Lawmakers could soon be developing new tools to combat the seemingly endless, and still growing, issue of robo-calls, thanks to legislation filed by State Sen. Dave Syverson (R-Rockford) that passed the Illinois Senate on May 25.

“These calls aren’t about sales or capitalism, they are pure harassment,” said Syverson. “This legislation will allow us to put together new methods of combating the constant menace of robo-calls.”

Syverson’s Senate Joint Resolution 59 would create the bipartisan Illinois Automated Dialing and Solicitation Task Force. The members of the task force would study penalties for violating the Do Not Call List and penalties for call spoofing, as well as exploring any new technology for preventing robo-calls.

The task force would be made up of four members of the General Assembly, one member appointed by the governor, two members from the Illinois Attorney General’s office, one member from the Illinois State Police Department, and five members from the telecommunications industry appointed by the Governor and the four legislative leaders.

“The panel will enable us to develop real solutions to stop the calls and punish those responsible,” said Syverson. “We will also have the opportunity to look at technology that can prevent these types of calls from ever reaching our phones.”

The legislation is part of a package of bills filed by Senator Syverson to combat robo-calls, which also includes Senate Bill 2573, which would punish auto-dialers for “spoofing” or hiding their actual caller ID information, as well as for playing recorded messages without the express written consent of the person receiving the call.

Both bills are now in the Illinois House awaiting a vote in that chamber.