[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2409 Referred in Senate (RFS)]

<DOC>
115th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 2409


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             July 25, 2018

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 AN ACT


 
To allow servicemembers to terminate their cable, satellite television, 
         and Internet access service contracts while deployed.

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

SECTION 1. TERMINATION OF MULTICHANNEL VIDEO PROGRAMMING AND INTERNET 
              ACCESS SERVICE CONTRACTS.

    (a) In General.--Section 305A of the Servicemembers Civil Relief 
Act (50 U.S.C. 3956) is amended--
            (1) in the section heading, by inserting ``, multichannel 
        video programming, and internet access'' after ``telephone'';
            (2) in subsection (a), by adding at the end the following 
        new paragraph:
            ``(4) Additional individuals covered.--For purposes of this 
        section, the following individuals shall be treated as a 
        servicemember covered by paragraph (1):
                    ``(A) A spouse of a servicemember who dies while in 
                military service or a spouse of a member of the reserve 
                components who dies while performing duty described in 
                subparagraph (B).
                    ``(B) A member of the reserve components performing 
                military service or performing full-time National Guard 
                duty, active Guard and Reserve duty, or inactive-duty 
                training (as such terms are defined in section 101(d) 
                of title 10, United States Code).'';
            (3) in subsection (b), by striking ``cellular telephone 
        service or telephone exchange service'' and inserting 
        ``commercial mobile service, telephone exchange service, 
        Internet access service, or multichannel video programming 
        service'';
            (4) in subsection (c), by inserting ``for commercial mobile 
        service or telephone exchange service'' before ``terminated'';
            (5) in subsection (d), in the matter preceding paragraph 
        (1), by striking ``cellular telephone service'' and inserting 
        ``commercial mobile service'';
            (6) in subsection (e)--
                    (A) by striking ``For any'' and inserting the 
                following:
            ``(1) In general.--For any'';
                    (B) by striking ``If the'' and inserting the 
                following:
            ``(2) Reinstatement of service.--If the''; and
                    (C) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(3) Return of provider-owned equipment.--If a 
        servicemember terminates a contract under subsection (a), the 
        servicemember shall return any provider-owned consumer premises 
        equipment to the service provider not later than 10 days after 
        the date on which service is disconnected.''; and
            (7) in subsection (g)--
                    (A) by redesignating paragraph (2) as paragraph 
                (4); and
                    (B) by striking paragraph (1) and inserting the 
                following:
            ``(1) The term `commercial mobile service' has the meaning 
        given that term in section 332(d) of the Communications Act of 
        1934 (47 U.S.C. 332(d)).
            ``(2) The term `multichannel video programming service' 
        means a subscription video service offered by a multichannel 
        video programming distributor, as that term is defined in 
        section 602 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 522), 
        over a system the distributor owns or controls.
            ``(3) The term `provider-owned consumer premises equipment' 
        means any equipment that a provider of Internet access service 
        or multichannel video programming service rents or loans to a 
        customer during the provision of that service, including 
        gateways, routers, cable modems, voice-capable modems, 
        CableCARDs, converters, digital adapters, remote controls, and 
        any other equipment provided.''.
    (b) Clerical Amendments.--
            (1) Title heading.--The heading for title III of the 
        Servicemembers Civil Relief Act is amended by striking 
        ``TELEPHONE'' and inserting ``COMMUNICATIONS''.
            (2) Table of contents.--The table of contents in section 
        1(b) of the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act is amended--
                    (A) by striking the item relating to title III and 
                inserting the following:

``TITLE III--RENT, INSTALLMENT CONTRACTS, MORTGAGES, LIENS, ASSIGNMENT, 
              LEASES, COMMUNICATIONS SERVICE CONTRACTS'';

                and
                    (B) by striking the item relating to section 305A 
                and inserting the following:

``Sec. 305A. Termination of telephone, multichannel video programming, 
                            and Internet access service contracts.''.

            Passed the House of Representatives July 24, 2018.

            Attest:

                                                 KAREN L. HAAS,

                                                                 Clerk.