[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 12 (Monday, January 23, 2017)]
[House]
[Pages H583-H586]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
IMPROVING RURAL CALL QUALITY AND RELIABILITY ACT OF 2017
Mr. LANCE. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill
(H.R. 460) to amend the Communications Act of 1934 to ensure the
integrity of voice communications and to prevent unjust or unreasonable
discrimination among areas of the United States in the delivery of such
communications.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:
H.R. 460
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 ``Improving Rural Call Quality
and Reliability Act of 2017''.
[[Page H584]]
SEC. 2. ENSURING THE INTEGRITY OF VOICE COMMUNICATIONS.
Part II of title II of the Communications Act of 1934 (47
U.S.C. 251 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the
following:
``SEC. 262. ENSURING THE INTEGRITY OF VOICE COMMUNICATIONS.
``(a) Registration and Compliance by Intermediate
Providers.--An intermediate provider that offers or holds
itself out as offering the capability to transmit covered
voice communications from one destination to another and that
charges any rate to any other entity (including an affiliated
entity) for the transmission shall--
``(1) register with the Commission; and
``(2) comply with the service quality standards for such
transmission to be established by the Commission under
subsection (c)(1)(B).
``(b) Required Use of Registered Intermediate Providers.--A
covered provider may not use an intermediate provider to
transmit covered voice communications unless such
intermediate provider is registered under subsection (a)(1).
``(c) Commission Rules.--
``(1) In general.--
``(A) Registry.--Not later than 180 days after the date of
enactment of this section, the Commission shall promulgate
rules to establish a registry to record registrations under
subsection (a)(1).
``(B) Service quality standards.--Not later than 1 year
after the date of enactment of this section, the Commission
shall promulgate rules to establish service quality standards
for the transmission of covered voice communications by
intermediate providers.
``(2) Requirements.--In promulgating the rules required by
paragraph (1), the Commission shall--
``(A) ensure the integrity of the transmission of covered
voice communications to all customers in the United States;
and
``(B) prevent unjust or unreasonable discrimination among
areas of the United States in the delivery of covered voice
communications.
``(d) Public Availability of Registry.--The Commission
shall make the registry established under subsection
(c)(1)(A) publicly available on the website of the
Commission.
``(e) Scope of Application.--The requirements of this
section shall apply regardless of the format by which any
communication or service is provided, the protocol or format
by which the transmission of such communication or service is
achieved, or the regulatory classification of such
communication or service.
``(f) Rule of Construction.--Nothing in this section shall
be construed to affect the regulatory classification of any
communication or service.
``(g) Effect on Other Laws.--Nothing in this section shall
be construed to preempt or expand the authority of a State
public utility commission or other relevant State agency to
collect data, or investigate and enforce State law and
regulations, regarding the completion of intrastate voice
communications, regardless of the format by which any
communication or service is provided, the protocol or format
by which the transmission of such communication or service is
achieved, or the regulatory classification of such
communication or service.
``(h) Exception.--The requirement under subsection (a)(2)
to comply with the service quality standards established
under subsection (c)(1)(B) shall not apply to a covered
provider that--
``(1) on or before the date that is 1 year after the date
of enactment of this section, has certified as a Safe Harbor
provider under section 64.2107(a) of title 47, Code of
Federal Regulations, or any successor regulation; and
``(2) continues to meet the requirements under such section
64.2107(a).
``(i) Definitions.--In this section:
``(1) Covered provider.--The term `covered provider' has
the meaning given the term in section 64.2101 of title 47,
Code of Federal Regulations, or any successor thereto.
``(2) Covered voice communication.--The term `covered voice
communication' means a voice communication (including any
related signaling information) that is generated--
``(A) from the placement of a call from a connection using
a North American Numbering Plan resource or a call placed to
a connection using such a numbering resource; and
``(B) through any service provided by a covered provider.
``(3) Intermediate provider.--The term `intermediate
provider' means any entity that--
``(A) enters into a business arrangement with a covered
provider or other intermediate provider for the specific
purpose of carrying, routing, or transmitting voice traffic
that is generated from the placement of a call placed--
``(i) from an end user connection using a North American
Numbering Plan resource; or
``(ii) to an end user connection using such a numbering
resource; and
``(B) does not itself, either directly or in conjunction
with an affiliate, serve as a covered provider in the context
of originating or terminating a given call.''.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from New
Jersey (Mr. Lance) and the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Michael F.
Doyle) each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from New Jersey.
General Leave
Mr. LANCE. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may
have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and
insert extraneous materials in the Record on the bill.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from New Jersey?
There was no objection.
Mr. LANCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 460, the Improving Rural
Call Quality and Reliability Act, a bill that earned unanimous support
in the last Congress.
Consumers expect to be able to pick up the telephone and be connected
with businesses, friends, and loved ones across the country. In today's
connected world, that should not be a tall request. Unfortunately, for
many constituents across the country, particularly in rural areas, call
quality and reliability are just not up to par compared to their urban
counterparts.
This is due, partly, because of the call routing process where long
distance and wireless providers use so-called least cost routers. These
inexpensive third-party intermediate providers try to complete calls
for the lowest possible price, without taking measures to ensure the
call actually goes through.
I am sure that most of us have experienced the annoyance of at least
one failed or dropped call. You make a call to someone and it rings
over and over again but no one, not even the voicemail, picks up. Or,
maybe you place a call, only to hear a prerecorded message telling you
that the number you dialed is not in service, even though you know you
have the right number. Even in cases where you are able to connect, the
sound might be distorted or delayed.
For many constituents, this is more than just an annoyance. These
missed connections have significant consequences.
Folks rely on the networks for more than just staying in touch with
loved ones. Our constituents count on reliable networks to run their
businesses and receive messages from our community institutions. A
failed call can mean a lost sale for a small rural business. Another
failed call might mean that a message from your child's school or your
medical provider goes undelivered. These are real and harmful impacts.
This bill will address this situation through commonsense improvements.
For the most part, consumers are unaware of these intermediate
providers, which has allowed them to be held unaccountable. H.R. 460
takes measured steps to bring these intermediate providers out from the
shadows and into the light so that we can hold them accountable to the
consuming public.
First, the bill requires intermediate providers to register with the
FCC, and it prohibits carriers from using any nonregistered provider.
The bill also requires the FCC to establish a database and publish the
list of registered providers on its Web site. Finally, the bill
requires the FCC to establish quality standards for these intermediate
providers, which will raise the bar for all of the providers who
provide call routing services.
These straightforward measures are another step in our effort, on a
bipartisan basis, to mitigate call completion and quality issues for
the consuming public. This bill will build upon the work the FCC has
done in recent years.
Our constituents in rural areas face significant challenges compared
to their urban counterparts, but subpar call quality should not be one
of them. By raising the bar, which this bill does, we will hold the bad
actors to higher standards and allow consumers to benefit from the
improved integrity of our networks.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself
such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I also rise to support H.R. 460, Improving Rural Call
Quality and Reliability Act, the bipartisan bill introduced by
Representative David Young and cosponsored by a number of
[[Page H585]]
other Members, including Representatives Welch and Loebsack from the
Energy and Commerce Committee.
We deal with a lot of high-tech and complicated issues on the Energy
and Commerce Committee, but this bill aims to address the most basic
function for a telephone system: making sure all Americans' phone calls
go through.
Many people take our modern communications tools for granted, but, in
rural America, even the basic function of connecting a call is
sometimes difficult. Consumers have been reporting to the FCC that
calls in rural areas result in false busy signals, calls not arriving,
or long pauses after dialing a number.
This isn't just an important problem for rural Americans but also for
people in all of our districts who want to reach loved ones across the
country and can't. This state of affairs is simply not acceptable. We
need reliable telephone service to keep us connected.
Problems with call completion are often related to intermediate
providers--the middlemen hired to route calls. This bill requires
intermediate providers to register with the FCC and comply with service
quality standards.
These commonsense steps should make it easier to figure out when
providers are cutting corners or not doing their jobs. Ultimately, the
bill puts consumers first by helping to make sure that we can stay
connected to one another.
H.R. 460 is a bipartisan bill that passed on suspension last
Congress, and I urge my colleagues to support it today.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. LANCE. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to reclaim the
balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from New Jersey?
There was no objection.
Mr. LANCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Iowa
(Mr. Young), the distinguished sponsor of the legislation.
Mr. YOUNG of Iowa. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 460, the
bipartisan Improving Rural Call Quality and Reliability Act,
legislation I introduced with my colleague from Vermont, Congressman
Welch.
This bill helps fix the significant problems rural Iowans and other
rural Americans face from dropped and poor quality calls. Reliable
communication is critical for our constituents to live their lives, for
our businesses to succeed, and for our communities to thrive. Yet, in
rural States and areas across America, phone calls are not getting
through or the connection and quality are poor.
Telephone companies often rely on intermediate providers, who are
paid to route calls from larger networks to local service providers.
Much of the time, this is to mixed results.
There simply is no excuse for these intermediate providers to not
fulfill their contracts and leave our rural constituents with
unreliable communication service. Dropped, looped, or poor quality
calls hurt rural America's quality of life, impacting our small
businesses, farmers, consumers, and our families who are in need of
emergency assistance and public services. It also gives unfair blame to
our essential local service providers when they are not the problem,
they are the solution.
A family in rural America should not be disadvantaged because of
where they live. Iowa businesses should have the same communication
access to conduct daily businesses as those in urban areas.
Improving rural call completion rates and quality are important to
ensuring the survival of small towns and granting Americans the choice
to live and thrive in whatever community is best for them and their
family, rural, urban, or anywhere in between.
Our bill will help address this problem by requiring providers to
register with the FCC in order to meet quality standards and ensure
reliable phone service in rural areas. It also prohibits providers from
using intermediary routing services not registered with the FCC.
I want to personally thank Chairman Blackburn and Ranking Member
Pallone for their attention to this important issue, as well as my
partner in this, Congressman Welch, for the opportunity to get this
bill passed. This bill did pass the House in the 114th Congress, and I
am hopeful we can get the partnership we need from the Senate to get
this to the finish line. Rural Americans deserve it.
Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time
as he may consume to the gentleman from Vermont (Mr. Welch), a
distinguished colleague on the Energy and Commerce Committee.
Mr. WELCH. Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Young for being a great partner
in the presentation of this bill. Many of us worked together on rural
telecommunications issues, from getting broadband to all Vermonters and
folks in rural parts of your districts to improving our wireless
infrastructure to ensuring we have adequate choice and competition in
cable markets. That is because it is our desire, and mine especially,
to ensure that rural America has comparable telecom services to urban
and suburban America, just as the 1996 Telecommunications Act requires.
Making that happen requires constant effort and focus.
We often focus on rural broadband accessibility and affordability so
that the next generation of technological innovation does not skip
rural America and leave it behind. The promise of innovation, like the
Internet of things, should not be earmarked just for urban and suburban
America, which is why it is backwards and unfortunate that we are still
talking about finding ways to ensure that traditional landline
telephone calls can be completed without interruption on a consistent
basis, but that is exactly what this bill that I worked on with
Representative Young is getting at.
Our bill would require the FCC, the Federal Communications
Commission, to establish rules that require third-party providers--or
least cost routers, as they are called, which is the problem in the
call chain--to register their companies, for the first time, with the
FCC and, therefore, have to comply with FCC service quality
regulations, just like other companies.
This legislation would make it easier for the FCC to hold accountable
third-party providers. The FCC will finally know who they are and make
them comply with those quality standards.
This is really important in rural areas because we have got companies
that do business with urban America. In Vermont, Dakin Farm had rural
call completion problems during their busiest times in 2012. That was
the Thanksgiving to Christmas holiday period.
It really hurt their bottom line. It put them at a competitive
disadvantage. When people call in and the call is dropped, they think
it is bad service from Dakin Farm or the company that they are calling,
when it is not. Those folks have to then deal with the reputational
harm that is caused.
It is important in rural school districts like Camels Hump in Vermont
that rely on these calls when there is a snowstorm or ice storm--and
there is one coming tonight--to check whether, in fact, they have got
to get their kids to school or not. So it is a big deal when they need
it.
I appreciate, by the way, the work that Representative Young has done
on this. I look forward to this bill passing both Chambers and being
signed into law so we can, hopefully, make rural call completion issues
a thing of the past.
{time} 1715
Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I have no other
speakers.
I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. LANCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 460, the
``Improving Rural Call Quality and Reliability Act of 2017'', which
amends the Communications Act of 1934 to require voice communications
that charge users to register with the FCC, and comply with service
quality standards to be established by the FCC.
The bill, should it become law, prohibits long-distance providers
from using an internet provider to transmit voice communications and
signals unless the intermediate provider is registered.
H.R. 460 would require the FCC to:
1. Ensure the integrity of voice communications to all customers in
the United States,
2. Prevent unjust or unreasonable discrimination across areas of the
United States in the delivery of voice communications; and
[[Page H586]]
3. Make a registry of intermediate providers publicly available on
the FCC website.
H.R. 460, the Improving Rural Call Quality and Reliability Act of
2016, would seek to ensure that calls to Americans living in the rural
areas of our country actually make it through to the intended receiver.
Making sure a call goes through, regardless of where it is being
made, is fundamental to our communications system.
H.R. 460 would require the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to
establish basic quality standards for providers that transmit voice
calls to consumers, among other things.
The Senate Commerce Committee adopted an amendment in the nature of a
substitute (AINS) that made the following changes:
1. Extends deadlines for service quality standards for intermediate
providers from 180 days to one year,
2. Exempts intermediate providers that have been certified as a safe
harbor provider; and
3. Amends the definition of intermediate provider.
I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting H.R. 460, the
``Improving Rural Call Quality and Reliability Act of 2017.''
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Lance) that the House suspend the rules
and pass the bill, H.R. 460.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the
rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
____________________