# Plain Language Summary: Text Message Spam Bill

This bill cracks down on automated text message spam by making it illegal for companies to send you unsolicited text messages using automated systems. Right now, there are rules against robocalls, but text messages have fallen into a gray area. This bill closes that loophole by explicitly prohibiting businesses from blasting out mass text messages without your permission, just like they can't make automated calls to your phone without consent.

The main rule is simple: if a company wants to send you automated text messages, they need your permission first. The only exceptions are for emergencies or if you've already agreed to receive messages from them. This applies to marketing texts, debt collection texts, appointment reminders sent by robots, and any other automated messages. If you get charged for receiving a text (which some people do on certain phone plans), companies can't send you unsolicited ones at all.

The bill also addresses a real problem that happens when phone numbers get reassigned to new owners. If a company got your permission to text you years ago, but your number was later given to someone else, that company could accidentally keep texting the new person. To prevent this, the bill requires the Federal Communications Commission to create a database that companies can check to see if a number has been reassigned. Companies that check this database before sending texts get some legal protection, but they have to actually use it.

The Federal Communications Commission has 18 months to write detailed rules explaining exactly what counts as "automated" texting and what it means to "send" a text message, so there's clarity about what's actually prohibited.

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to prohibit the use of automated telephone equipment to send unsolicited text messages, and for other purposes.

 <p>This bill expands and modifies prohibitions on the use of automatic telephone dialing systems to include automated text messages and other functionalities.</p>   