I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1220 

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 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 14, 2019 

Ms. ESHOO (for herself, Mr. TAKANO, Ms. NORTON, Mr. RYAN, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mr. RASKIN, Mr. COURTNEY, Mr. BEYER, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, 

and Mr. THOMPSON of California) introduced the following bill; which 

was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

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) TRANSPARENCY IN ADVERTISING.— 

9 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A provider of a covered 

10 service may not advertise the price of such service 

11 unless the advertised price is the total amount that 

12 the provider will charge for or relating to the provi13 sion of such service, including any related taxes, ad14 ministrative fees, equipment rental fees, or other 

15 charges, to a consumer who accepts the offer made 

16 in the advertisement. 

17 ‘‘(2) EXCEPTION.—Paragraph (1) does not re18 quire a provider of a covered service to include in 

19 the advertised price of the service any tax, fee, or 

20 other charge that— 

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

22 under any provision of Federal law or of the 

23 law of a State or political subdivision of a 

24 State; and 

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

26 States. 


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1 ‘‘(b) TRANSPARENCY IN E-BILLING.—A provider of 

2 a covered service may not provide a bill to a consumer 

3 in an electronic format unless the provider— 

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

5 bill is available, by email or a functional equivalent 

6 of email that permits the consumer to view the bill 

7 or notification without having to access an online ac8 count or the functional equivalent of an online ac9 count or to take any similar additional steps; and 

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

11 in accordance with paragraph (1) an itemized state12 ment that breaks down the total amount charged for 

13 or relating to the provision of the covered service by 

14 the amount charged for the provision of the service 

15 itself and the amount of any related taxes, adminis16 trative fees, equipment rental fees, or other charges, 

17 in the same level of detail as would be provided in 

18 a paper bill. 

19 ‘‘(c) REQUIREMENTS FOR INCREASES IN CHARGES.— 

20 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In the case of a provider of 

21 a covered service that enters into a contract with a 

22 consumer for the provision of a covered service— 

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

24 amount charged for or relating to the provision 

25 of the service under the contract, regardless of 


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1 the amount of the increase or whether the in2 crease is in the amount charged for the provi3 sion of the service itself or in any related taxes, 

4 administrative fees, equipment rental fees, or 

5 other charges, the provider shall— 

6 ‘‘(i) provide the consumer with clear 

7 notice of the increase not later than 21 

8 days before the increase takes effect, in the 

9 same manner in which the provider pro10 vides to the consumer a notification that 

11 the consumer’s bill is available (or, if no 

12 separate notification is provided, in the 

13 same manner as the provider provides the 

14 consumer’s bill to the consumer); and 

15 ‘‘(ii) permit the consumer to termi16 nate the contract without paying any early 

17 termination fee or other penalty; and 

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

19 or other charge for equipment rental unless the 

20 equipment is upgraded (whether through a 

21 hardware or software upgrade) so as to provide 

22 a substantial increase in functionality. 

23 ‘‘(2) EXCEPTION FOR ADDITIONAL OR UP24 GRADED SERVICE REQUESTED BY CONSUMER.— 

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


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1 increase resulting from the provision, at the request 

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

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

4 ‘‘(d) PROHIBITION ON COMPULSORY ALTERNATIVE

5 DISPUTE RESOLUTION.— 

6 ‘‘(1) PROHIBITION ON CONTRACTUAL PROVI7 SION.—A provider of a covered service may not in8 clude in a contract with a consumer for the provision 

9 of a covered service a provision that requires the 

10 consumer to resolve a covered dispute with the pro11 vider through alternative dispute resolution. 

12 ‘‘(2) UNENFORCEABILITY OF CONTRACTUAL

13 PROVISION.—Any alternative dispute resolution pro14 vision included in a contract in violation of para15 graph (1) shall be void and unenforceable. 

16 ‘‘(e) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

17 ‘‘(1) ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE RESOLUTION.— 

18 The term ‘alternative dispute resolution’ has the 

19 meaning given such term in section 3 of the Y2K 

20 Act (15 U.S.C. 6602). 

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

22 dispute’ means a dispute between a provider of a 

23 covered service and a consumer in which the con24 sumer alleges that— 


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

2 for or relating to the provision of the service 

3 (including any related taxes, administrative 

4 fees, equipment rental fees, or other charges)— 

5 ‘‘(i) was increased without notice 

6 being provided to the consumer as required 

7 by subsection (c)(1)(A)(i); or 

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

9 promotional rate or other discount that 

10 was included in the price that the con11 sumer agreed to pay for or relating to the 

12 provision of the covered service, did not re13 flect the promotional rate or other dis14 count; or 

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

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

17 for any related taxes, administrative fees, 

18 or other charges) to which the consumer 

19 did not subscribe during the period covered 

20 by the bill; or 

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

22 any related taxes, administrative fees, or 

23 other charges) that the consumer did not 

24 rent during the period covered by the bill. 


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

2 service’— 

3 ‘‘(A) means— 

4 ‘‘(i) internet access service; 

5 ‘‘(ii) voice service (as defined in sec6 tion 227(e)(8)); 

7 ‘‘(iii) commercial mobile service (as 

8 defined in section 332); 

9 ‘‘(iv) commercial mobile data service 

10 (as defined in section 6001 of the Middle 

11 Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 

12 2012 (47 U.S.C. 1401)); and 

13 ‘‘(v) service provided by a multi14 channel video programming distributer (as 

15 defined in section 602), to the extent such 

16 distributor is acting as a multichannel 

17 video programming distributor; and 

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

19 provided as part of a bundle or package with 

20 any service referred to in subparagraph (A). 

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

22 ‘internet access service’— 

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

24 by wire or radio that provides the capability to 

25 transmit data to and receive data from all or 


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1 substantially all internet endpoints, including 

2 any capabilities that are incidental to and en3 able the operation of the communications serv4 ice; and 

5 ‘‘(B) also includes any service that— 

6 ‘‘(i) the Commission finds to be pro7 viding a functional equivalent of the service 

8 described in subparagraph (A); or 

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

10 set forth in this section.’’. 

11 (b) TRANSITIONAL RULE RELATING TO DEFINITION

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

13 723 of the Communications Act of 1934, as added by sub14 section (a) of this section, shall apply before the effective 

15 date of the amendment made to subsection (e)(8) of sec16 tion 227 of such Act (47 U.S.C. 227) by subparagraph 

17 (C) of section 503(a)(2) of division P of the Consolidated 

18 Appropriations Act, 2018 (Public Law 115–141) as if 

19 such amendment was already in effect. 

20 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Section 723 of the Commu21 nications Act of 1934, as added by subsection (a) of this 

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

23 after the date of the enactment of this Act, except that 

24 subsections (c) and (d) of such section 723 shall not apply 

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


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1 before the date that is 180 days after the date of the en2 actment of this Act. 

Æ 


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