[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 2]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 2174]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




 IN SUPPORT OF H.R. 460, IMPROVING RURAL CALL QUALITY AND RELIABILITY 
                              ACT OF 2017

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. SHEILA JACKSON LEE

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                        Monday, February 6, 2017

  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
  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 that 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.

                          ____________________