I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 4974 

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to improve the accessibility 

of 9–8–8, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 27, 2023 

Mr. CA ́RDENAS (for himself, Mr. FITZPATRICK, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Ms. MATSUI, Ms. KUSTER, and Mr. MOULTON) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to improve the 

accessibility of 9–8–8, 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 ‘‘Local 9–8–8 Response 

5 Act of 2023’’. 

6 SEC. 2. 9–8–8 IMPROVEMENT. 

7 (a) PROXIMITY-BASED ROUTING.— 

8 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after 

9 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Commis10 sion shall promulgate regulations to ensure that 


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1 each phone call, text message, and chat made or 

2 sent to 9–8–8 is routed to the participating crisis 

3 center that is closest to the geographic area from 

4 which such phone call, text message, or chat origi5 nated. 

6 (2) LIMITATION.—In promulgating regulations 

7 under paragraph (1), the Commission shall protect 

8 the privacy of individuals who contact 9–8–8 by en9 suring that a call, text message, or chat made or 

10 sent to 9–8–8 does not reveal the precise location of 

11 the individual who made or sent such call, text mes12 sage, or chat. 

13 (b) TRANSMISSION OF ALL CALLS AND TEXTS.—Not 

14 later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this 

15 Act, the Commission shall promulgate regulations to en16 sure that each provider of commercial mobile service 

17 transmits all calls and text messages made or sent to 9– 

18 8–8, including a call or text message that originates from 

19 a non-service-initialized handset (if such call or text mes20 sage originates on a phone using a compliant radio fre21 quency protocol of the provider). 

22 (c) CONFIGURATION OF MULTI-LINE TELEPHONE

23 SYSTEMS FOR DIRECT DIALING.— 

24 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 721 of the Commu25 nications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 623) is amended— 


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1 (A) in the section heading, by inserting 

2 ‘‘AND 9–8–8’’ after ‘‘9–1–1’’; 

3 (B) in subsection (a), by inserting ‘‘and 9– 

4 8–8’’ after ‘‘9–1–1’’; and 

5 (C) in subsection (b), by inserting ‘‘and 9– 

6 8–8’’ after ‘‘9–1–1’’. 

7 (2) APPLICABILITY.— 

8 (A) IN GENERAL.—The amendments made 

9 by paragraph (1) shall apply to actions occur10 ring on and after the date that is 2 years after 

11 the date of the enactment of this Act. 

12 (B) EXCEPTION.—The amendment made 

13 by paragraph (1)(C) shall not apply to the 

14 management or operation of a multi-line tele15 phone system installed before the date that is 2 

16 years after the date of the enactment of this 

17 Act, if such system is not able to be configured 

18 to satisfy the requirements of such amendment, 

19 without an improvement to the hardware or 

20 software of the system. 

21 (d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

22 (1) 9–8–8.—The term ‘‘9–8–8’’ means 9–8–8, 

23 as designated as the universal telephone number 

24 within the United States for the purpose of the na25 tional suicide prevention and mental health crisis 


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1 hotline system under section 251(e)(4) of the Com2 munications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 251(e)(4)). 

3 (2) COMMERCIAL MOBILE SERVICE.—The term 

4 ‘‘commercial mobile service’’ has the meaning given 

5 such term in section 332(d) of the Communications 

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

7 (3) COMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commission’’ 

8 means the Federal Communications Commission. 

9 (4) NON-SERVICE-INITIALIZED HANDSET.—The 

10 term ‘‘non-service-initialized handset’’ has the mean11 ing given that term in section 9.10(o)(3)(i) of title 

12 47, Code of Federal Regulations. 

Æ 


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