Florida Senate - 2018                                     SB 962
       
       
        
       By Senator Grimsley
       
       
       
       
       
       26-00714A-18                                           2018962__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to telephone solicitation; creating s.
    3         364.246, F.S.; providing a short title; defining
    4         terms; authorizing telecommunication providers, with
    5         authorization from a subscriber, to block certain
    6         calls from reaching the subscriber; authorizing
    7         telecommunication providers to rely solely upon caller
    8         identification service information to determine
    9         originating numbers for the purpose of blocking such
   10         calls; providing an effective date.
   11          
   12  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   13  
   14         Section 1. Section 364.246, Florida Statutes, is created to
   15  read:
   16         364.246 Florida Call-Blocking Act.—
   17         (1) This section may be cited as the “Florida Call-Blocking
   18  Act.”
   19         (2) As used in this section, the term:
   20         (a) “Caller identification service” means a service that
   21  allows a telephone subscriber to have the telephone number and,
   22  if available, the name of the calling party transmitted
   23  contemporaneously with the telephone call and displayed on a
   24  device in or connected to the subscriber’s telephone.
   25         (b) “Pooling administrator” means the Thousands-Block
   26  Pooling Administrator as identified in 47 C.F.R. s. 52.20.
   27         (c) “Provider” means a telecommunications company that
   28  provides voice communications services to customers in this
   29  state.
   30         (3) Consistent with authorization provided by federal law
   31  and rules of the Federal Communications Commission or its
   32  successors, providers operating in this state may, with
   33  authorization from a subscriber, block calls to the subscriber
   34  in the following manner:
   35         (a) Providers may block calls from specific numbers
   36  identified by the subscriber based on the originating number
   37  shown in the subscriber’s caller identification service. Such
   38  calls may be blocked without regard as to whether the calls
   39  actually originate from that number.
   40         (b) Providers may block calls originating from the
   41  following numbers:
   42         1. A number that is not a valid North American Numbering
   43  Plan number;
   44         2. A valid North American Numbering Plan number that is not
   45  allocated to a provider by the North American Numbering Plan
   46  Administrator or the pooling administrator; and
   47         3. A valid North American Numbering Plan number that is
   48  allocated to a provider by the North American Numbering Plan
   49  Administrator or pooling administrator, but that is not assigned
   50  to a subscriber.
   51         (4) For purposes of blocking calls from certain originating
   52  numbers as authorized in this section, a provider may rely on
   53  caller identification service information to determine the
   54  originating number.
   55         Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2018.