Monthly TCPA Digest — May 2020

We are pleased to present our latest Monthly TCPA Digest, providing insights and news related to the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). In this edition, we report on the Supreme Court’s oral argument in Barr v. American Association of Political Consultants, during which the justices reviewed whether to strike down the TCPA’s autodialer restriction, as AAPC requested, or to sever the statute’s exception for the collection of government debt. The Fourth and Ninth Circuit Courts of Appeal resolved this question by severing the government-debt exception and leaving the remainder of the TCPA intact. While taking up Barr v. AAPC, the Court postponed decisions on whether to hear two petitions that ask the Court to resolve a nationwide circuit split on the definition of an Automatic Telephone Dialing System (ATDS) under the TCPA.

In our Regulatory Update, we review a number of FCC efforts to implement anti-robocall provisions of the TRACED Act, which was signed into law on December 30, 2019. These actions include a Public Notice soliciting Letters of Intent from parties interested in designation as the official traceback consortium, and proposed rules to combat one-ring scam calls designed to prompt return calls that incur charges. The FCC also issued an Order making changes to the TCPA, including one enabling the agency to proceed with enforcement actions against robocallers outside its jurisdiction without issuing a prior warning. In addition to TRACED-related activity, the FCC issued a Public Notice establishing guidelines for the operation of a Reassigned Numbers Database.

If you have suggestions for topics you’d like us to feature in this newsletter, or any questions about the content in this issue, please feel free to reach out to an attorney on Mintz’s TCPA and Consumer Calling Practice team.

In This Edition

Part I – TCPA Litigation Update

• SCOTUS Hears Barr v. AAPC: Free the Speech or Sever the Unconstitutional Restriction?

Part II – TCPA Regulatory Update

• FCC Busy Implementing TRACED Act through Series of Anti-Robocall Releases

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