OLYMPIA – Governor Jay Inslee was joined by democratic lawmakers and the Attorney General’s Office to celebrate the signing of House Bill 1051, the Robocall Spam Protection Act. Introduced by Rep. Mari Leavitt, D-University Place, the bill will hold accountable those who spam individuals with robocalls maliciously.
The single highest number of complaints the Attorney General receives is regarding predatory and dangerous scams affecting seniors, youth, and the most financially vulnerable. While Washington already has a law regarding robocalls, 1.1 million Washingtonians lose money to robocalls in 2022 alone based on TruCaller survey data. In the previous year, YouMail reported over 260 million scam robocalls made to Washingtonians, nearly half of the 616 million total robocalls into Washington.
HB 1051 will provide Washington with the tools needed to deal with the daily onslaught of calls and protect consumers. With the passage of this policy, consumers will be protected from these bad actors and state law will incentivize voice service providers to use available voice technology to reduce robocalls, block them entirely, and provide consumers with mitigation and monitoring on attempted scams they receive.
The Governor’s signing represents the culmination of months of efforts between industry stakeholders, small businesses, consumers, the AG, and the legislature. This bill strikes the right balance to help small businesses and healthcare providers continue to succeed without hindrances, while holding bad actors accountable.
“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, AG Ferguson, the legislature, and the Governor together, we get a great piece of law like HB 1051.”
The bill will take effect 90 days after adjournment of session. More information can be found here and the bill signing can be viewed here.