[K]athryn Ottinger has a hard time getting up. It wouldn’t be that big of a problem if it weren’t for all the calls she gets. But every day, multiple times a day, Ottinger answers the phone — only to find out that it’s a robocall on the other end of the line.
“I pick it up because it could be important,” Ottinger, 84, of Shelburne said. “But it never is. It’s always them.”
She worries that it might be her kids calling with an emergency. And because her eyesight isn’t good, she can’t look at the caller ID to know who’s calling. But she is worried about other people who are bothered by the nuisance calls.
“I have an elderly sister who’s dying of cancer at home,” Ottinger said. “And the phone keeps ringing. And it’s these people. And that made me so angry — I wanted to do something to help everyone who has a hard time getting up.”
At a press conference Tuesday with Ottinger and her husband, Harvey, Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., unveiled legislation he’s co-sponsoring to help strengthen the Federal Communication Commission’s ability to prevent robocalls.
The bill would give consumers the ability to revoke previous consent they have given to be on a robocall list, limit the number of robocallers exempted from the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, require all callers to have verified caller IDs, and extend the statute of limitations from one to four years for callers violating robocall prohibitions.
“The technology out there, it just allows the predators basically to punch in and use computers to send out millions of calls,” Welch said. “It’s really abusing the peace of all citizens, we’ve got to stop that.”
In 2018, there were 48 billion robocalls in the United States, a 64% increase from 2016. And in April, there were 4 million robocalls in Vermont alone.
Welch noted the calls aren’t just annoying Vermonters — they’re often scamming them. But he said it’s not really the FCC’s fault. He said the laws just haven’t been keeping up with the technology
“Many of these are trying to scam people into giving up information or entering into some agreement that they thought they should get in,” Welch said. “And the latest robocalls are even worse because they hang up, and you don’t know who it is involved, and a lot of us think it may be important, we call back and you get charged on your phone because of that robocall.”
Welch is one of 47 members of Congress sponsoring the legislation, versions of which have been introduced in both the House and Senate.
“Those of us in the House think our bill is tighter,” Welch said. “But the differences are relatively minor and can be resolved.”
Attorney General TJ Donovan said the state’s consumer protection office has fielded more than 13,000 calls a year, with robocalls easily being the number one issue it hears about from concerned citizens.
“Every day at our house, at 7:30 at night, our phone starts ringing,” Donovan said. “We don’t pick it up anymore. … it’s time for the FCC to get some teeth to hold these companies accountable.”
Both Donovan and Welch stressed that the bill is a bipartisan effort to try and help people.
“This is about government working for regular folks,” Donovan said. “This is about making sure that Kathryn and Harvey can rest easy, and make sure that their kids are OK and her sister is OK, and making sure that nobody’s getting ripped off and nobody’s getting hurt. This is what government is for: to protect people.”
