House Resolution 5 - Introduced HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 5 BY FISHER , B. MEYER , and MITCHELL A Resolution recognizing and supporting the federal 1 government’s efforts to combat illegal robocalling 2 and spoofing. 3 WHEREAS, cellular phones have become a vital part 4 of everyday life, and Iowans rely on them for ease of 5 communication and accessing information; and 6 WHEREAS, the abuse of this technology by scam 7 artists using malicious robocalling tactics causes 8 significant disruptions and leads to substantial 9 financial losses; and 10 WHEREAS, scam robocallers are becoming increasingly 11 sophisticated, using spoofing technology to fool the 12 call recipient into believing that a call is coming 13 from a friend, neighbor, local business, or government 14 organization; and 15 WHEREAS, in 2018 the Federal Trade Commission 16 (FTC) received nearly 3.8 million complaints about 17 robocalls, and the Federal Communications Commission 18 (FCC) received more than 52,000 complaints about 19 spoofing; and 20 WHEREAS, a recent study found that 26.3 billion 21 robocalls were made to United States telephone numbers 22 in 2018, up 46 percent from 18 billion robocalls in 23 2017; and 24 WHEREAS, another recent study found that Americans 25 are defrauded $9.5 billion each year from illegal 26 robocalls; and 27 WHEREAS, listing a telephone number on the 28 -1- LSB 2258YH (4) 88 gh/rn 1/ 2

H.R. 5 national Do Not Call Registry does little to prevent 1 or discourage the growing onslaught of illegal 2 robocalls; and 3 WHEREAS, new phone verification systems, including 4 the Secure Telephone Identity Revisited (STIR) and 5 Signature-based Handling of Asserted information 6 using toKENs (SHAKEN) protocols, show great promise as 7 technological solutions to stop illegal robocalling and 8 spoofing; and 9 WHEREAS, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai recently stated 10 that combatting illegal robocalling and spoofing is 11 his top consumer protection priority and called on 12 telecommunication carriers to adopt the STIR and SHAKEN 13 protocols; and 14 WHEREAS, the FTC and FCC are taking steps to protect 15 consumers from illegal robocalling and spoofing, 16 including by pursuing law enforcement actions, 17 implementing policy initiatives, and proposing 18 technological solutions; NOW THEREFORE, 19 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, That 20 the House of Representatives extends its appreciation 21 and offers its support to the federal government in its 22 efforts to stop the abuse of national telecommunication 23 networks, to combat the scourge of illegal robocalling 24 and spoofing, and to protect Iowans from fraud; and 25 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That the Chief Clerk of the 26 House of Representatives shall forward a copy of this 27 resolution to the Chairman of the FCC, the Chairman of 28 the FTC, and to the members of the Iowa congressional 29 delegation. 30 -2- LSB 2258YH (4) 88 gh/rn 2/ 2