New Bill Would Crack Down On Robocalls And Robotexts

CHICAGO (CBS) -- Nobody likes annoying robocalls. Now there is a new push from attorneys general around the country and in Illinois to limit those calls and punish telemarketers.

CBS 2 Investigator Dorothy Tucker has been tracking the issue of battling robocalls for months.

In 1934, gangster John Dillinger was public enemy number one when federal agents shot and killed him outside Chicago's Biograph Theater.

That same year the Communications Act established the Federal Communications Commission to oversee the legal use of telephones.

But cell phones didn't exist back then.

Neither did robocalls.

A bill known as TRACED, the Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement And Deterrence Act, would change that 1934 law and make it easier for the FCC to punish people who make robocalls or send robotexts.

TRACED also required cell phone carriers and internet service providers to establish caller verification systems like STIR/SHAKEN, a new technology already in the works. And it reduces access to phone numbers.

CBS 2 Investigators discovered how easy it is to buy a cheap list of numbers and call someone -- even a person on the Do Not Call registry.

Illinois' Attorney General said this new push to protect consumers is needed because last year year 48 billion robocalls were made and 250,000 Illinoisans complained.

Under the FCC's new guidelines, companies have until November of this year to implement the verification technology.