[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4167 Reported in House (RH)]

<DOC>





                                                 Union Calendar No. 449
114th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4167

                          [Report No. 114-579]

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to require multi-line telephone 
systems to have a default configuration that permits users to directly 
 initiate a call to 9-1-1 without dialing any additional digit, code, 
              prefix, or post-fix, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            December 3, 2015

Mr. Gohmert (for himself, Mr. Farenthold, Mr. Duncan of Tennessee, Mr. 
  Thompson of California, and Mr. Culberson) introduced the following 
    bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce

                              May 23, 2016

     Additional sponsors: Mrs. Black, Mr. Olson, Mr. O'Rourke, Mr. 
 Neugebauer, Mr. Barr, Mr. Burgess, Ms. Bordallo, Mr. Brady of Texas, 
    Mr. Shimkus, Mr. Cuellar, Mr. Brooks of Alabama, Mr. Vela, Mr. 
  DesJarlais, Mr. Cramer, Mr. Williams, Mr. Newhouse, Mr. Byrne, Mr. 
            Allen, Mr. Heck of Nevada, and Mr. King of Iowa

                              May 23, 2016

Reported with amendments, committed to the Committee of the Whole House 
          on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed
 [Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed 
                               in italic]
    [For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on 
                           December 3, 2015]


_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to require multi-line telephone 
systems to have a default configuration that permits users to directly 
 initiate a call to 9-1-1 without dialing any additional digit, code, 
              prefix, or post-fix, and for other purposes.


 


    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Kari's Law Act of 2016''.

SEC. 2. CONFIGURATION OF MULTI-LINE TELEPHONE SYSTEMS FOR DIRECT 
              DIALING OF 9-1-1.

    (a) In General.--Title VII of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 
U.S.C. 601 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following:

``SEC. 721. CONFIGURATION OF MULTI-LINE TELEPHONE SYSTEMS FOR DIRECT 
              DIALING OF 9-1-1.

    ``(a) System Manufacture, Importation, Sale, and Lease.--A person 
engaged in the business of manufacturing, importing, selling, or 
leasing multi-line telephone systems may not manufacture or import for 
use in the United States, or sell or lease or offer to sell or lease in 
the United States, a multi-line telephone system, unless such system is 
pre-configured such that, when properly installed in accordance with 
subsection (b), a user may directly initiate a call to 9-1-1 from any 
station equipped with dialing facilities, without dialing any 
additional digit, code, prefix, or post-fix, including any trunk-access 
code such as the digit `9', regardless of whether the user is required 
to dial such a digit, code, prefix, or post-fix for other calls.
    ``(b) System Installation, Management, and Operation.--A person 
engaged in the business of installing, managing, or operating multi-
line telephone systems may not install, manage, or operate for use in 
the United States such a system, unless such system is configured such 
that a user may directly initiate a call to 9-1-1 from any station 
equipped with dialing facilities, without dialing any additional digit, 
code, prefix, or post-fix, including any trunk-access code such as the 
digit `9', regardless of whether the user is required to dial such a 
digit, code, prefix, or post-fix for other calls.
    ``(c) On-site Notification.--A person engaged in the business of 
installing, managing, or operating multi-line telephone systems shall, 
in installing, managing, or operating such a system for use in the 
United States, configure the system to provide a notification to a 
central location at the facility where the system is installed or to 
another person or organization regardless of location, if the system is 
able to be configured to provide the notification without an 
improvement to the hardware or software of the system.
    ``(d) Effect on State Law.--Nothing in this section is intended to 
alter the authority of State commissions or other State or local 
agencies with jurisdiction over emergency communications, if the 
exercise of such authority is not inconsistent with this Act.
    ``(e) Enforcement.--This section shall be enforced under title V, 
except that section 501 applies only to the extent that such section 
provides for the punishment of a fine.
    ``(f) Multi-line Telephone System Defined.--In this section, the 
term `multi-line telephone system' has the meaning given such term in 
section 6502 of the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 
2012 (47 U.S.C. 1471).''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by subsection (a) shall 
apply beginning on the date that is 2 years after the date of the 
enactment of this Act.
            Amend the title so as to read: ``A bill to amend the 
        Communications Act of 1934 to require multi-line telephone 
        systems to have a configuration that permits users to directly 
        initiate a call to 9-1-1 without dialing any additional digit, 
        code, prefix, or post-fix, and for other purposes.''.
                                                 Union Calendar No. 449

114th CONGRESS

  2d Session

                               H. R. 4167

                          [Report No. 114-579]

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to require multi-line telephone 
systems to have a default configuration that permits users to directly 
 initiate a call to 9-1-1 without dialing any additional digit, code, 
              prefix, or post-fix, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

                              May 23, 2016

Reported with amendments, committed to the Committee of the Whole House 
          on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed