79–006 

115TH CONGRESS REPORT " ! HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 2d Session 115–866 

TO ALLOW SERVICEMEMBERS TO TERMINATE THEIR 

CABLE, SATELLITE TELEVISION, AND INTERNET ACCESS SERVICE CONTRACTS WHILE DEPLOYED 

JULY 24, 2018.—Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of 

the Union and ordered to be printed 

Mr. ROE of Tennessee, from the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, 

submitted the following 

R E P O R T 

[To accompany H.R. 2409] 

[Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office] 

The Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, to whom was referred the 

bill (H.R. 2409) to allow servicemembers to terminate their cable, 

satellite television, and Internet access service contracts while deployed, having considered the same, report favorably thereon without amendment and recommend that the bill do pass. 

CONTENTS 

Page 

Purpose and Summary ............................................................................................ 2 

Background and Need for Legislation .................................................................... 2 

Hearings ................................................................................................................... 2 

Subcommittee Consideration .................................................................................. 3 

Committee Consideration ........................................................................................ 3 

Committee Votes ...................................................................................................... 3 

Committee Oversight Findings ............................................................................... 3 

Statement of General Performance Goals and Objectives .................................... 3 

New Budget Authority, Entitlement Authority, and Tax Expenditures ............. 3 

Earmarks and Tax and Tariff Benefits .................................................................. 4 

Committee Cost Estimate ....................................................................................... 4 

Congressional Budget Office Estimate ................................................................... 4 

Federal Mandates Statement ................................................................................. 5 

Advisory Committee Statement .............................................................................. 5 

Constitutional Authority Statement ...................................................................... 5 

Applicability to Legislative Branch ........................................................................ 5 

Statement on Duplication of Federal Programs .................................................... 5 

Disclosure of Directed Rulemaking ........................................................................ 5 

Section-by-Section Analysis of the Legislation ...................................................... 6 

Changes in Existing Law Made by the Bill as Reported ...................................... 6 

2 

PURPOSE AND SUMMARY

H.R. 2409 would amend the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act 

(SCRA) to allow a service member to terminate a commercial mobile, telephone exchange, internet access, or multichannel video 

programming service contract at any time after the date the service 

member receives military orders to relocate for at least 90 days to 

a location that does not support such service contract. Currently, 

such provision applies to a cellular telephone service or telephone 

exchange service contract. Representative Ryan Costello of Pennsylvania introduced H.R. 2409 on May 11, 2017. 

BACKGROUND AND NEED FOR LEGISLATION

Section 2 of SCRA sets out that the purpose of SCRA is to ‘‘(1) 

to provide for, strengthen, and expedite the national defense 

through protection extended by this Act to servicemembers of the 

United States to enable such persons to devote their entire energy 

to the defense needs of the Nation; and (2) to provide for the temporary suspension of judicial and administrative proceedings and 

transactions that may adversely affect the civil rights of 

servicemembers during their military service.’’ In order to meet 

these goals section 305A of SCRA authorizes a servicemember to 

terminate their cell phone contract at no cost to the servicemember 

if they receive orders to relocate for a period longer than 90 days 

to an area that doesn’t support the contract. The rationale for this 

provision is to allow a servicemember to devote their energy to defense of the country and not be burdened by a cell phone contract 

or the costs associated with cancelling a contract (most cellphone 

companies impose a fee for early termination of a cell phone contract). The Committee believes that the goals of this section are 

laudable and necessary but that it is in need of reform to include 

new technology (the companies of which also impose termination 

fees for breaking a contract) under these protections. Therefore, 

this bill would amend section 305A to include protections already 

afforded to servicemembers for cell phone contracts but to also include cable, satellite television and internet access contracts. The 

Committee believes the inclusion of these contracts reflect the current reality that most servicemembers have contracts for cable or 

satellite television and/or internet access and, if they should need 

to terminate the contact due to an ordered relocation they should 

be given the same treatment as cell phone contracts under SCRA. 

HEARINGS

On May 23, 2018, the Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity 

held a legislative hearing on several bills pending before the Subcommittee including H.R. 2409. 

The following witnesses testified: 

The Honorable Julia Brownley, U.S. House of Representatives, 26th District, California; The Honorable Scott Peters, 

U.S. House of Representatives, 52nd District, California; The 

Honorable Brad Wenstrup, U.S. House of Representatives, 2nd 

District, Ohio; The Honorable Cheri Bustos, U.S. House of Representatives, 17th District, Illinois; The Honorable Ryan Costello, U.S. House of Representatives, 6th District, Pennsylvania; Ms. Margarita Devlin, Principal Deputy Under SecVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:54 Jul 30, 2018 Jkt 079006 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6659 Sfmt 6602 E:\HR\OC\HR866.XXX HR866
3 

retary for Benefits, Veterans Benefits Administration, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs; Mr. John Kamin, Assistant Director, Veterans Employment and Education Division, The 

American Legion; Ms. Lauren Augustine, Vice President of 

Government Affairs, Student Veterans of America; and Ms. Rebecca Burgess, Program Manager, Program on American Citizenship, American Enterprise Institute. 

Statements for the record were submitted by: 

U.S. Department of Defense; U.S. Department of Justice; 

Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors; and Paralyzed Veterans of America 

SUBCOMMITTEE CONSIDERATION

There was no Subcommittee consideration of H.R. 2409. 

COMMITTEE CONSIDERATION

On July 12, 2018, the full Committee met in open markup session, a quorum being present, and ordered H.R. 2409 to be reported 

favorably to the House of Representatives by voice vote. 

COMMITTEE VOTES

In compliance with clause 3(b) of rule XIII of the Rules of the 

House of Representatives, there were no recorded votes taken on 

amendments or in connection with ordering H.R. 2409 reported to 

the House. A motion by Representative Tim Walz of Minnesota to 

report H.R. 2409 favorably to the House of Representatives was 

adopted by voice vote. 

COMMITTEE OVERSIGHT FINDINGS

In compliance with clause 3(c)(1) of rule XIII and clause (2)(b)(1) 

of rule X of the Rules of the House of Representatives, the Committee’s oversight findings and recommendations are reflected in the 

descriptive portions of this report. 

STATEMENT OF GENERAL PERFORMANCE GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

In accordance with clause 3(c)(4) of rule XIII of the Rules of the 

House of Representatives, the Committee’s performance goals and 

objectives are to extend protections for servicemembers related to 

cancellation of certain contracts under SCRA to include contracts 

for telephone exchange, internet access, or multichannel video programming service. 

NEW BUDGET AUTHORITY, ENTITLEMENT AUTHORITY, AND TAX

EXPENDITURES

In compliance with clause 3(c)(2) of rule XIII of the Rules of the 

House of Representatives, the Committee adopts as its own the estimate of new budget authority, entitlement authority, or tax expenditures or revenues contained in the cost estimate prepared by 

the Director of the Congressional Budget Office pursuant to section 

402 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974. 

4 

EARMARKS AND TAX AND TARIFF BENEFITS

H.R. 2409 does not contain any Congressional earmarks, limited 

tax benefits, or limited tariff benefits as defined in clause 9 of rule 

XXI of the Rules of the House of Representatives. 

COMMITTEE COST ESTIMATE

The Committee adopts as its own the cost estimate on H.R. 2409, 

prepared by the Director of the Congressional Budget Office pursuant to section 402 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974. 

CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE COST ESTIMATE

Pursuant to clause 3(c)(3) of rule XIII of the Rules of the House 

of Representatives, the following is the cost estimate for H.R. 2409 

provided by the Director of the Congressional Budget Office pursuant to section 402 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974: 

U.S. CONGRESS, 

CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE, 

Washington, DC, July 19, 2018. 

Hon. PHIL ROE, M.D., 

Chairman, Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, 

House of Representatives, Washington, DC. 

DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: The Congressional Budget Office has prepared the enclosed cost estimate for H.R. 2409, a bill to allow service members to terminate their cable, satellite television, and Internet access service contracts while deployed. 

If you wish further details on this estimate, we will be pleased 

to provide them. The CBO staff contact is Logan Smith. 

Sincerely, 

MARK P. HADLEY

(For Keith Hall, Director). 

Enclosure. 

H.R. 2409—A bill to allow servicemembers to terminate their cable, 

satellite television, and Internet access service contracts while 

deployed 

Under current law, service members may terminate cellular and 

landline telephone service contracts without penalty if the service 

member receives orders to move to a location in which the telephone service provider does not provide service. H.R. 2409 would 

add contracts for Internet and multichannel video programming 

services to the list of covered service contracts. The bill would require service members to return any provider-owned equipment to 

the service provider within 10 days of the disconnection of service. 

CBO estimates that H.R. 2409 would have no effect on the federal 

budget. 

Enacting H.R. 2409 would not affect direct spending or revenues; 

therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply. 

CBO estimates that enacting H.R. 2409 would not increase net 

direct spending or on-budget deficits in any of the four consecutive 

10-year periods beginning in 2029. 

By prohibiting multichannel video programming and Internet 

providers from imposing early termination or reconnection fees, 

5 

H.R. 2409 would impose an intergovernmental and private-sector 

mandate as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act 

(UMRA). Because some municipal governments provide Internet 

access, the bill would impose an intergovernmental mandate in addition to the private-sector mandate on private providers of those 

services. CBO estimates that the costs of the mandate would not 

exceed the thresholds established in UMRA for intergovernmental 

or private-sector mandates ($80 million and $160 million in 2018, 

respectively, adjusted annually for inflation). 

The CBO staff contacts for this estimate are Logan Smith (for 

federal costs) and Andrew Laughlin (for mandates). The estimate 

was reviewed by Leo Lex, Deputy Assistant Director for Budget 

Analysis. 

FEDERAL MANDATES STATEMENT

The Committee adopts as its own the estimate of Federal mandates regarding H.R. 2409 prepared by the Director of the Congressional Budget Office pursuant to section 423 of the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act. 

ADVISORY COMMITTEE STATEMENT

No advisory committees within the meaning of section 5(b) of the 

Federal Advisory Committee Act would be created by H.R. 2409. 

STATEMENT OF CONSTITUTIONAL AUTHORITY

Pursuant to Article I, section 8 of the United States Constitution, 

H.R. 2409 is authorized by Congress’ power to ‘‘provide for the common Defense and general Welfare of the United States.’’ 

APPLICABILITY TO LEGISLATIVE BRANCH

The Committee finds that H.R. 2409 does not relate to the terms 

and conditions of employment or access to public services or accommodations within the meaning of section 102(b)(3) of the Congressional Accountability Act. 

STATEMENT ON DUPLICATION OF FEDERAL PROGRAMS

Pursuant to clause 3(c)(5) of rule XIII of the Rules of the House 

of Representatives, the Committee finds that no provision of H.R. 

2409 establishes or reauthorizes a program of the Federal Government known to be duplicative of another Federal program, a program that was included in any report from the Government Accountability Office to Congress pursuant to section 21 of Public 

Law 111–139, or a program related to a program identified in the 

most recent Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance. 

DISCLOSURE OF DIRECTED RULEMAKING

Pursuant to section 3(i) of H. Res. 5, 115th Cong. (2017), the 

Committee estimates that H.R. 2409 contains no directed rulemaking that would require the Secretary to prescribe regulations. 

6 

SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS OF THE LEGISLATION

Section 1. Terminations of multichannel video programming and 

internet access service contracts 

Section 1(a) of the bill would amend section 305(A) of the SCRA 

by: 

(1) amending the section heading to add ‘‘, Multichannel 

Video Programming, and Internet Access’’ after ‘‘Telephone’’; 

(2) in subsection (b) striking ‘‘cellular telephone service or 

telephone exchange service’’ and inserting ‘‘commercial mobile 

service, telephone exchange service, internet access service, or 

multichannel video programming service’’; 

(3) in subsection (c) inserting ‘‘for commercial mobile service 

or telephone exchange service’’ before ‘‘terminated’’; 

(4) in subsection (d) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), 

by striking ‘‘cellular telephone service’’ and inserting ‘‘commercial mobile service’’; 

(5) in subsection (e) adding a new paragraph that would require that if a servicemember terminates a contract under this 

section they must return any provider-owned consumer premises equipment to the service provider not later than 10 days 

after the date on which the service is disconnected. 

(6) amending subsection (g) to define ‘‘commercial mobile 

service’’ as the meaning provided by section 322(d) of the communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 332(d)). This subsection 

would also define ‘‘multichannel video programming service’’ as 

a subscription service offered by a multichannel video programming distributor, as defined by section 602 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 522), over a system the distributor 

owns or controls. This subsection would also define ‘‘providerowned consumer premises equipment’’ as any equipment that 

the provider of internet access service or multichannel video 

programming service rents or loans to a customer during the 

provision of that service, including gateways, routers, cable 

modems, voice-capable modems, cableCARDs, converters, digital adapters, remote controls, and other equipment provided. 

Section 1(b) of the bill would make several clerical amendments 

including: 

(1) changing the title heading for title III of the SCRA by 

striking ‘‘TELEPHONE’’ and inserting ‘‘COMMUNICATIONS’’ 

(2) amending the table of contents to reflect the changes 

made by this section. 

CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW MADE BY THE BILL, AS REPORTED

In compliance with clause 3(e) of rule XIII of the Rules of the 

House of Representatives, changes in existing law made by the bill, 

as reported, are shown as follows (existing law proposed to be omitted is enclosed in black brackets, new matter is printed in italic, 

and existing law in which no change is proposed is shown in 

roman): 

7 

CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW MADE BY THE BILL, AS REPORTED

In compliance with clause 3(e) of rule XIII of the Rules of the 

House of Representatives, changes in existing law made by the bill, 

as reported, are shown as follows (existing law proposed to be omitted is enclosed in black brackets, new matter is printed in italic, 

and existing law in which no change is proposed is shown in 

roman): 

SERVICEMEMBERS CIVIL RELIEF ACT 

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Servicemembers 

Civil Relief Act’’. 

(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents of this Act is as 

follows: 

* * * * * * * 

øTITLE III—RENT, INSTALLMENT CONTRACTS, MORTGAGES, LIENS, 

ASSIGNMENT, LEASES, TELEPHONE SERVICE CONTRACTS 

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

ASSIGNMENT, LEASES, COMMUNICATIONS SERVICE CONTRACTS 

* * * * * * * 

øSec. 305A. Termination of telephone service contracts.¿ 

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

access service contracts. 

* * * * * * * 

TITLE III—RENT, INSTALLMENT CONTRACTS, MORTGAGES, LIENS, ASSIGNMENT, LEASES, øTELEPHONE¿ COMMUNICATIONS SERVICE CONTRACTS 

* * * * * * * 

SEC. 305A. TERMINATION OF TELEPHONE, MULTICHANNEL VIDEO 

PROGRAMMING, AND INTERNET ACCESS SERVICE CONTRACTS. 

(a) TERMINATION BY SERVICEMEMBER.— 

(1) TERMINATION.—A servicemember may terminate a contract described in subsection (b) at any time after the date the 

servicemember receives military orders to relocate for a period 

of not less than 90 days to a location that does not support the 

contract. 

(2) NOTICE.—In the case that a servicemember terminates a 

contract as described in paragraph (1), the service provider 

under the contract shall provide such servicemember with 

written or electronic notice of the servicemember’s rights under 

such paragraph. 

(3) MANNER OF TERMINATION.—Termination of a contract 

under paragraph (1) shall be made by delivery of a written or 

electronic notice of such termination and a copy of the 

servicemember’s military orders to the service provider, delivered in accordance with industry standards for notification of 

8 

terminations, together with the date on which the service is to 

be terminated. 

(b) COVERED CONTRACTS.—A contract described in this subsection is a contract for øcellular telephone service or telephone exchange service¿ commercial mobile service, telephone exchange service, Internet access service, or multichannel video programming 

service entered into by the servicemember before receiving the military orders referred to in subsection (a)(1). 

(c) RETENTION OF TELEPHONE NUMBER.—In the case of a contract 

for commercial mobile service or telephone exchange service terminated under subsection (a) by a servicemember whose period of relocation is for a period of three years or less, the service provider 

under the contract shall, notwithstanding any other provision of 

law, allow the servicemember to keep the telephone number the 

servicemember has under the contract if the servicemember re-subscribes to the service during the 90-day period beginning on the 

last day of such period of relocation. 

(d) FAMILY PLANS.—In the case of a contract for øcellular telephone service¿ commercial mobile service entered into by any individual in which a servicemember is a designated beneficiary of the 

contract, the individual who entered into the contract may terminate the contract— 

(1) with respect to the servicemember if the servicemember 

is eligible to terminate contracts pursuant to subsection (a); 

and 

(2) with respect to all of the designated beneficiaries of such 

contract if all such beneficiaries accompany the servicemember 

during the servicemember’s period of relocation. 

(e) OTHER OBLIGATIONS AND LIABILITIES.—øFor any¿ 

(1) IN GENERAL.—For any contract terminated under this 

section, the service provider under the contract may not impose 

an early termination charge, but any tax or any other obligation or liability of the servicemember that, in accordance with 

the terms of the contract, is due and unpaid or unperformed 

at the time of termination of the contract shall be paid or performed by the servicemember. øIf the¿ 

(2) REINSTATEMENT OF SERVICE.—If the servicemember resubscribes to the service provided under a covered contract 

during the 90-day period beginning on the last day of the 

servicemember’s period of relocation, the service provider may 

not impose a charge for reinstating service, other than the 

usual and customary charges for the installation or acquisition 

of customer equipment imposed on any other subscriber. 

(3) RETURN OF PROVIDER-OWNED EQUIPMENT.—If a servicemember terminates a contract under subsection (a), the servicemember shall return any provider-owned consumer premises 

equipment to the service provider not later than 10 days after 

the date on which service is disconnected. 

(f) RETURN OF ADVANCE PAYMENTS.—Not later than 60 days after 

the effective date of the termination of a contract under this section, the service provider under the contract shall refund to the 

servicemember any fee or other amount to the extent paid for a period extending until after such date, except for the remainder of 

the monthly or similar billing period in which the termination occurs. 

9 

(g) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section: 

ø(1) The term ‘‘cellular telephone service’’ means commercial 

mobile service, as that term is defined in section 332(d) of the 

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

(1) The term ‘‘commercial mobile service’’ has the meaning 

given that term in section 332(d) of the Communications Act of 

1934 (47 U.S.C. 332(d)). 

(2) The term ‘‘multichannel video programming service’’ 

means a subscription video service offered by a multichannel 

video programming distributor, as that term is defined in section 602 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 522), 

over a system the distributor owns or controls. 

(3) The term ‘‘provider-owned consumer premises equipment’’ 

means any equipment that a provider of Internet access service 

or multichannel video programming service rents or loans to a 

customer during the provision of that service, including gateways, routers, cable modems, voice-capable modems, 

CableCARDs, converters, digital adapters, remote controls, and 

any other equipment provided. 

ø(2)¿ (4) The term ‘‘telephone exchange service’’ has the 

meaning given that term under section 3 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 153). 

* * * * * * * 

Æ