[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 88 (Tuesday, July 11, 2000)]
[House]
[Pages H5741-H5744]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 MOBILE TELECOMMUNICATIONS SOURCING ACT

  Mr. GEKAS. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill 
(H.R. 4391) to amend title 4 of the United States Code to establish 
nexus requirements for State and local taxation of mobile 
telecommunication services, as amended.
  The Clerk read as follows:

                               H.R. 4391

       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 ``Mobile Telecommunications 
     Sourcing Act''.

     SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS TO TITLE 4 OF THE UNITED STATES CODE.

       (a) Amendment Relating to the States.--Chapter 4 of title 4 
     of the United States Code is amended by adding at the end the 
     following:

     ``Sec. 116. Rules for determining State and local government 
       treatment of charges related to mobile telecommunications 
       services

       ``(a) Application of This Section Through Section 126.--
     This section through 126 of this title apply to any tax, 
     charge, or fee levied by a taxing jurisdiction as a fixed 
     charge for each customer or measured by gross amounts charged 
     to customers for mobile telecommunications services, 
     regardless of whether such tax, charge, or fee is imposed on 
     the vendor or customer of the service and regardless of the 
     terminology used to describe the tax, charge, or fee.
       ``(b) General Exceptions.--This section through 126 of this 
     title do not apply to--
       ``(1) any tax, charge, or fee levied upon or measured by 
     the net income, capital stock, net worth, or property value 
     of the provider of mobile telecommunications service;

[[Page H5742]]

       ``(2) any tax, charge, or fee that is applied to an 
     equitably apportioned amount that is not determined on a 
     transactional basis;
       ``(3) any tax, charge, or fee that represents compensation 
     for a mobile telecommunications service provider's use of 
     public rights of way or other public property, provided that 
     such tax, charge, or fee is not levied by the taxing 
     jurisdiction as a fixed charge for each customer or measured 
     by gross amounts charged to customers for mobile 
     telecommunication services;
       ``(4) any generally applicable business and occupation tax 
     that is imposed by a State, is applied to gross receipts or 
     gross proceeds, is the legal liability of the home service 
     provider, and that statutorily allows the home service 
     provider to elect to use the sourcing method required in this 
     section through 126 of this title;
       ``(5) any fee related to obligations under section 254 of 
     the Communications Act of 1934; or
       ``(6) any tax, charge, or fee imposed by the Federal 
     Communications Commission.
       ``(c) Specific Exceptions.--This section through 126 of 
     this title --
       ``(1) do not apply to the determination of the taxing situs 
     of prepaid telephone calling services;
       ``(2) do not affect the taxability of either the initial 
     sale of mobile telecommunications services or subsequent 
     resale of such services, whether as sales of such services 
     alone or as a part of a bundled product, if the Internet Tax 
     Freedom Act would preclude a taxing jurisdiction from 
     subjecting the charges of the sale of such services to a tax, 
     charge, or fee, but this section provides no evidence of the 
     intent of Congress with respect to the applicability of the 
     Internet Tax Freedom Act to such charges; and
       ``(3) do not apply to the determination of the taxing situs 
     of air-ground radiotelephone service as defined in section 
     22.99 of title 47 of the Code of Federal Regulations as in 
     effect on June 1, 1999.

     ``Sec. 117. Sourcing rules

       ``(a) Treatment of Charges for Mobile Telecommunications 
     Services.--Notwithstanding the law of any State or political 
     subdivision of any State, mobile telecommunications services 
     provided in a taxing jurisdiction to a customer, the charges 
     for which are billed by or for the customer's home service 
     provider, shall be deemed to be provided by the customer's 
     home service provider.
       ``(b) Jurisdiction.--All charges for mobile 
     telecommunications services that are deemed to be provided by 
     the customer's home service provider under sections 116 
     through 126 of this title are authorized to be subjected to 
     tax, charge, or fee by the taxing jurisdictions whose 
     territorial limits encompass the customer's place of primary 
     use, regardless of where the mobile telecommunication 
     services originate, terminate, or pass through, and no other 
     taxing jurisdiction may impose taxes, charges, or fees on 
     charges for such mobile telecommunications services.

     ``Sec. 118. Limitations

       ``Sections 116 through 126 of this title do not--
       ``(1) provide authority to a taxing jurisdiction to impose 
     a tax, charge, or fee that the laws of such jurisdiction do 
     not authorize such jurisdiction to impose; or
       ``(2) modify, impair, supersede, or authorize the 
     modification, impairment, or supersession of the law of any 
     taxing jurisdiction pertaining to taxation except as 
     expressly provided in sections 116 through 126 of this title.

     ``Sec. 119. Electronic databases for nationwide standard 
       numeric jurisdictional codes

       ``(a) Electronic Database.--
       ``(1)  Provision of database.--A State may provide an 
     electronic database to a home service provider or, if a State 
     does not provide such an electronic database to home service 
     providers, then the designated database provider may provide 
     an electronic database to a home service provider.
       ``(2) Format.--(A) Such electronic database, whether 
     provided by the State or the designated database provider, 
     shall be provided in a format approved by the American 
     National Standards Institute's Accredited Standards Committee 
     X12, that, allowing for de minimis deviations, designates for 
     each street address in the State, including to the extent 
     practicable, any multiple postal street addresses applicable 
     to one street location, the appropriate taxing jurisdictions, 
     and the appropriate code for each taxing jurisdiction, for 
     each level of taxing jurisdiction, identified by one 
     nationwide standard numeric code.
       ``(B) Such electronic database shall also provide the 
     appropriate code for each street address with respect to 
     political subdivisions which are not taxing jurisdictions 
     when reasonably needed to determine the proper taxing 
     jurisdiction.
       ``(C) The nationwide standard numeric codes shall contain 
     the same number of numeric digits with each digit or 
     combination of digits referring to the same level of taxing 
     jurisdiction throughout the United States using a format 
     similar to FIPS 55-3 or other appropriate standard approved 
     by the Federation of Tax Administrators and the Multistate 
     Tax Commission, or their successors. Each address shall be 
     provided in standard postal format.
       ``(b) Notice; Updates.--A State or designated database 
     provider that provides or maintains an electronic database 
     described in subsection (a) shall provide notice of the 
     availability of the then current electronic database, and any 
     subsequent revisions thereof, by publication in the manner 
     normally employed for the publication of informational tax, 
     charge, or fee notices to taxpayers in such State.
       ``(c) User Held Harmless.--A home service provider using 
     the data contained in an electronic database described in 
     subsection (a) shall be held harmless from any tax, charge, 
     or fee liability that otherwise would be due solely as a 
     result of any error or omission in such database provided by 
     a State or designated database provider. The home service 
     provider shall reflect changes made to such database during a 
     calendar quarter not later than 30 days after the end of such 
     calendar quarter for each State that issues notice of the 
     availability of an electronic database reflecting such 
     changes under subsection (b).

     ``Sec. 120. Procedure if no electronic database provided

       ``(a) Safe Harbor.--If neither a State nor designated 
     database provider provides an electronic database under 
     section 119, a home service provider shall be held harmless 
     from any tax, charge, or fee liability in such State that 
     otherwise would be due solely as a result of an assignment of 
     a street address to an incorrect taxing jurisdiction if, 
     subject to section 121, the home service provider employs an 
     enhanced zip code to assign each street address to a specific 
     taxing jurisdiction for each level of taxing jurisdiction and 
     exercises due diligence at each level of taxing jurisdiction 
     to ensure that each such street address is assigned to the 
     correct taxing jurisdiction. If an enhanced zip code overlaps 
     boundaries of taxing jurisdictions of the same level, the 
     home service provider must designate one specific 
     jurisdiction within such enhanced zip code for use in taxing 
     the activity for such enhanced zip code for each level of 
     taxing jurisdiction. Any enhanced zip code assignment changed 
     in accordance with section 121 is deemed to be in compliance 
     with this section. For purposes of this section, there is a 
     rebuttable presumption that a home service provider has 
     exercised due diligence if such home service provider 
     demonstrates that it has--
       ``(1) expended reasonable resources to implement and 
     maintain an appropriately detailed electronic database of 
     street address assignments to taxing jurisdictions;
       ``(2) implemented and maintained reasonable internal 
     controls to promptly correct misassignments of street 
     addresses to taxing jurisdictions; and
       ``(3) used all reasonably obtainable and usable data 
     pertaining to municipal annexations, incorporations, 
     reorganizations and any other changes in jurisdictional 
     boundaries that materially affect the accuracy of such 
     database.
       ``(b) Termination of Safe Harbor.--Subsection (a) applies 
     to a home service provider that is in compliance with the 
     requirements of subsection (a), with respect to a State for 
     which an electronic database is not provided under section 
     119 until the later of--
       ``(1) 18 months after the nationwide standard numeric code 
     described in section 119(a) has been approved by the 
     Federation of Tax Administrators and the Multistate Tax 
     Commission; or
       ``(2) 6 months after such State or a designated database 
     provider in such State provides such database as prescribed 
     in section 119(a).

     ``Sec. 121. Correction of erroneous data for place of primary 
       use

       ``(a) In General.--A taxing jurisdiction, or a State on 
     behalf of any taxing jurisdiction or taxing jurisdictions 
     within such State, may--
       ``(1) determine that the address used for purposes of 
     determining the taxing jurisdictions to which taxes, charges, 
     or fees for mobile telecommunications services are remitted 
     does not meet the definition of place of primary use in 
     section 124(8) and give binding notice to the home service 
     provider to change the place of primary use on a prospective 
     basis from the date of notice of determination if--
       ``(A) if the taxing jurisdiction making such determination 
     is not a State, such taxing jurisdiction obtains the consent 
     of all affected taxing jurisdictions within the State before 
     giving such notice of determination; and
       ``(B) before the taxing jurisdiction gives such notice of 
     determination, the customer is given an opportunity to 
     demonstrate in accordance with applicable State or local tax, 
     charge, or fee administrative procedures that the address is 
     the customer's place of primary use;
       ``(2) determine that the assignment of a taxing 
     jurisdiction by a home service provider under section 120 
     does not reflect the correct taxing jurisdiction and give 
     binding notice to the home service provider to change the 
     assignment on a prospective basis from the date of notice of 
     determination if--
       ``(A) if the taxing jurisdiction making such determination 
     is not a State, such taxing jurisdiction obtains the consent 
     of all affected taxing jurisdictions within the State before 
     giving such notice of determination; and
       ``(B) the home service provider is given an opportunity to 
     demonstrate in accordance with applicable State or local tax, 
     charge, or fee administrative procedures that the assignment 
     reflects the correct taxing jurisdiction.

     ``Sec.  122. Determination of place of primary use

       ``(a) Place of Primary Use.--A home service provider shall 
     be responsible for obtaining and maintaining the customer's 
     place of primary use (as defined in section 124). Subject to 
     section 121, and if the home service provider's reliance on 
     information provided by its customer is in good faith, a 
     taxing jurisdiction shall--
       ``(1) allow a home service provider to rely on the 
     applicable residential or business street address supplied by 
     the home service provider's customer; and
       ``(2) not hold a home service provider liable for any 
     additional taxes, charges, or fees based on a different 
     determination of the place of primary use for taxes, charges 
     or fees that are customarily passed on to the customer as a 
     separate itemized charge.
       ``(b) Address Under Existing Agreements.--Except as 
     provided in section 121, a taxing jurisdiction shall allow a 
     home service provider to treat the address used by the home 
     service provider for tax purposes for any customer under a 
     service contract or agreement in effect 2 years after the 
     date of enactment of the

[[Page H5743]]

     Mobile Telecommunications Sourcing Act as that customer's 
     place of primary use for the remaining term of such service 
     contract or agreement, excluding any extension or renewal of 
     such service contract or agreement, for purposes of 
     determining the taxing jurisdictions to which taxes, charges, 
     or fees on charges for mobile telecommunications services are 
     remitted.

     ``Sec. 123. Scope; special rules

       ``(a) Act Does Not Supersede Customer's Liability to Taxing 
     Jurisdiction.--Nothing in sections 116 through 126 modifies, 
     impairs, supersedes, or authorizes the modification, 
     impairment, or supersession of, any law allowing a taxing 
     jurisdiction to collect a tax, charge, or fee from a customer 
     that has failed to provide its place of primary use.
       ``(b) Additional Taxable Charges.--If a taxing jurisdiction 
     does not otherwise subject charges for mobile 
     telecommunications services to taxation and if these charges 
     are aggregated with and not separately stated from charges 
     that are subject to taxation, then the charges for nontaxable 
     mobile telecommunications services may be subject to taxation 
     unless the home service provider can reasonably identify 
     charges not subject to such tax, charge, or fee from its 
     books and records that are kept in the regular course of 
     business.
       ``(c) Nontaxable Charges.--If a taxing jurisdiction does 
     not subject charges for mobile telecommunications services to 
     taxation, a customer may not rely upon the nontaxability of 
     charges for mobile telecommunications services unless the 
     customer's home service provider separately states the 
     charges for nontaxable mobile telecommunications services 
     from taxable charges or the home service provider elects, 
     after receiving a written request from the customer in the 
     form required by the provider, to provide verifiable data 
     based upon the home service provider's books and records that 
     are kept in the regular course of business that reasonably 
     identifies the nontaxable charges.

     ``Sec. 124. Definitions

       ``In sections 116 through 126 of this title:
       ``(1) Charges for mobile telecommunications services.--The 
     term `charges for mobile telecommunications services' means 
     any charge for, or associated with, the provision of 
     commercial mobile radio service, as defined in section 20.3 
     of title 47 of the Code of Federal Regulations as in effect 
     on June 1, 1999, or any charge for, or associated with, a 
     service provided as an adjunct to a commercial mobile radio 
     service, that is billed to the customer by or for the 
     customer's home service provider regardless of whether 
     individual transmissions originate or terminate within the 
     licensed service area of the home service provider.
       ``(2) Customer.--
       ``(A) In general.--The term `customer' means--
       ``(i) the person or entity that contracts with the home 
     service provider for mobile telecommunications services; or
       ``(ii) if the end user of mobile telecommunications 
     services is not the contracting party, the end user of the 
     mobile telecommunications service, but this clause applies 
     only for the purpose of determining the place of primary use.
       ``(B) The term `customer' does not include--
       ``(i) a reseller of mobile telecommunications service; or
       ``(ii) a serving carrier under an arrangement to serve the 
     customer outside the home service provider's licensed service 
     area.
       ``(3) Designated database provider.--The term `designated 
     database provider' means a corporation, association, or other 
     entity representing all the political subdivisions of a State 
     that is--
       ``(A) responsible for providing an electronic database 
     prescribed in section 119(a) if the State has not provided 
     such electronic database; and
       ``(B) approved by municipal and county associations or 
     leagues of the State whose responsibility it would otherwise 
     be to provide such database prescribed by sections 116 
     through 126 of this title.
       ``(4) Enhanced zip code.--The term `enhanced zip code' 
     means a United States postal zip code of 9 or more digits.
       ``(5) Home service provider.--The term `home service 
     provider' means the facilities-based carrier or reseller with 
     which the customer contracts for the provision of mobile 
     telecommunications services.
       ``(6) Licensed service area.--The term `licensed service 
     area' means the geographic area in which the home service 
     provider is authorized by law or contract to provide 
     commercial mobile radio service to the customer.
       ``(7) Mobile telecommunications service.--The term `mobile 
     telecommunications service' means commercial mobile radio 
     service, as defined in section 20.3 of title 47 of the Code 
     of Federal Regulations as in effect on June 1, 1999.
       ``(8) Place of primary use.--The term `place of primary 
     use' means the street address representative of where the 
     customer's use of the mobile telecommunications service 
     primarily occurs, which must be--
       ``(A) the residential street address or the primary 
     business street address of the customer; and
       ``(B) within the licensed service area of the home service 
     provider.
       ``(9) Prepaid telephone calling services.--The term 
     `prepaid telephone calling service' means the right to 
     purchase exclusively telecommunications services that must be 
     paid for in advance, that enables the origination of calls 
     using an access number, authorization code, or both, whether 
     manually or electronically dialed, if the remaining amount of 
     units of service that have been prepaid is known by the 
     provider of the prepaid service on a continuous basis.
       ``(10) Reseller.--The term `reseller'--
       ``(A) means a provider who purchases telecommunications 
     services from another telecommunications service provider and 
     then resells, uses as a component part of, or integrates the 
     purchased services into a mobile telecommunications service; 
     and
       ``(B) does not include a serving carrier with which a home 
     service provider arranges for the services to its customers 
     outside the home service provider's licensed service area.
       ``(11) Serving carrier.--The term `serving carrier' means a 
     facilities-based carrier providing mobile telecommunications 
     service to a customer outside a home service provider's or 
     reseller's licensed service area.
       ``(12) Taxing jurisdiction.--The term `taxing jurisdiction' 
     means any of the several States, the District of Columbia, or 
     any territory or possession of the United States, any 
     municipality, city, county, township, parish, transportation 
     district, or assessment jurisdiction, or any other political 
     subdivision within the territorial limits of the United 
     States with the authority to impose a tax, charge, or fee.

     ``Sec. 125. Nonseverability

       ``If a court of competent jurisdiction enters a final 
     judgment on the merits that--
       ``(1) is based on Federal law;
       ``(2) is no longer subject to appeal; and
       ``(3) substantially limits or impairs the essential 
     elements of sections 116 through 126 of this title;
     then sections 116 through 126 of this title are invalid and 
     have no legal effect as of the date of entry of such 
     judgment.

     ``Sec. 126. No inference

       ``(a) Internet Tax Freedom Act.--Nothing in sections 116 
     through this section of this title shall be construed as 
     bearing on Congressional intent in enacting the Internet Tax 
     Freedom Act or to modify or supersede the operation of such 
     Act.
       ``(b) Telecommunications Act of 1996.--Nothing in sections 
     116 through this section of this title shall limit or 
     otherwise affect the implementation of the Telecommunications 
     Act of 1996 or the amendments made by such Act.''.
       (b) Technical Amendment.--The table of sections of chapter 
     4 of title 4, United States Code, is amended by adding the 
     following after the item relating to section 115:

``116. Rules for determining State and local government treatment of 
              charges related to mobile telecommunications services.
``117. Sourcing rules.
``118. Limitations.
``119. Electronic databases for nationwide standard numeric 
              jurisdictional codes.
``120. Procedure if no electronic database provided.
``121. Correction of erroneous data for place of primary use.
``122. Determination of place of primary use.
``123. Scope; special rules.
``124. Definitions.
``125. Nonseverability.
``126. No inference.''.

     SEC. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE; APPLICATION OF AMENDMENT.

       (a) Effective Date..--Except as provided in subsection (b), 
     this Act and the amendment made by this Act shall take effect 
     on the date of the enactment of this Act.
       (b) Application of Act.--The amendment made by this Act 
     shall apply only to customer bills issued after the 1st day 
     of the 1st month beginning more than 2 years after the date 
     of enactment of this Act.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Pennsylvania (Mr. Gekas) and the gentleman from New York (Mr. Nadler) 
each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Gekas).


                             General Leave

  Mr. GEKAS. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may 
have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks 
and include extraneous material on H.R. 4391, as amended.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Pennsylvania?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. GEKAS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, everyone recognizes that over the 10 previous years 
prior to this exact moment, there has been an explosion of use of 
wireless communications, mobile communications devices.

                              {time}  1015

  These are seen in every hallway in Congress, in every shopping mall 
in the country, and every place where there are more than two people. 
One can sense that wireless communications has reached a new plateau. 
It is estimated that some 80 million such devices are in constant use 
every single day even as we proceed here on this bill.
  The problem has been one of a complex problem that local taxing 
authorities have not known how to proceed in levying the tax that they 
would by law, by their own ordinances, et cetera, be able to cast on 
such a wireless service.
  Where should it be? Where the wireless communications originate or

[[Page H5744]]

where they fall into the receivers of the call itself, all the things 
in between that could account for the course that a wireless 
communication takes. So what to do?
  What has happened here in this particular case, Mr. Speaker, is an 
example that we ought to be looking to more than just at a glance in 
many of the issues that come before us. We go to the source of the 
people that are involved in the very vexing problem about which we 
speak.
  In this case, the wireless industry and the local taxing authorities 
got together and fashioned a way out of the jungle of taxation and 
complexity that they found themselves. So what they determined was that 
the place to be taxed would be where the receiver receives that 
particular call, and the taxing authority would be limited to that. 
That way, there would not be a proliferation of taxing authorities, nor 
of taxing acts on any part of the taxing community.
  So we come to this moment ready to present a bill to the Congress 
that has been prepared for us by the goodwill of the wireless industry 
people and the taxing authorities who wanted to solve the situation 
without too much trouble.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this legislation. I will not burden 
the House with a duplicate description of the legislation. The 
gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Gekas), the distinguished chairman of 
the subcommittee, has given us a very accurate and adequate description 
of what this legislation does.
  We are dealing today with a complex interstate taxation issue, and we 
are dealing with it the right way. Industry and State and local 
governments have worked together for the last 2 years to formulate an 
intelligent and fair way to manage the taxation of wireless 
telecommunications dealing with such complex issues as sourcing, nexus, 
and the place of a customer's primary use.
  All this work analysis and cooperation will ensure the calls which 
may be made in one jurisdiction but which are received in or passed 
through several others are not confronted with a thicket of taxing 
jurisdictions. It will simplify the process of tax collection without 
imposing any new taxes, all of this to the benefit of consumers, of the 
industry, and of taxing jurisdictions.
  I hope we can take a lesson from the way in which this complex 
taxation issue has been handled and perhaps apply it to the Internet 
tax issue which, so far, has not been handled in this way but has been 
overly politicized with a result that none of the critical issues in 
that area have been resolved and may not be resolved for some time to 
come.
  It is regrettable that the Internet tax bill was marked up in 
committee and voted on the floor at the behest of the leadership before 
a hearing was held. I am almost embarrassed to note that we only held 
our first hearing on the subject after that floor vote. Shooting first 
and asking questions later is no way to help foster a stable economic 
environment for the new economy.
  By very complete contrast, the development of this legislation has 
been a model of cooperation and bipartisanship. Majority and minority 
staff worked with the States, with local governments, and with industry 
to perfect the bill introduced by the gentleman from Illinois (Chairman 
Hyde), the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Chairman Gekas), the gentleman 
from Michigan (Mr. Conyers), and myself.
  I support this legislation, and I commend all of those who came 
together to make it a product that will be a credit to this Congress. I 
hope that the cooperation, common sense, and consensus which has shaped 
this legislation will have a positive influence on the Internet tax 
issue as we deal with that in the future.
  Regardless, this is a good and a worthy bill. It has the support of 
State and local government as well as of the industry. It has been 
introduced by the bipartisan leadership of the Committee on the 
Judiciary and of the subcommittee, and I urge my colleagues to support 
it.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. HYDE. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to lend my support to this 
eminently sensible piece of legislation. Due to the mobile nature of 
cellular telecommunications, traditional methods of assessing and 
collecting sales and use tax on them do not work well. Because the tax 
on a cellular telephone call now varies depending on where the customer 
was located when it was initiated, each individual call must be tracked 
and matched up with a taxing jurisdiction. This makes it difficult for 
the cellular service provider to calculate the tax, and difficult for 
the state and local governments to monitor compliance. It also causes a 
customer's state and local tax assessment to change from month to 
month, depending on where the customer has traveled.
  H.R. 4391 will provide customers with simpler billing for their 
wireless telephone calls, while preserving state and local authority to 
tax wireless services. It will reduce the chances that a wireless call 
might be taxed by more than one jurisdiction, and will simplify and 
reduce the costs of tax administration, both for the carrier and for 
the taxing authority. This should in turn lower the cost of wireless 
telecommunications services to the consumer.
  I want to congratulate the wireless telecommunications industry and 
state and local governments for having found a mutually agreeable 
solution to this problem. I know that they have worked long and hard on 
this project over at least the last two years.
  I also want to commend my colleague from Mississippi, Chip Pickering, 
for his leadership on this issue. Had it not been for his initiative in 
identifying this proposal as a worthy response to the growing 
complexities posed by taxing mobile telecommunications, we would not be 
here today. He has labored tirelessly--and successfully--to gain 
consensus on the bill and has worked closely with our committee to 
perfect the work which we have before us.
  Mr. GEKAS. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I 
yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, I have no requests for time, so I yield back 
the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Kuykendall). The question is on the 
motion offered by the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Gekas) that the 
House suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 4391, as amended.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds having voted in favor 
thereof) the rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
  The title of the bill was amended so as to read:

       ``A bill to amend title 4 of the United States Code to 
     establish sourcing requirements for State and local taxation 
     of mobile telecommunication services.''.

  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

                          ____________________