Friday (May 6, 2016), the FCC formally released its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) regarding the new government ATDS exemption for calls regarding government-backed debts, such as government backed student loans and mortgages, for example. This will also apply to certain tax debts.
Recall that as part of the November 2015 Bipartisan Budget Act, Congress amended the TCPA to exempt certain government collections calls from the TCPA’s written consent autodialer requirement. This exemption applies only to calls solely to collect on a debt owed to or guaranteed by the United States. As part of the NPRM, the FCC posed numerous questions for interested parties to comment on. A complete list can be found in the NPRM itself, found here, but of particular note are the following: (a) who may be called? (b) what should the limits be on the number and duration of calls? and (c) when and how should callers be provided with notice of their right to stop the calls?
The FCC will take comments from the public and then will rule some time in the next several months. Stay tuned for more!