharge treatment plans another matter to be discussed is the car about to allow those to will phones the administration used the bipartisan act as the robo call carve out in the department of education testified why those prioritized that carve out over years and unfortunately deal bauman administration is are represented today but we will continue to seek answers as the car about is implemented as we continue oversight of tcpa also protecting the privacy of consumers while making sure they have reasonable access and to assess the cost of doing business we have a variety of perspectives. If you go anywhere in this country do you want to receive robo calls . Or would you like to receive them on your cellular phone . You may get that thrown at you. They may like the distaste for those robo calls that interrupt at dinnertime in the middle of driving going on and on and it is the sentiment that we share and why for the last 25 years the laws have sided with consumers the number of Consumer Complaints about robo calls regardless of the of laws continue to increase the fcc received tens of thousands of complaints every month and we all have stories to tell. One of our friends signed up for a line service one morning and by the afternoon before he had given his new number to his family and friends his bonus was flooded with robo call so he gave up though landline in fact, how many of us know friends at home who have given up though landline to just use the cell phone for that reason . They dont want the robo calls. Most of us our cellphone is the lifeline and if we allow those annoying calls to bombard those where the consumers go to escape harassment so what would it have been on mobile phones is they would start to ignore the calls from an unknown numbers so they dont have to hear another recording only to miss an important call. What about a Senior Citizens and what about low income americans . Many of those have calling plans that are restricted with the number of minutes they can use every month so that would have to an immediate adverse effect or what about driving down the road just like as i was dodging in it out of traffic coming across the 395 bridge people cutting in front of me . If you get a call and want to answer it isnt important but it is the robo call so where does that and . The frustration is there this givers will always be a problem so we try to lung dash tried to address that in a bipartisan way things to his leadership senator fischer and i have teamed up of the bill to combat spoofing so that is why i like to see improved do not call list. Obviously there are legitimate businesses and reasons to call on the Wireless Phone but there is already in answer to that just give the consumers consent that has been though loss since 1991 and this bubble of policy makers are often in danger of losing sight to what is actually out there in america and there is no doubt if you ask that question of any American Consumers so thank you, mr. Chairman chairman for calling this hearing to shed light on the distaste of American Consumers about these annoying calls. We will get under way with the attorney general for the state of indiana testifying on behalf of legal reform with the National Consumer law center and also testifying on behalf of the American Association of Health Care Administrative management and up partner from the law firm and we will start with mr. Zoeller. Members of the committee i appreciate the opportunity to be heard i will pick up where senator dole said liftoff we do receive remarkable number of complaints each year and last year was around 14,000 for the largest number of complaints in our Consumer Protection area and over half of those were about john robo call specifically indiana has unique statute passed in 1988 that prohibits the use of the autodialer to make calls to consumers across the board and have successfully defended that statute through the federal courts to the seventh Circuit Court of appeals talking about how we do not allow these calls for anything other than those who have opted him like the schools or the pharmacies for report and calls were those letters still being heard. I do have written testimony i have submitted but i will summarize briefly that the focus of our intention is to maintain the protection of their own statutes with the budget bill that you mentioned with the exception for federal debt now challenges the ability of the state to defend there a statute and since we did not have any exceptions that we could claim there was no plan unconstitutional acts on the part of the state so now we have a new exception for federal debt and the case filed by the American Association of Political Consultants challenges the constitutionality and according to the seventh Circuit Court of appeals we now have a risk if that might raise the question if it is unconstitutional distinguishing between certain types of calls we have a blanket exception that we can defend a based on the fact we do not have those types that the federal government has allowed. Just briefly i will say that in the last month alone according to the national robo call index 2. 5 robo calls were made in the month of march so the rise quite frankly i had to ask my staff of that was a legitimate number so and i could not believe it. Unless somebody wants to argue the other side i will leave that it is yielding number we have got we do have a very specific sense of what the autodialer is when it can blast at 10,000 calls per minute it is a robo call. If you say it is on an space it isnt that actually called you but they call everybody in the area code. So within an hour and a half you can call everybody in washington d. C. We have heard from a number of companies that they need that opportunity to call cell phones but i will side with senator nelsons view that is the last link of the ability to communicate since we have pulled out the landline due to the robo calling abuse and most is from overseas and that a state attorneys general or the federal government can address but frankly the of problems that we have with robo calls i have for warned all the citizens of our state you should assume it is a scam artist. Anytime you see the of calls we have trained the people of indiana to hang up as quickly as you can just to stay on the line will sell the information to others he were home on a wednesday at 1030 is now known by the people and they sell that to others to use other techniques. They know you will be home and the risks to seniors is where we see that as the use of technology to collect data with spam artist you talk about the old version of the confidence man. The more they understand them or they can win over your confidence to know when you are home with the ability to target people with the amount of information or risk to consumers and not just the harassment but the number one tool that this be an artist uses to use against the news. We were very disappointed with the exception carved out without this type of hearing that were having after the fact with the of budget bill that was put in without this kind of attention we are representing 25 attorneys general to take that back out so while we made the exception risking the constitutionality plus you are targeting those younger students using their cell phone now we have managed to run up 1. 3 trillion of Student Loan Debt that is the number one target so were very worried where this sense we are against creating a safe harbor for number of reasons but the point for years 25 years of having tcpa there is no waste the opportunity for a legitimate business to ask people to opt in and we have new programs you may want to know about the sign up we will not harass you we will use it specifically you can always opt out but we have never seen go through the process to ask the consumers of they would like to get the robo call so without the trial of going through the process to get the consent the assumption should be made that people dont want it and businesses know they can never get people to sign up must they can argue the case to their own customers there shouldnt be something the federal government allows the people that you represent as they have already made it clear they dont. Good morning. I am honored to represent Death Chamber of commerce for legal reform for you today the context for my knowledge is over a decade i have defended of friday areas companies for creations i have been a witness to the Cottage Industry of those were targeting american businesses and i can confirm the past few years litigation abuses only worsened so we need your help. Over sensitize plaintiffs in the anti business order from the ftc has led to an explosion of litigation less about protecting consumers and more about a multimilliondollar enterprise. The suits are not about marketing or the robo calls that we just heard of those are indiscriminate trying to get anyone or getting someone to pick up the phone that is not what my clients send so for example, a client that has millions of customers has Automated Systems a credit card payment is rejected as to provide a telephone number the Company Contacts the customer to let them know your credit card has been rejected because if they dont and the Services Shut off there will be fees to get it turned back on again. This is trying to provide information through of a number the biggest driver of litigation is the number is reassigned the company has no knowledge as of today send the message to is what is driving a of a big chunk of the litigation out that they say i did not consent for that call and they can keep coming for other reasons now you have 40 calls now what my 20,000 then you have the demand in this is what companies are facing the facing. The tcpa itself does not provide for Attorney Fees the class lawsuits is just a business at this point. It is common class funds toward any recovery for individual consumers and in 2014 the average attorneys fees awarded was 2. 4 million of the average class action is 4 and 0. 12 and Large Companies are finding themselves targeted Small Businesses find themselves in court and had no intention to violate any law of the tcpa i have one client who has six employees and found me on the internet to their case and then i took on their case and then i have to shut their business and close shop if they cannot get past this lawsuit brought on a Class Action Lawsuit basis. Throughout the ofpany, a wide range industries. Banks,media companies, sports teams, pharmacies, ski resorts, a local Dentist Office have all found themselves defending against litigation and for those gotcha violations. These are legitimate communication they try to make not only is it a liability also of a trap as well there are companies that make no calls with no telemarketing no interaction with consumers such as manufacturers but they find themselves dragged into litigation with the argument of your products name was mentioned in the robo call that i received a because your name was mentioned your on the puck hook and responsible. This is a problem because you have companies with deep pockets and litigation having to defend himself with a class action basis where the damages are so when i a leading it reinforces settlements rather than defense. I provided some examples of litigation abuse such as a pennsylvania woman who carried a suitcase with her to jot down all the fee calls that she gets. She chooses area codes carefully and brings hundreds of suits. I mentioned though hellmann the too man who was on not call list but did not want to be on the list. There are lots of people making their living now i also provided examples of attorneys who are behind quite a bit of le litigation. It has been 25 years since the legislation was drafted. On does notses exist anymore. I am here today to voice the hope of thousands of businesses being sued that congress will act to update the tea cpa, provide clarity in the un tolerable and unfair burden that portions of the statute are placing on american businesses. Thank you. Chairman, senator, members of the committee, thank you for inviting me to testify on behalf of of the National Groups that collectively represent of American Consumers. We believe that robo calls poses severe problem, and we ask you to defend the tea cpa or strengthen it. Twentyfive years ago it was passed because of complaints about robo calls, which are still pouring in. The problem is it costs a tiny fraction of a penny per call making it cheaper for businesses to make calls them to be careful of who they are calling. Designed to ensure control by requiring expressed consent, the examples raised were emergencies that should follow the exception already a law. Industry is making extravagant claims, turning knew claims litigating call to support their insistence of the law be changed. If the judicial system has a robust mechanism to protect against meritless claims, tea cpa claims dont lead to attorneys fees, the cost restricts these cases. In 2015 there were over three and a half million complaints. Far more than any other issue. For every 1,000 complaint only one lawsuit was filed. Most consumers who receive unwanted robo calls the complaint of a federal agency. Only one 10th of 1 percent of those that did. Here are a few of many examples. 25,000 growing number Text Messages to one consumer refusing to stop. One consumer in six months seeking to collective debt. Time warner cable using Automated System involving zero Human Capacity tool woman who had never been a customer. All these cases business entities set loose and Automat