Hawaii Senate Bill SR20

Hawaii 2022 Regular Session

• Introduced: 3/8/22
• Refer: 3/11/22
• Report Pass: 4/4/22
• Passed: 4/5/22

Caption

Urging The United States Congress To Enact Legislation To Address The Rise In Illegal Text Messages.

Impact

The resolution notes that in August 2021 alone, consumers received over 7.6 million spam text messages, marking an 8% increase since June of the same year. Furthermore, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recorded over 334,000 complaints regarding scam text messages that year, more than double the count from prior years. These statistics illustrate a critical gap in current consumer protections against digital fraud, particularly given that text messaging has become the third most prevalent method of scamming consumers.

Summary

Senate Resolution 20 (SR20) urges the United States Congress to enact legislation aimed at addressing the rising threat of illegal text messages, which have become a common method for scammers to target consumers. The resolution highlights the significant increase in spam text messages reported by the public and underscores the ineffectiveness of current spam filtering technologies provided by phone companies. It indicates that while many phone companies block unsolicited robocalls, they are not obligated to do the same for text messages, allowing this issue to flourish without adequate oversight.

Contention

SR20 emphasizes the need for cooperation between Congress and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to develop robust legislation that would effectively curb illegal text messaging practices. The primary contention surrounds the adequacy of existing laws to protect consumers and the responsibilities of service providers in filtering out fraudulent messages. The resolution advocates for enhanced regulatory frameworks that would improve consumer safety and ensure that technology companies are held accountable for the prevalence of text-based scams.