II 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 624 

To allow servicemembers to terminate their cable, satellite television, and 

Internet access service contracts while deployed. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 14, 2017 

Ms. CANTWELL (for herself and Mrs. FISCHER) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 

A BILL 

To allow servicemembers to terminate their cable, satellite 

television, and Internet access service contracts while 

deployed. 

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

3 SECTION 1. TERMINATION OF MULTICHANNEL VIDEO PRO4 GRAMMING AND INTERNET ACCESS SERVICE 

5 CONTRACTS. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 305A of the 

7 Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (50 U.S.C. 3956) is 

8 amended— 


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•S 624 IS

1 (1) in the section heading, by inserting ‘‘, MUL2 TICHANNEL VIDEO PROGRAMMING, AND

3 INTERNET ACCESS’’ after ‘‘TELEPHONE’’; 

4 (2) in subsection (b), by striking ‘‘cellular tele5 phone service or telephone exchange service’’ and in6 serting ‘‘commercial mobile service, telephone ex7 change service, Internet access service, or multi8 channel video programming service’’; 

9 (3) in subsection (c), by inserting ‘‘for commer10 cial mobile service or telephone exchange service’’ be11 fore ‘‘terminated’’; 

12 (4) in subsection (d), in the matter preceding 

13 paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘cellular telephone serv14 ice’’ and inserting ‘‘commercial mobile service’’; 

15 (5) in subsection (e)— 

16 (A) by striking ‘‘For any’’ and inserting 

17 the following: 

18 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—For any’’; 

19 (B) by striking ‘‘If the’’ and inserting the 

20 following: 

21 ‘‘(2) REINSTATEMENT OF SERVICE.—If the’’; 

22 and 

23 (C) by adding at the end the following: 

24 ‘‘(3) RETURN OF PROVIDER-OWNED EQUIP25 MENT.—If a servicemember terminates a contract 


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•S 624 IS

1 under subsection (a), the servicemember shall return 

2 any provider-owned consumer premises equipment to 

3 the service provider not later than 10 days after the 

4 date on which service is disconnected.’’; and 

5 (6) in subsection (g)— 

6 (A) by redesignating paragraph (2) as 

7 paragraph (4); and 

8 (B) by striking paragraph (1) and insert9 ing the following: 

10 ‘‘(1) The term ‘commercial mobile service’ has 

11 the meaning given that term in section 332(d) of the 

12 Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 332(d)). 

13 ‘‘(2) The term ‘multichannel video program14 ming service’ means a subscription video service of15 fered by a multichannel video programming dis16 tributor, as that term is defined in section 602 of 

17 the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 522), 

18 over a system the distributor owns or controls. 

19 ‘‘(3) The term ‘provider-owned consumer prem20 ises equipment’ means any equipment that a pro21 vider of Internet access service or multichannel video 

22 programming service rents or loans to a customer 

23 during the provision of that service, including gate24 ways, routers, cable modems, voice-capable modems, 


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1 CableCARDs, converters, digital adapters, remote 

2 controls, and any other equipment provided.’’. 

3 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENTS.— 

4 (1) TITLE HEADING.—The heading for title III 

5 of the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act is amended 

6 by striking ‘‘TELEPHONE’’ and inserting 

7 ‘‘COMMUNICATIONS’’. 

8 (2) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of con9 tents in section 1(b) of the Servicemembers Civil Re10 lief Act is amended— 

11 (A) by striking the item relating to title III 

12 and inserting the following: 

‘‘TITLE III—RENT, INSTALLMENT CONTRACTS, MORTGAGES, 

LIENS, ASSIGNMENT, LEASES, COMMUNICATIONS SERVICE CONTRACTS’’; 

13 and 

14 (B) by striking the item relating to section 

15 305A and inserting the following: 

‘‘Sec. 305A. Termination of telephone, multichannel video programming, and 

Internet access service contracts.’’. 

Æ 


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