II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 510 

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to provide for certain requirements relating to charges for internet, television, and voice services, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 14, 2019 

Mr. MARKEY (for himself, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Mr. CARDIN, 

Ms. WARREN, Mr. WYDEN, and Ms. SMITH) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, 

Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to provide for 

certain requirements relating to charges for internet, television, and voice services, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Truth-in-Billing, Rem5 edies, and User Empowerment over Fees Act of 2019’’ 

6 or the ‘‘TRUE Fees Act of 2019’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. REQUIREMENTS RELATING TO CHARGES FOR COV2 ERED SERVICES. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title VII of the Communications 

4 Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 601 et seq.) is amended by adding 

5 at the end the following: 

6 ‘‘SEC. 723. REQUIREMENTS RELATING TO CHARGES FOR 

7 COVERED SERVICES. 

8 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

9 ‘‘(1) ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE RESOLUTION.— 

10 The term ‘alternative dispute resolution’ has the 

11 meaning given the term in section 3 of the Y2K Act 

12 (15 U.S.C. 6602). 

13 ‘‘(2) COVERED DISPUTE.—The term ‘covered 

14 dispute’ means a dispute between a provider of a 

15 covered service and a consumer in which the con16 sumer alleges that— 

17 ‘‘(A) the amount charged by the provider 

18 for or relating to the provision of the covered 

19 service (including any related taxes, administra20 tive fees, equipment rental fees, or other 

21 charges)— 

22 ‘‘(i) was increased without notice 

23 being provided to the consumer as required 

24 by subsection (d)(1)(A)(i); or 

25 ‘‘(ii) during the period covered by any 

26 promotional rate or other discount that 


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1 was included in the price that the con2 sumer agreed to pay for or relating to the 

3 provision of the covered service, did not re4 flect the promotional rate or other dis5 count; or 

6 ‘‘(B) the provider billed the consumer— 

7 ‘‘(i) for the provision of a service or 

8 for any related taxes, administrative fees, 

9 or other charges to which the consumer did 

10 not subscribe during the period covered by 

11 the bill; or 

12 ‘‘(ii) for rental of equipment or for 

13 any related taxes, administrative fees, or 

14 other charges that the consumer did not 

15 rent during the period covered by the bill. 

16 ‘‘(3) COVERED SERVICE.—The term ‘covered 

17 service’— 

18 ‘‘(A) means— 

19 ‘‘(i) internet access service; 

20 ‘‘(ii) voice service, as defined in sec21 tion 227(e)(8); 

22 ‘‘(iii) commercial mobile service, as 

23 defined in section 332(d); 

24 ‘‘(iv) commercial mobile data service, 

25 as defined in section 6001 of the Middle 


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1 Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 

2 2012 (47 U.S.C. 1401); and 

3 ‘‘(v) service provided by a multi4 channel video programming distributor, as 

5 defined in section 602, to the extent the 

6 distributor is acting as a multichannel 

7 video programming distributor; and 

8 ‘‘(B) includes any other service offered or 

9 provided as part of a bundle or package with 

10 any service referred to in subparagraph (A). 

11 ‘‘(4) INTERNET ACCESS SERVICE.—The term 

12 ‘internet access service’— 

13 ‘‘(A) means a mass-market retail service 

14 by wire or radio that provides the capability to 

15 transmit data to and receive data from all or 

16 substantially all internet endpoints, including 

17 any capabilities that are incidental to and en18 able the operation of the communications serv19 ice; and 

20 ‘‘(B) includes any service that— 

21 ‘‘(i) the Commission finds to be pro22 viding a functional equivalent of the service 

23 described in subparagraph (A); or 

24 ‘‘(ii) is used to evade the protections 

25 set forth in this section. 


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1 ‘‘(b) TRANSPARENCY IN ADVERTISING.— 

2 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para3 graph (2), a provider of a covered service may not 

4 advertise the price of the covered service unless the 

5 advertised price is the total amount that the pro6 vider will charge for or relating to the provision of 

7 the covered service, including any related taxes, ad8 ministrative fees, equipment rental fees, or other 

9 charges, to a consumer who accepts the offer made 

10 in the advertisement. 

11 ‘‘(2) EXCEPTION.—Paragraph (1) does not re12 quire a provider of a covered service to include in 

13 the advertised price of the covered service any tax, 

14 fee, or other charge that— 

15 ‘‘(A) the provider is required to charge 

16 under any provision of Federal law or of the 

17 law of a State or political subdivision of a 

18 State; and 

19 ‘‘(B) is not uniform throughout the United 

20 States. 

21 ‘‘(c) TRANSPARENCY IN E-BILLING.—A provider of a 

22 covered service may not provide a bill to a consumer in 

23 an electronic format unless the provider— 

24 ‘‘(1) provides the bill, or a notification that the 

25 bill is available, by email or a functional equivalent 


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1 of email that permits the consumer to view the bill 

2 or notification without having to access an online ac3 count or the functional equivalent of an online ac4 count or to take any similar additional steps; and 

5 ‘‘(2) includes in the bill or notification provided 

6 in accordance with paragraph (1) an itemized state7 ment that breaks down the total amount charged for 

8 or relating to the provision of the covered service by 

9 the amount charged for the provision of the covered 

10 service itself and the amount of any related taxes, 

11 administrative fees, equipment rental fees, or other 

12 charges, in the same level of detail as would be pro13 vided in a paper bill. 

14 ‘‘(d) REQUIREMENTS FOR INCREASES IN

15 CHARGES.— 

16 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para17 graph (2), in the case of a provider of a covered 

18 service that enters into a contract with a consumer 

19 for the provision of the covered service— 

20 ‘‘(A) if the provider increases the total 

21 amount charged for or relating to the provision 

22 of the covered service under the contract, re23 gardless of the amount of the increase or 

24 whether the increase is in the amount charged 

25 for the provision of the covered service itself or 


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1 in any related taxes, administrative fees, equip2 ment rental fees, or other charges, the provider 

3 shall— 

4 ‘‘(i) provide the consumer with clear 

5 notice of the increase not later than 21 

6 days before the increase takes effect, in the 

7 same manner in which the provider pro8 vides to the consumer a notification that 

9 the consumer’s bill is available or, if no 

10 separate notification is provided, in the 

11 same manner as the provider provides the 

12 consumer’s bill to the consumer; and 

13 ‘‘(ii) permit the consumer to termi14 nate the contract without paying any early 

15 termination fee or other penalty; and 

16 ‘‘(B) the provider may not increase any fee 

17 or other charge for equipment rental unless the 

18 equipment is upgraded, whether through a 

19 hardware or software upgrade, so as to provide 

20 a substantial increase in functionality. 

21 ‘‘(2) EXCEPTION FOR ADDITIONAL OR UP22 GRADED SERVICE REQUESTED BY CONSUMER.— 

23 Paragraph (1)(A) does not apply with respect to an 

24 increase resulting from the provision, at the request 


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1 of the consumer, of a service that is in addition to, 

2 or an upgrade of, a service covered by the contract. 

3 ‘‘(e) PROHIBITION ON COMPULSORY ALTERNATIVE

4 DISPUTE RESOLUTION.— 

5 ‘‘(1) PROHIBITION ON CONTRACTUAL PROVI6 SION.—A provider of a covered service may not in7 clude in a contract with a consumer for the provision 

8 of the covered service a provision that requires the 

9 consumer to resolve a covered dispute with the pro10 vider through alternative dispute resolution. 

11 ‘‘(2) UNENFORCEABILITY OF CONTRACTUAL

12 PROVISION.—Any alternative dispute resolution pro13 vision included in a contract in violation of para14 graph (1) shall be void and unenforceable.’’. 

15 (b) TRANSITIONAL RULE RELATING TO DEFINITION

16 OF VOICE SERVICE.—Subsection (e)(3)(A)(ii) of section 

17 723 of the Communications Act of 1934, as added by sub18 section (a) of this section, shall apply before the effective 

19 date of the amendment made to subsection (e)(8) of sec20 tion 227 of such Act (47 U.S.C. 227) by section 

21 503(a)(2)(C) of division P of the Consolidated Appropria22 tions Act, 2018 (Public Law 115–141) as if such amend23 ment was already in effect. 

24 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Section 723 of the Commu25 nications Act of 1934, as added by subsection (a) of this 


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1 section, shall apply beginning on the date that is 180 days 

2 after the date of enactment of this Act, except that sub3 sections (d) and (e) of such section 723 shall not apply 

4 with respect to a contract entered into, and as in effect, 

5 before the date that is 180 days after the date of enact6 ment of this Act. 

Æ 


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