I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1818 

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to require providers of a covered 

service to provide location information concerning the telecommunications 

device of a user of such service to an investigative or law enforcement 

officer or an employee or other agent of a public safety answering 

point in an emergency situation involving risk of death or serious physical 

harm or in order to respond to the user’s call for emergency services. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 18, 2019 

Mr. ESTES (for himself and Ms. DAVIDS of Kansas) introduced the following 

bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to require providers of a covered service to provide location information 

concerning the telecommunications device of a user of 

such service to an investigative or law enforcement officer 

or an employee or other agent of a public safety answering point in an emergency situation involving risk of 

death or serious physical harm or in order to respond 

to the user’s call for emergency services. 

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 ‘‘Kelsey Smith Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. REQUIRED EMERGENCY DISCLOSURE OF LOCATION 

2 INFORMATION TO LAW ENFORCEMENT OR 

3 PUBLIC SAFETY ANSWERING POINT. 

4 Section 222 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 

5 U.S.C. 222) is amended— 

6 (1) in subsection (d)— 

7 (A) in paragraph (4), by redesignating 

8 subparagraphs (A), (B), and (C) as clauses (i), 

9 (ii), and (iii), respectively, and adjusting the 

10 margins accordingly; 

11 (B) by redesignating paragraphs (1) 

12 through (4) as subparagraphs (A) through (D), 

13 respectively, and adjusting the margins accord14 ingly; 

15 (C) in the matter preceding subparagraph 

16 (A), as so redesignated, by striking ‘‘Nothing in 

17 this section’’ and inserting the following: 

18 ‘‘(1) PERMITTED DISCLOSURES.—Nothing in 

19 this section’’; and 

20 (D) by adding at the end the following: 

21 ‘‘(2) REQUIRED EMERGENCY DISCLOSURE OF

22 LOCATION INFORMATION TO LAW ENFORCEMENT OR

23 PUBLIC SAFETY ANSWERING POINT.— 

24 ‘‘(A) LOCATION INFORMATION RE25 QUESTS.—Notwithstanding subsections (a), (b), 

26 and (c), at the request of an investigative or 


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1 law enforcement officer or an employee or other 

2 agent of a public safety answering point acting 

3 on behalf of such an officer, who is acting in 

4 the course of the official duties of the officer or 

5 agent, a provider of a covered service shall pro6 vide to the officer or agent the available loca7 tion information of a telecommunications device 

8 without delay if the officer or agent asserts— 

9 ‘‘(i) that the device was used to place 

10 a 9–1–1 call requesting emergency assist11 ance during the preceding 48-hour period; 

12 or 

13 ‘‘(ii) reasonable suspicion that the de14 vice is in the possession of an individual 

15 who is involved in an emergency situation 

16 that involves the risk of death or serious 

17 physical harm. 

18 ‘‘(B) RECORDS OF DISCLOSED RECORDS.— 

19 If an investigative or law enforcement officer, 

20 or an employee or other agent of a public safety 

21 answering point acting on behalf of such an of22 ficer, submits a request for location information 

23 to a provider of a covered service under sub24 paragraph (A), the investigative or law enforce25 ment agency employing the officer shall mainVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:46 Apr 02, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1818.IH H1818

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1 tain a record of the request that includes each 

2 of the following: 

3 ‘‘(i) The name of the officer or agent 

4 making the request (and, in the case of a 

5 request made by an agent, the name of the 

6 officer on whose behalf the agent is act7 ing). 

8 ‘‘(ii) A description of the request that 

9 explains the need for disclosure of location 

10 information. 

11 ‘‘(iii) A declaration that disclosure of 

12 location information is needed based on the 

13 conditions described in clause (i) or (ii) of 

14 subparagraph (A). 

15 ‘‘(C) HOLD HARMLESS.—No cause of ac16 tion shall lie in any court, nor shall any civil or 

17 administrative proceeding be commenced by any 

18 person or entity, against a provider of a covered 

19 service, or its directors, officers, employees, 

20 agents, or vendors, for providing location infor21 mation or assistance in accordance with sub22 paragraph (A) and any regulations promulgated 

23 under this paragraph. 

24 ‘‘(D) RELATIONSHIP TO STATE LAW.— 


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1 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Nothing in this 

2 section exempts a telecommunications car3 rier or a provider of a covered service from 

4 complying, in a circumstance described in 

5 clause (ii), with any applicable State law 

6 that requires the carrier or provider to pro7 vide location information of a telecommuni8 cations device to an investigative or law en9 forcement officer or an employee or other 

10 agent of a public safety answering point 

11 acting on behalf of such an officer in re12 sponse to a request by the officer or agent. 

13 ‘‘(ii) APPLICABILITY.—A circumstance 

14 described in this clause is a circumstance 

15 in which the officer or agent— 

16 ‘‘(I) makes the request while act17 ing in the course of the official duties 

18 of the officer or agent; and 

19 ‘‘(II) asserts that the request is 

20 made for the purpose of responding 

21 to— 

22 ‘‘(aa) a call for emergency 

23 services; or 


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1 ‘‘(bb) an emergency situa2 tion that involves the risk of 

3 death or serious physical harm.’’; 

4 (2) in subsection (f)(1), by striking ‘‘subsection 

5 (d)(4)’’ and inserting ‘‘subsection (d)(1)(D)’’; and 

6 (3) in subsection (h), by adding at the end the 

7 following: 

8 ‘‘(8) COVERED SERVICE.—The term ‘covered 

9 service’ means— 

10 ‘‘(A) a commercial mobile service (as de11 fined in section 332(d)); or 

12 ‘‘(B) an IP-enabled voice service (as de13 fined in section 7 of the Wireless Communica14 tions and Public Safety Act of 1999 (47 U.S.C. 

15 615b)). 

16 ‘‘(9) INVESTIGATIVE OR LAW ENFORCEMENT

17 OFFICER.—The term ‘investigative or law enforce18 ment officer’ has the meaning given the term ‘Inves19 tigative or law enforcement officer’ in section 2510 

20 of title 18, United States Code.’’. 

Æ 


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