I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1289 

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to provide for a moratorium 

on number reassignment after a disaster declaration, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 14, 2019 

Mr. THOMPSON of California (for himself, Mr. CARSON of Indiana, Mr. DUNN, 

Ms. ESHOO, Mr. GARAMENDI, Ms. GARCIA of Texas, Ms. KUSTER of New 

Hampshire, Ms. NORTON, Mr. ROONEY of Florida, and Mr. WEBER of 

Texas) 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 

a moratorium on number reassignment after a disaster 

declaration, 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 ‘‘Preserving Home and 

5 Office Numbers in Emergencies Act of 2019’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. MORATORIUM ON NUMBER REASSIGNMENT AFTER 

2 DISASTER DECLARATION. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 251(e) of the Commu4 nications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 251(e)) is amended by 

5 adding at the end the following: 

6 ‘‘(4) MORATORIUM ON NUMBER REASSIGNMENT

7 AFTER DISASTER DECLARATION.— 

8 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—During a covered pe9 riod with respect to an area, a number assigned 

10 in such area may not be reassigned, and the as11 signment of such number may not be rescinded 

12 or otherwise modified, except at the request of 

13 the subscriber to which such number is as14 signed. 

15 ‘‘(B) EXTENSION AT REQUEST OF SUB16 SCRIBER.—At the request of the subscriber, the 

17 prohibition in subparagraph (A) shall be ex18 tended with respect to the number assigned to 

19 such subscriber for 2 years beyond the end of 

20 the covered period. 

21 ‘‘(C) SUBSCRIBER RIGHT TO CANCEL AND

22 RESUBSCRIBE.— 

23 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—In the case of a 

24 number that is assigned to a subscriber for 

25 the provision of wireline voice service at a 

26 residence that is located in an area that is 


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1 in a covered period (or in the case of such 

2 a number with respect to which the sub3 scriber requests an extension under sub4 paragraph (B)), if the major disaster in5 volved results in covered damage to such 

6 residence— 

7 ‘‘(I) the provider of such service 

8 may not charge the subscriber any 

9 early termination or other fee in con10 nection with the cancellation of such 

11 service; and 

12 ‘‘(II) if the subscriber cancels 

13 such service, such provider (or any 

14 other provider of wireline voice service 

15 that serves the location involved)— 

16 ‘‘(aa) shall permit the sub17 scriber to subscribe or resub18 scribe, as the case may be, to 

19 wireline voice service with such 

20 number at such residence or at a 

21 different residence (if such num22 ber is available in the location of 

23 such different residence); and 

24 ‘‘(bb) may not charge the 

25 subscriber any connection fee or 


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1 other fee relating to the initiation 

2 of such service. 

3 ‘‘(ii) TIMING.—Clause (i) shall cease 

4 to apply with respect to the number at the 

5 end of the covered period or at the end of 

6 the extended period under subparagraph 

7 (B), as the case may be. 

8 ‘‘(iii) LIMITATION.—Except as pro9 vided in this subparagraph, the prohibition 

10 in subparagraph (A) and any extension of 

11 such prohibition under subparagraph (B) 

12 shall cease to apply with respect to a num13 ber when the subscriber cancels the service 

14 with respect to which the number is as15 signed. 

16 ‘‘(D) IDENTIFICATION ON COMMISSION

17 WEBSITE.—The Commission shall publicly iden18 tify on the website of the Commission each area 

19 that is in a covered period. 

20 ‘‘(E) DEFINITIONS.—In this paragraph: 

21 ‘‘(i) COVERED DAMAGE.—The term 

22 ‘covered damage’ means, with respect to a 

23 residence, damage— 

24 ‘‘(I) that renders a residence in25 accessible or uninhabitable, or that reVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:13 Mar 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1289.IH H1289

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1 sults in displacement from the resi2 dence; and 

3 ‘‘(II) with respect to which the 

4 President determines that an indi5 vidual or household is eligible for 

6 housing assistance or other needs as7 sistance under the Robert T. Stafford 

8 Disaster Relief and Emergency Assist9 ance Act (42 U.S.C. 5121 et seq.). 

10 ‘‘(ii) COVERED PERIOD.—The term 

11 ‘covered period’ means, with respect to an 

12 area, any period that— 

13 ‘‘(I) begins on the date of a dec14 laration by the President of a major 

15 disaster under section 401 of the Rob16 ert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and 

17 Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 

18 5170) with respect to such area; and 

19 ‘‘(II) ends on the date that is 1 

20 year after the date on which such dec21 laration expires. 

22 ‘‘(iii) WIRELINE VOICE SERVICE.— 

23 The term ‘wireline voice service’ has the 

24 meaning given the term ‘voice service’ in 

25 section 227(e)(8), except that the term 


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1 ‘wireline voice service’ does not include 

2 commercial mobile service (as defined in 

3 section 332(d)).’’. 

4 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Paragraph (4) of section 

5 251(e) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 

6 251(e)), as added by subsection (a), shall apply with re7 spect to a major disaster declared by the President under 

8 section 401 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and 

9 Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5170) after the 

10 date that is 180 days after the date of the enactment of 

11 this Act. 

12 (c) TRANSITIONAL RULE.—Clause (iii) of subpara13 graph (E) of paragraph (4) of section 251(e) of the Com14 munications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 251(e)), as added by 

15 subsection (a), shall apply before the effective date of the 

16 amendment made to section 227(e)(8) of such Act (47 

17 U.S.C. 227(e)(8)) by subparagraph (C) of section 

18 503(a)(2) of division P of the Consolidated Appropriations 

19 Act, 2018 (Public Law 115–141) as if such amendment 

20 were already in effect. 

Æ 


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