I 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 3788 

To ensure that State and local E911 fees, taxes, and surcharges are imposed 

in a fair and equitable manner with respect to prepaid mobile services. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 18, 2012 

Mr. DAVIS of Illinois introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee 

on the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the 

Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within 

the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To ensure that State and local E911 fees, taxes, and surcharges are imposed in a fair and equitable manner 

with respect to prepaid mobile services. 

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 ‘‘E911 Surcharge Fair5 ness Act of 2011’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) Wireless E911 was established by Congress 

2 to provide for vital emergency communications sys3 tems for the benefit of end-users of mobile services 

4 and the public, and funding methods and surcharges 

5 are intended to be the responsibility of end-users 

6 and fair, equitable, and competitively neutral among 

7 all wireless providers and sellers of wireless service. 

8 (2) Wireless services have traditionally been of9 fered on a monthly billed or postpaid basis, but in 

10 recent years the offering of wireless services on a 

11 ‘‘pay as you go’’ or prepaid basis, has grown to be 

12 a significant share of the wireless marketplace and 

13 this trend is continuing. 

14 (3) Wireless E911 has been typically funded in 

15 the postpaid model by a uniform monthly surcharge 

16 on customer bills, but prepaid mobile services are 

17 purchased by customers at retail on a ‘‘pay-as-you18 go’’ basis, and there are no bills. 

19 (4) States have not adopted an effective uni20 form approach to collecting E911 surcharges from 

21 retail ‘‘pay-as-you-go’’ customers of mobile services, 

22 as has existed with postpaid mobile services, and so23 lutions have ranged from imposing and collecting no 

24 surcharges from prepaid customers, to shifting the 

25 burden to pay the surcharge to providers and sellers 


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1 of prepaid mobile services. The latter solution has 

2 resulted in unfair and inequitable treatment of the 

3 prepaid mobile service business model and reduced 

4 funding for E911. 

5 (5) Virtually all States require postpaid mobile 

6 service providers to simply put the State’s E911 

7 charge on their monthly bills, and such providers are 

8 statutorily exonerated from any failure to collect the 

9 E911 charge from such customers. Those same 

10 States require prepaid service providers and sellers 

11 to serve as a financial guarantor of collection from 

12 all prepaid mobile service customers, notwith13 standing the fact that there is no feasible method of 

14 collection for such providers and sellers for most 

15 customers. 

16 (6) There needs to be a uniform feasible collec17 tion method for prepaid mobile service customers to 

18 contribute to States’ E911 funds just as has been 

19 provided for postpaid customers via their monthly 

20 bills. 

21 (7) Congress, in House Report No. 110–442 

22 and Senate Report No. 110–142, encouraged State 

23 and local governments to apply E911 fees equitably 

24 to communications services and to accommodate the 

25 prepaid mobile service business model. 


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1 SEC. 3. E911 SURCHARGES. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Beginning on the date of enact3 ment of this Act, no State or local jurisdiction shall impose 

4 a new unfair or inequitable E911 fee, tax, or surcharge 

5 (‘‘E911 fee’’) with respect to any prepaid mobile service, 

6 prepaid mobile service provider, or prepaid mobile service 

7 customer, nor shall it enforce a new or existing E911 fee 

8 in an unfair or inequitable manner. 

9 (b) DEFINITIONS.—In this Act: 

10 (1) E911 FEE.—The term ‘‘E911 fee’’ means 

11 any 911 or E911 fee, tax, or surcharge specifically 

12 imposed or designated by a State or local jurisdic13 tion for the support of 911 or E911 communications 

14 systems and related public safety purposes, whether 

15 or not actually appropriated and expended for such 

16 purposes. 

17 (2) MOBILE SERVICE.—The term ‘‘mobile serv18 ice’’ means commercial mobile radio service, as such 

19 term is defined in section 20.3 of title 47, Code of 

20 Federal Regulations, as in effect on the date of en21 actment of this Act, or any other service that is pri22 marily intended for receipt on, transmission from, or 

23 use with a mobile telephone or other mobile device, 

24 including but not limited to the receipt of a digital 

25 good. 


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1 (3) PREPAID MOBILE SERVICE.—The term 

2 ‘‘prepaid mobile service’’ means mobile service which 

3 is paid for in advance, is sold in predetermined units 

4 or dollars, or for use within a predetermined period 

5 of time, and without the issuance of a monthly or 

6 other periodic bill. 

7 (4) POSTPAID MOBILE SERVICE.—The term 

8 ‘‘postpaid mobile service’’ means a mobile service 

9 which is paid for in arrears pursuant to monthly or 

10 other periodic billing arrangements. 

11 (5) NEW UNFAIR OR INEQUITABLE E911 FEE.— 

12 The term ‘‘new unfair or inequitable E911 fee’’ 

13 means— 

14 (A) any E911 fee that cannot be collected 

15 from end-users who are the intended payors of 

16 the E911 fees under the existing wireless busi17 ness model of the prepaid mobile service pro18 vider; or 

19 (B) any E911 fee that is enforced in a 

20 manner that imposes strict liability on a pre21 paid mobile service provider for its inability to 

22 collect such E911 fee as prescribed in subpara23 graph (A). 

24 (6) UNFAIR OR INEQUITABLE MANNER.—The 

25 term ‘‘unfair or inequitable manner’’ means— 


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1 (A) the imposition against a prepaid mo2 bile service provider or seller of any E911 fee 

3 that the prepaid mobile service provider cannot 

4 collect from its end-user customers who are the 

5 intended payors of the fees under its existing 

6 wireless business model; 

7 (B) the enforcement of an E911 fee 

8 against a prepaid mobile service provider in a 

9 manner that creates strict liability for the pre10 paid mobile service provider or seller for its in11 ability to collect as prescribed in subparagraph 

12 (A); or 

13 (C) the imposition of a E911 fee in a man14 ner that results in the E911 fee being subject 

15 to other State or local taxes when such other 

16 State or local taxes are not equally imposed on 

17 the E911 fees paid by postpaid mobile service 

18 customers. 

19 (7) PROVIDER.—The term ‘‘provider’’ means a 

20 telecommunications carrier as defined in section 1 of 

21 the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 

22 153(44)) that offers mobile service. 

Æ 


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