BOSTON (Legal Newsline) – Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey advised the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation to advance legislation that would bar debt-collection robocalls to consumer cellphones.
Healy asked the committee to do so by repealing a recent ruling amending the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). In her message, she was joined by co-sponsors Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster and Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller, and 22 other state attorneys general. Together, they asked for the advancement of Help Americans Never Get Unwanted Phone Calls Act of 2015, also known as the HANGUP Act.
“Our office has long worked to prohibit these types of abusive and harassing automated calls to consumers,” Healey said. “We are urging passage of this act to protect consumers from these unsolicited calls and provide the tools to prevent them.”
The TCPA’s recent amendment allows for unwanted and previously illegal robocalls to consumer cellphones. To be allowed, the calls have to be pursuant to the collection of debt owed to or guaranteed by the United States.