IV 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. RES. 536 

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that telephone service 

must be improved in rural areas of the United States and that no 

entity may unreasonably discriminate against telephone users in those 

areas. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 2, 2014 

Mr. LATTA (for himself and Mr. WELCH) submitted the following resolution; 

which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

RESOLUTION 

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that 

telephone service must be improved in rural areas of 

the United States and that no entity may unreasonably 

discriminate against telephone users in those areas. 

Whereas all people in the United States rely on quality, efficient, and dependable telephone service in many aspects 

of life, including conducting business, securing the safety 

of the public, and connecting families; 

Whereas multiple surveys conducted by the National Exchange Carrier Association revealed that complaints of 

uncompleted telephone calls persist, with the most recent 

survey in October 2012 indicating a 41 percent increase 

in uncompleted calls between March and September of 

the same year; 


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•HRES 536 IH 

Whereas the National Exchange Carrier Association and 

rural telecommunications carriers in April 2012 supplied 

information that— 

(1) 6.4 percent of calls to rural areas failed, but only 

0.5 percent of calls to urban areas failed; and 

(2) 11 percent of calls to rural areas were either 

poor quality or were delayed, compared to only 5 percent 

in urban areas; 

Whereas the Federal Communications Commission was made 

aware of an issue regarding telephone service connection 

in rural areas in November 2010 and has since issued a 

declaratory ruling and a notice of proposed rulemaking 

with respect to the issue and has reached a settlement 

with one telecommunications carrier; 

Whereas, in a declaratory ruling in February 2012, the Federal Communications Commission made it clear that 

blocking or otherwise restricting telephone service is a 

violation of section 201(b) of the Communications Act of 

1934 (47 U.S.C. 201(b)), which prohibits unjust or unreasonable practices, and section 202(a) of that Act (47 

U.S.C. 202(a)), which outlines the duty of a telecommunications carrier to refrain from discrimination; 

Whereas actions by the Federal Communications Commission 

have not significantly decreased the prevalence of telephone calls being rerouted by telecommunications carriers 

and some States are seeing an increase in complaints as 

of April 2013; 

Whereas, in October 2013, the Federal Communications 

Commission adopted a Report and Order and Further 

Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (FCC 13–135) requiring 

some providers of long-distance telephone service to 

record, retain, and report call completion data to the 


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•HRES 536 IH 

Commission and prohibiting all originating and intermediate providers from causing audible ringing to be sent 

to the caller before the terminating provider has signaled 

that the called party is being alerted; 

Whereas telephone communications are vital to keeping rural 

areas of the United States competitive in the economy, 

and a low rate of telephone call completion results in economic injury to rural businesses, including farmers, 

trucking companies, and suppliers who have seen thousands of dollars in business lost when telephone calls are 

not completed; 

Whereas the safety of the public is at risk from a lack of 

quality telephone communications, including 911 services; 

Whereas schools depend on telephone calls to notify students 

and parents of emergencies, and health care centers depend on telecommunications services to save lives and to 

communicate with rural patients; 

Whereas small, local telecommunications carriers are losing 

valuable, multi-line business subscribers because of a lack 

of quality telecommunications services, which is financially detrimental to those carriers and adversely affects 

the rural communities served by those carriers; and 

Whereas it may cost a telecommunications carrier serving a 

rural area hundreds of dollars to investigate each complaint of an uncompleted telephone call: Now, therefore, 

be it 

1 Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Rep2 resentatives that— 


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1 (1) all providers must appropriately complete 

2 calls to all areas of the United States regardless of 

3 the technology used by the providers; 

4 (2) no entity may unreasonably discriminate 

5 against telephone users in rural areas of the United 

6 States; and 

7 (3) the Federal Communications Commission 

8 should— 

9 (A) aggressively pursue entities whose vio10 lations of the rules of the Federal Communica11 tions Commission contribute to a lack of quality 

12 telecommunications services in rural areas of 

13 the United States, and impose swift and mean14 ingful enforcement actions to discourage— 

15 (i) practices leading to telephone calls 

16 not being completed in rural areas of the 

17 United States; and 

18 (ii) unreasonable discrimination 

19 against telephone users in rural areas of 

20 the United States; and 

21 (B) move forward with clear, comprehen22 sive, and enforceable actions in order to estab23 lish a robust and definitive solution to discrimiVerDate Mar 15 2010 23:48 Apr 02, 2014 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\HR536.IH HR536

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•HRES 536 IH 

1 nation against telephone users in rural areas of 

2 the United States. 

Æ 


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