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Attorney General witness urges reestablishing 'safe harbor' definitions to help state prosecute robocallers
Summary
A representative of the Ohio Attorney General's office testified in support of Senate Bill 224, saying the measure would reestablish safe-harbor definitions in Ohio's robocall statute to allow state consumer-protection enforcement against bad providers more quickly than relying on federal designations.
Katie Blankenmeier, testifying for the Ohio Attorney General's office, told the Senate Judiciary Committee that Senate Bill 224 would reestablish safe-harbor definitions in Ohio's robocall statute and allow the state to take swifter legal action against bad actors that place illegal robocalls.
Blankenmeier explained that the rollout of prior state tools relied in practice on a private industry consortium (the Industry Traceback Group) and the Federal Communications Commission to label bad voice-service providers; because that designation process has been slow, no provider has been labeled noncooperative since passage of the 2021 law, she said. SB 224 would instead use designations from the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to define good and bad actors for purposes of Ohio's civil enforcement.
The witness said the Attorney General's office worked with telecommunications companies on the language and that the changes would allow the consumer-protection team to pursue civil actions in state court more effectively. Committee members pressed the witness on whether federal action existed and whether a private cause of action would be preferable; Blankenmeier said the bill restores state civil authority by clarifying safe-harbor definitions rather than creating a new private civil cause of action.
SB 224 was read for its second hearing during this session; no committee vote occurred.
