S. 2653

One Hundred Ninth Congress

of the

United States of America

AT THE SECOND SESSION

Begun and held at the City of Washington on Tuesday,

the third day of January, two thousand and six

An Act

To direct the Federal Communications Commission to make efforts to reduce telephone rates for Armed Forces personnel deployed overseas.

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 ‘‘Call Home Act of 2006’’.

SEC. 2. TELEPHONE RATES FOR MEMBERS OF ARMED FORCES

DEPLOYED ABROAD.

(a) IN GENERAL.—The Federal Communications Commission

shall take such action as may be necessary to reduce the cost

of calling home for Armed Forces personnel who are stationed

outside the United States under official military orders or deployed

outside the United States in support of military operations, training

exercises, or other purposes as approved by the Secretary of

Defense, including the reduction of such costs through the waiver

of government fees, assessments, or other charges for such calls.

The Commission may not regulate rates in order to carry out

this section.

(b) FACTORS TO CONSIDER.—In taking the action described in

subsection (a), the Commission, in coordination with the Department of Defense and the Department of State, shall—

(1) evaluate and analyze the costs to Armed Forces personnel of such telephone calls to and from American military

bases abroad;

(2) evaluate methods of reducing the rates imposed on

such calls, including deployment of new technology such as

voice over Internet protocol or other Internet protocol technology;

(3) encourage telecommunications carriers (as defined in

section 3(44) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C.

153(44))) to adopt flexible billing procedures and policies for

Armed Forces personnel and their dependents for telephone

calls to and from such Armed Forces personnel; and

(4) seek agreements with foreign governments to reduce

international surcharges on such telephone calls.

(c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section:

(1) ARMED FORCES.—The term ‘‘Armed Forces’’ has the

meaning given that term by section 2101(2) of title 5, United

States Code.

(2) MILITARY BASE.—The term ‘‘military base’’ includes official duty stations to include vessels, whether such vessels are

in port or underway outside of the United States.
S. 2653—2

SEC. 3. REPEAL OF EXISTING AUTHORIZATION.

Section 213 of the Telecommunications Authorization Act of

1992 (47 U.S.C. 201 note) is repealed.

SEC. 4. PUBLIC SAFETY INTEROPERABLE COMMUNICATIONS GRANTS.

Pursuant to section 3006 of Public Law 109–171 (47 U.S.C.

309 note), the Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information of the Department of Commerce, in consultation with the

Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, shall award

no less than $1,000,000,000 for public safety interoperable communications grants no later than September 30, 2007 subject to the

receipt of qualified applications as determined by the Assistant

Secretary.

Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Vice President of the United States and

President of the Senate.