California enacts law to mandate STIR/SHAKEN
The governor of California, Gavin Newsom, signed the Consumer Call Protection Act of 2019 on October 2, 2019. This law requires telecommunications service providers to implement STIR/SHAKEN on or before January 1, 2021.
The legislation was brought forward by California Senator Ben Hueso (D-San Diego).
“Fraud by robocallers is the number one consumer complaint in the country, and the volume of these calls has increased dramatically in recent years,” said Sen. Hueso, Chair of the Senate Energy, Utilities and Communications Committee. “The surge in illegal robocalls disproportionately impacts Californians, who receive the second highest number of robocalls in the nation. The State must take steps to ensure that its consumers can reliably answer their telephones without the fear of fraud.”
The new law states that “nothing in this act requires a telecommunications service provider to employ call blocking.”
The legislation updates the California Public Utilities Code.