State Legislators Propose New Regs To Bolster CT's Anti-Robocall Laws

CONNECTICUT — A bipartisan coalition of state legislators has announced they are proposing new regulations designed to fight intrusive robocalls.

The legislation would modernize the state’s anti-robocall statutes to match new tactics and technology used to flood Connecticut telephones with unwanted calls, according to a statement released Friday by Attorney General William Tong.

In 2022 alone, Connecticut consumers received approximately 471 million robocalls. Of those, 26 percent were scams. These calls predominantly originate overseas using automated dialing systems, chat bots, and prerecorded calls.

"Connecticut’s robocall statutes have not been updated since 2015," according to Tong. "Some portions have not been updated since they were first enacted in 1996. Our laws have failed to keep up with current tactics used by scammers."

Specifically, the proposal expands the statutes to cover text messages, bans "gateway" voice over internet protocol providers from facilitating overseas scammers' access to the U.S. telecom networks, allows for enforcement action against calls received by Connecticut area codes regardless of where the calls originate, bars telemarketers from contacting Connecticut residents before 9 a.m. and after 8 p.m., strengthens disclosures that telemarketers must make, and clarifies protections provided by the Do Not Call List.

VoIP gateway providers play a big role in facilitating these scams by enabling these foreign calls into the U.S. telephone network, according to Tong. The proposed legislation would hold those gateway providers accountable by extending liability to those who "provide substantial support or assistance to those engaging in the fraud."

Republican State Sen. Paul Cicarella said: "Not only are these calls unwanted, but they are also misleading—they often appear to originate from local sources when they are actually coming from thousands of miles away. We must take a stand against these malicious practices and work to prevent people from being exploited through their phones, which are our primary connection to the world around us.”

Connecticut is among 16 states on the nationwide Anti-Robocall Litigation Task Force. In its first action last summer, the task force issued 20 civil investigative demands seeking information from 20 gateway providers and other entities allegedly responsible for a majority of foreign robocall traffic into our country. That investigation is active and ongoing. Those civil investigative demands were filed in an Indiana state court under state laws there. The proposed legislation would bring Connecticut’s statutes in line with other states and strengthen Connecticut’s ability to pursue independent actions against bad actors facilitating intrusive scam calls in our state.