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NAFCU's Max Virkus and Mahlet Makonnen met Tuesday on Capitol Hill with staff from the House Energy and Commerce Committee on efforts to combat illegal robocalls while still ensuring legitimate businesses can contact consumers.

Virkus is NAFCU's associate director of legislative affairs and Makonnen is regulatory affairs counsel. They met with committee staff from both majority and minority offices.

There are a number of initiatives underway in Congress to protect consumers from harassing robocalls and modernize the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), and NAFCU has actively worked with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and other stakeholders on TCPA reform efforts for more than three years.

Ahead of a recent House Energy and Commerce subcommittee markup of the Stopping Bad Robocalls Act, NAFCU offered support for the bill's provision that would require the FCC to issue an order on the definition of "autodialer" within six months of its enactment.

The association previously shared its concerns related to the definition of an autodialer and the need for clarity under the TCPA to ensure credit unions can contact their members without fear of breaking the law.

In addition, the legislation contains provisions related to the NAFCU-supported reassigned numbers database, but the association remains concerned about challenges credit unions may face when contacting members with important financial information.

NAFCU will continue working with lawmakers, the FCC and other agencies on TCPA reforms.