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Committee backs bill to cap telemarketing and robocalls to households
Summary
Chairman Baum said House Bill 2408 would limit solicitation and machine-generated calls to residential consumers to no more than 10,000 per month, cover AI/prerecorded voice messages and allow enforcement by the Tennessee Attorney General and PUC; committee voted to send the bill to Commerce.
Chairman Baum described House Bill 2408 as an effort to rein in the "annoyance economy," saying the bill would limit solicitation calls and robocalls to residential households to no more than 10,000 such calls per month. “It’s a bill that would limit solicitation calls and robocalls to no more than 10,000 per month in the state of Tennessee to residential households,” he said.
The sponsor said the bill would be enforced by the Tennessee Attorney General under the Tennessee Consumer Protection Act and in coordination with the Tennessee Public Utilities Commission. Committee members raised questions about whether text messages and AI-generated prerecorded messages were covered; sponsor and a member reviewing the amendment noted that machine-generated voice messages ("robocall" technology), AI and prerecorded sound technology are included and that the bill’s business-relationship exception would not cover calls to customers where an ongoing relationship exists. The committee adopted the amendment and voted to send HB 2408 to the Commerce Committee (clerk reported 7–0).
