Gov. Inslee signs bill targeting illegal robocalls in Washington
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
Gov. Jay Inslee signed legislation Thursday aimed at targeting illegal robocalls in Washington state.
House Bill 1051, also known as the Robocall Spam Protection Act, was introduced by Rep. Mari Leavitt (D-University Place). The measure will make it illegal for solicitors to contact anyone on the Do Not Call Registry and also prohibits fake caller IDs.
According to a news release from Washington House Democrats, 1.1 million Washingtonians lost money to robocalls in 2022 based on Truecaller survey data. In 2021, YouMail reported more than 260 million scam robocalls made to Washingtonians.
“Every time I think about this bill, I think of the countless families in my district and across the state that were threatened and scammed by these robocalls - all while the technology to prevent it existed,” said Rep. Leavitt. “Washington has an obligation to protect those most vulnerable to these scams. When we bring business, industry, Attorney General Ferguson, the legislature, and the Governor together, we get a great piece of law like HB 1051.”
HB 1051 will also incentivize phone service providers to use available technology to reduce robocalls and to provide customers with ways to mitigate and monitor attempted scams.
