[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 32 (Wednesday, February 27, 2008)]
[House]
[Page H1079]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            CELL PHONE BILL

  (Mr. SAM JOHNSON of Texas asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. SAM JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, picture a cell phone in 1989. 
Back then, cell phones were huge, the size of a suitcase, and air time 
cost a fortune.
  A law was put in place in 1989 to require that detailed log sheets be 
kept by employees of their cell phone use in order to document their 
business use. Those rules made sense back then.
  Fast forward to today. Clearly, time and technology have marched on 
and companies give their employees cell phones and BlackBerrys with 
unlimited minutes. And these communication devices are really just an 
extension of the business day and place to anywhere at any time.
  The IRS wants employees to keep detailed call sheets or be forced to 
include the value of cell phones and BlackBerrys in their pay. The law 
needs to be brought up to date with the fact that the office cell and 
BlackBerry is just an extension of the phone on an employee's desk. 
Employees and employers have better things to worry about than keeping 
detailed logs of calls only for tax purposes.
  It's time for the Congress to pass the Mobile Cell Phone Act, H.R. 
5450, and stop the IRS harassment.

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