H.R. 8311 — Protecting American Consumers from Robocalls Act

This section expands the scope of the do-not-call rules under the Communications Act of 1934 by (1) striking "residential" from multiple provisions to extend protections to all telephone subscribers (previously limited to residential subscribers); and (2) revising the private right of action to permit suits after a single telephone call by or on behalf of an entity (previously, more than one call within any 12-month period by or on behalf of the same entity) and to provide statutory damages of $500 per violation (striking "up to"). It directs the Federal Communications Commission to revise implementing regulations within 270 days of enactment.

This section revises the definition of an automatic telephone dialing system (ATDS) under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA)—which restricts non-emergency calls to cell phones without prior express consent—(1) to include equipment that stores or produces telephone numbers using a random or sequential number generator or a list of telephone numbers and (2) to require dialing such numbers successively without human intervention.