[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 126 (Monday, July 19, 2021)]
[House]
[Pages H3647-H3650]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
PRESERVING HOME AND OFFICE NUMBERS IN EMERGENCIES ACT OF 2021
Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the
bill (H.R. 678) to amend the Communications Act of 1934 to provide for
a moratorium on number reassignment after a disaster declaration, and
for other purposes.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:
H.R. 678
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 ``Preserving Home and Office
Numbers in Emergencies Act of 2021'' or the ``PHONE Act of
2021''.
SEC. 2. MORATORIUM ON NUMBER REASSIGNMENT AFTER DISASTER
DECLARATION.
(a) In General.--Section 251(e) of the Communications Act
of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 251(e)) is amended by adding at the end
the following:
``(5) Moratorium on number reassignment after disaster
declaration.--
``(A) In general.--In the case of a number assigned to a
subscriber for the provision of fixed wireline voice service
at a location in a designated area during a covered period--
``(i) the number may not be reassigned, except at the
request of the subscriber; and
``(ii) the assignment of the number may not be rescinded or
otherwise modified, except at the request of the subscriber.
``(B) Extension at request of subscriber.--During the
covered period, at the request of a subscriber described in
subparagraph (A), the prohibition in subparagraph (A) shall
be extended for the number for 1 year after the date on which
the covered period expires.
``(C) Subscriber right to cancel and resubscribe.--
``(i) In general.--In the case of a number described under
subparagraph (A) or (B), if the subscriber assigned to such
number demonstrates to the provider of the service (or, under
subclause (II), any other provider of fixed wireline voice
service that serves the local area) that the residence where
the number is located is inaccessible or uninhabitable--
``(I) the provider may not charge the subscriber an early
termination or other fee in connection with the cancellation
of such service, if cancelled during the covered period or
the extension of the period described in subparagraph (B);
and
``(II) if the subscriber cancels the service during the
covered period or the extension of the period described in
subparagraph (B), the provider (or any other provider of
fixed wireline voice service that serves the local area)--
``(aa) shall permit the subscriber to subscribe or
resubscribe, as the case may be, to fixed wireline voice
service with the number at the residence or at a different
residence (if such number is available in the location of
such different residence); and
``(bb) may not charge the subscriber a connection fee or
any other fee relating to the initiation of fixed wireline
voice service.
``(ii) Cancellation without demonstration of
inaccessibility or uninhabitability.--If a subscriber cancels
the provision of service assigned to a number described in
subparagraph (A) or (B) and does not demonstrate to the
provider of such service that the residence where the number
is located is inaccessible or uninhabitable as described
under clause (i), the number is no longer subject to the
prohibition under subparagraph (A) or (B).
``(D) Identification on commission website.--The Commission
shall publicly identify on the website of the Commission
[[Page H3648]]
each designated area that is in a covered period, not later
than 15 days after the submission of a public designation by
a State under subparagraph (E)(iii) with respect to such
area. In identifying a designated area under subparagraph
(E)(iii), a State shall consult with providers of fixed
wireline voice service that serve such area and coordinate
with the Federal Emergency Management Agency to reasonably
limit the designated area to areas that have sustained
covered damage.
``(E) Definitions.--In this paragraph:
``(i) Covered damage.--The term `covered damage' means,
with respect to an area--
``(I) damage that renders residences in such area
inaccessible or uninhabitable; or
``(II) damage that otherwise results in the displacement of
subscribers from or within such area.
``(ii) Covered period.--The term `covered period' means a
period that--
``(I) begins on the date of a declaration by the President
of a major disaster under section 401 of the Robert T.
Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42
U.S.C. 5170) with respect to a designated area; and
``(II) ends on the date that is 1 year after such date.
``(iii) Designated area.--The term `designated area' means
a geographic area for which a State has submitted a public
designation to the Commission, within 15 days after a
declaration by the President of a major disaster under
section 401 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and
Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5170) with respect to
such area, stipulating that the State has determined that--
``(I) covered damage was sustained in such area; and
``(II) the prohibitions described in this paragraph are
necessary and in the public interest.
``(iv) Voice service.--The term `voice service' has the
meaning given the term `voice service' in section
227(e)(8).''.
(b) Amendment of FCC Rules Required.--Not later than 180
days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Federal
Communications Commission shall amend its rules to reflect
the requirements of paragraph (5) of section 251(e) of the
Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 251(e)), as added by
subsection (a).
(c) Applicability.--Paragraph (5) of section 251(e) of the
Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 251(e)), as added by
subsection (a), shall apply with respect to a major disaster
declared by the President under section 401 of the Robert T.
Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42
U.S.C. 5170) after the date that is 180 days after the date
on which the Commission announces that the Commission is
capable of publicly identifying a designated area on the
website of the Commission under subparagraph (D) of such
paragraph (5).
(d) Order of Amendment Execution.--If this Act is enacted
before October 17, 2021, section 3(a) of the National Suicide
Hotline Designation Act of 2020 (Public Law 116-172) is
amended, effective on the date of the enactment of this Act,
by striking ``adding at the end'' and inserting ``inserting
after paragraph (3)'', so that the paragraph (4) that is to
be added by such section to section 251(e) of the
Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 251(e)) appears after
paragraph (3) of such section 251(e) and before the paragraph
(5) added to such section 251(e) by subsection (a) of this
section.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from New
Jersey (Mr. Pallone) and the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Latta) each will
control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from New Jersey.
General Leave
Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members
have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and
to include any extraneous material on H.R. 678.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from New Jersey?
There was no objection.
Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 678, the Preserving
Home and Office Numbers in Emergencies Act or the PHONE Act.
The PHONE Act is a bill that Representative Mike Thompson was
inspired to write because of stories he heard at home in his district
in the aftermath of devastating wildfires in northern California. After
being evacuated by the Atlas and Tubbs fires a few years ago,
Representative Thompson's constituents returned to their homes
determined to rebuild what was lost; however, when it came time to hook
up their telephone service again, they were rightly outraged to
discover that the phone company had rescinded their phone numbers and,
in most cases, reassigned them to different subscribers.
Nobody should have to worry about losing a phone number they have had
for years because their home or their small business was left
uninhabitable by a natural disaster like a wildfire or a hurricane.
This legislation makes sure that that doesn't happen again.
The PHONE Act prohibits providers from reassigning phone numbers of
subscribers within an area subject to a major disaster declaration.
Specifically, if the President has issued a major disaster declaration
and a Governor has designated the area to the FCC, the phone numbers in
that designated area cannot be reassigned for 1 year. And then, if a
subscriber needs more time, this bill allows them to get a year-long
extension.
The legislation would also allow consumers whose homes are
inaccessible or uninhabitable to cancel their service without a
cancellation fee or resubscription fee when they get phone service
somewhere else in the area during that covered period.
What we are doing here, Mr. Speaker, ultimately is ensuring some
stability for people who have lost their homes or businesses after a
major disaster hits their community. This is one less thing that a
resident or a small business will have to worry about as they work to
pick up the pieces. In the age of robocalls, our phone numbers are how
our friends and family know exactly who is trying to reach them when we
call, and that is why this legislation is necessary.
When disaster strikes, our constituents should know they won't lose
their numbers; especially the seniors and the small businesses who rely
on landline telephones more than others.
Mr. Speaker, I want to thank Representative Thompson for his tireless
leadership on this issue, as well as my Republican colleagues, for
working with us to improve the bill before it passed the House last
Congress. This is a really good bill, the same bill we passed and sent
to the Senate last fall.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this commonsense
legislation. I hope our colleagues in the Senate will finally take up
the PHONE Act, and I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. LATTA. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak on H.R. 678, the PHONE Act. This
legislation will ensure that Americans whose homes are lost during a
fire or other natural disaster do not have to worry about losing their
home phone numbers.
As we have seen from the horrific fires over the last several years,
they destroy everything in their path. No matter how resilient a home
or communications tower may be, you cannot regulate your way out of a
fire's burning path.
Today, when a natural disaster strikes, the Federal Emergency
Management Agency, FEMA, is activated to provide housing assistance and
other resources to respond to the crisis at hand. If your home is
completely burned to the ground, the last thing that you should have to
worry about is if your home phone number will be available when you
return.
Thankfully, the Federal Communications Commission, FCC, can prevent
that from happening. The FCC can waive rules and regulations that
require landline phone numbers to return to the pool of available
numbers when a home is completely destroyed by a natural disaster. This
bill codifies that process, but we still must be cautious. This type of
relief should only apply to areas where significant physical damage has
occurred to render a home uninhabitable, as is the objective of the
bill.
It is FEMA's role to determine which households have actually
sustained damage in an affected county, which this bill does not
codify, and we hope can be addressed as it moves through the process.
As the experts on the ground, we should defer to their assessment
before these regulations go into effect.
While it may be easy to grab a cell phone upon evacuating, landlines
cannot be brought on the go. For many people, especially our seniors,
they rely on their landline phone number to stay connected to family,
their doctor, and others during such a trying time in their life.
During a traumatic event, one less thing they should not have to worry
about is losing their home phone number.
I ask for support of this measure moving forward, and I reserve the
balance of my time.
Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the
[[Page H3649]]
gentleman from California (Mr. McNerney).
Mr. McNERNEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 678, the
PHONE Act. As we stand here today, wildfires are raging across the
West, including in my home of northern California.
Last year, California witnessed a devastating and terrible fire
season. We saw some of the largest fires in the State's history and a
record-breaking 4.4 million acres burned. Nearly every part of the
State was blanketed by fire and smoke, and we really haven't gotten
much of a break. The number of wildfires and the amount of land burned
in our State so far this year greatly exceeds the totals for the same
period last year.
Climate change is resulting in longer and more extreme wildfire
seasons, and this is expected to continue. Worrying about deadly fires
spreading quickly is the new norm that my constituents are now living
in. And worrying about whether they will have to evacuate their homes
is also part of this new norm.
Because of this legislation that we are considering today, the PHONE
Act, which I am proud to cosponsor, my constituents, Californians, and
Americans all across the country who are impacted all too frequently
now by natural disasters due to climate change, will have to worry
about one less thing when they are forced to evacuate their homes, and
that is their ability to keep their phone numbers.
Under this legislation, communications providers will be prohibited
from reassigning phone numbers of customers in areas covered by a major
disaster declaration for the duration of the declaration, and this may
be extended. The bill would also prohibit providers from assessing
early termination fees to cancel services or connection fees to
resubscribe to a new address for subscribers whose residence is
inaccessible or uninhabitable due to major disaster.
There is so much that wildfire victims already have to worry about.
We must move quickly to ensure the PHONE Act is signed into law so
there is one less item on their plate. It is hard enough to pick up the
pieces after a disaster. Let's not add insult to injury.
Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my good friend, Representative Mike
Thompson, for his work on this legislation.
Mr. LATTA. Mr. Speaker, I am prepared to close. I support H.R. 678
moving forward, and I yield back the balance of my time.
{time} 1515
Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
Before we conclude this series of bills under the jurisdiction of the
Energy and Commerce Committee, I want to say that this is a bittersweet
day for me. After 25 years of outstanding service, Jeff Carroll, who is
sitting behind me here, who has been my longtime chief of staff and is
now the staff director of the committee, will be leaving the House at
the beginning of August, in just another 10 days or so.
It would be an understatement to say that Jeff has been my most
trusted adviser for almost my entire time in Congress. He is known to
Members and staff on both sides of the aisle for his candor, political
savvy, and commitment to the little guy.
He has never forgotten his roots back in New Jersey. That, again,
would be an understatement. Many of you know that he is a diehard fan
of Bruce Springsteen, but also the Mets, the Giants, and the vaunted
pork roll. He is a Jersey guy through and through. I don't think
anybody would argue with that.
He joined my staff as an executive assistant in 1997 after graduating
from George Washington University. I won't tell you how many people
from GW he has hired in the office and on the committee. Before that,
he briefly served as a staff assistant to New Jersey's then-Senator,
Robert Torricelli.
Shortly after joining my staff, Jeff took on the added responsibility
of serving as my legislative aide on both labor and defense issues. It
was here that he began his longtime work of protecting New Jersey
military installations from closure.
He was my defense staffer on 9/11 and during the debate on the
Authorization for Use of Military Force against Iraq. I valued his
counsel at the time, and my vote against that authorization and the
invasion into Iraq remains one of my most proud moments as a Member of
the House. But I have to tell you, without Jeff, it might not have
turned out that way.
Within 6 years, he became my chief of staff, serving with distinction
the people of New Jersey's Sixth Congressional District for 12 years.
Without a doubt, the largest crisis that we confronted during his
time as my chief of staff was Superstorm Sandy in 2012. My
congressional district is along the coast of north Jersey, and was one
of the hardest hit districts in the country by Sandy. For more than a
year, Jeff led my team in response and recovery, literally being out
there. Both in New Jersey and here, they worked around the clock,
helping families and small businesses pick up the pieces.
Jeff also fought relentlessly, along with me and others in New Jersey
and New York, to make sure we received the Federal assistance that our
States needed and deserved.
In 2015, when I was elected the ranking member of the Energy and
Commerce Committee--and that was certainly in large part because of
Jeff--he became the Democratic staff director. Then, 4 years later,
when I became the chairman of the committee, Jeff became the committee
staff director.
As staff director of the committee, Jeff has led the committee staff
in all the committee's accomplishments over the last 6 years. I am
going to list some of them, but I have to tell you, it is an incredible
list of accomplishments through Jeff's efforts, including, of course,
the latest, the COVID-19 pandemic and the severe economic downturn.
Jeff helped shepherd four bills through the House to help combat the
coronavirus that became law. These laws ensured Congress provided the
tools and resources needed to bring an end to this terrible pandemic
while also providing relief to struggling American families.
Besides responding to the pandemic, Jeff was instrumental in our
efforts, and I want to list some of the very important bills: to end
surprise medical bills; to reduce and block robocalls; to phase down
the production and consumption of hydrofluorocarbons and mandate the
repair of methane leaks; to protect Americans from suspected foreign
communications network equipment; to reauthorize the Safe Drinking
Water Act for the first time in 20 years; to expand treatment for
people fighting opioid use disorder; to invest in new medical
treatments and cures for some of the most debilitating and life-
threatening diseases; to modernize the Toxic Substances Control Act,
which took about 14 years, to better protect public health and the
environment; and to extend critical funding for programs that improve
the health and welfare of millions of children, families, and seniors
across the country. That is not an exaggeration, Jeff's role in all of
that.
He has been by my side through my greatest trials and achievements in
office. My congressional office, the Energy and Commerce Committee, the
Congress, and the Nation have benefited enormously from Jeff's
commitment to achieving meaningful progress for the American people.
It means time away from his family. There have been a lot of long
nights, late-night phone calls, which I am known for, and weekends
spent working to move forward.
I don't know what to say other than to acknowledge the unwavering
support that Jeff has received from his wife, Shannon; his daughter,
Lizzie; and his son, Ryan. I thank them for sharing Jeff with all of us
for all these years.
I know I am going to be talking to Jeff and getting advice from Jeff,
but when I say bittersweet, I really mean it. I don't know how we are
going to do without him, but I guess we have to continue. That is the
way it goes.
Mr. Speaker, I want to conclude by saying that the American people
have benefited from Jeff Carroll's 25 years of public service. I am
going to miss him tremendously, and I wish him nothing but the best in
his future pursuits.
Mr. LATTA. Will the gentleman yield?
Mr. PALLONE. I yield to the gentleman from Ohio.
[[Page H3650]]
Mr. LATTA. Mr. Speaker, I want to congratulate Jeff on his future
endeavors.
Our staffs do so much for us. As the chairman was speaking, I was
thinking that the hours that they put in aren't ever recognized,
including the work over the weekends. I know when I have talked to our
committee staff, especially when we have worked on pieces of
legislation the last several Congresses, with the amount of work that
goes into it, we have to thank our staff.
For all his years of service here and for his future endeavors, I
give him my best wishes.
Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. THOMPSON of California. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of
my bill, the PHONE Act of 2021.
My district has been ravaged by wildfire every year since 2017.
Thousands of homes have burned, and many families have been displaced.
Following these fires, survivors called my office and told me they were
losing their landline numbers because their phones had been
disconnected for too long after their houses were destroyed.
Fire survivors face so many hurdles on the road to recovery. Losing
their phone number is the last thing they should worry about. That's
why I introduced the PHONE Act with Representative Newhouse. This
bipartisan legislation allows disaster survivors to keep their phone
numbers and have some peace of mind while they rebuild.
I thank Chairwoman Eshoo and the Committee for their attention to
this important issue and I urge a yes vote on the PHONE Act.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pallone) that the House suspend the
rules and pass the bill, H.R. 678.
The question was taken.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
Mrs. MILLER of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and
nays.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to section 3(s) of House Resolution
8, the yeas and nays are ordered.
Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, further proceedings on this motion
are postponed.
____________________