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[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 827 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 827

  To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to ensure the integrity of 
      voice communications and to prevent unjust or unreasonable 
discrimination among areas of the United States in the delivery of such 
                            communications.

_______________________________________________________________________

                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 19, 2015

  Ms. Klobuchar (for herself and Mr. Tester) introduced the following 
 bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, 
                      Science, and Transportation

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

 
  To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to ensure the integrity of 
      voice communications and to prevent unjust or unreasonable 
discrimination among areas of the United States in the delivery of such 
                            communications.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Improving Rural Call Quality and 
Reliability Act of 2015''.

SEC. 2. ENSURING THE INTEGRITY OF VOICE COMMUNICATIONS.

    Part II of title II of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 
251 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following:

``SEC. 262. ENSURING THE INTEGRITY OF VOICE COMMUNICATIONS.

    ``(a) Registration and Compliance by Intermediate Providers.--An 
intermediate provider that offers or holds itself out as offering the 
capability to transmit covered voice communications from one 
destination to another and that charges any rate to any other entity 
(including an affiliated entity) for the transmission shall--
            ``(1) register with the Commission; and
            ``(2) comply with the service quality standards for such 
        transmission to be established by the Commission under 
        subsection (c)(1)(B).
    ``(b) Required Use of Registered Intermediate Providers.--A covered 
provider may not use an intermediate provider to transmit covered voice 
communications unless such intermediate provider is registered under 
subsection (a)(1).
    ``(c) Commission Rules.--
            ``(1) In general.--Not later than 180 days after the date 
        of the enactment of this section, the Commission shall 
        promulgate rules to establish--
                    ``(A) a registry to record registrations under 
                subsection (a)(1); and
                    ``(B) service quality standards for the 
                transmission of covered voice communications by 
                intermediate providers.
            ``(2) Requirements.--In promulgating the rules required by 
        paragraph (1), the Commission shall--
                    ``(A) ensure the integrity of the transmission of 
                covered voice communications to all customers in the 
                United States; and
                    ``(B) prevent unjust or unreasonable discrimination 
                among areas of the United States in the delivery of 
                covered voice communications.
    ``(d) Public Availability of Registry.--The Commission shall make 
the registry established under subsection (c)(1)(A) publicly available 
on the website of the Commission.
    ``(e) Scope of Application.--The requirements of this section shall 
apply regardless of the format by which any communication or service is 
provided, the protocol or format by which the transmission of such 
communication or service is achieved, or the regulatory classification 
of such communication or service.
    ``(f) Rule of Construction.--Nothing in this section shall be 
construed to affect the regulatory classification of any communication 
or service.
    ``(g) Effect on Other Laws.--Nothing in this section shall be 
construed to preempt the authority of a State public utility commission 
or other relevant State agency to collect data, or investigate and 
enforce State law and regulations, regarding the completion of 
intrastate voice communications, regardless of the format by which any 
communication or service is provided, the protocol or format by which 
the transmission of such communication or service is achieved, or the 
regulatory classification of such communication or service.
    ``(h) Definitions.--In this section:
            ``(1) Covered provider.--The term `covered provider' has 
        the meaning given the term in section 64.2101 of title 47, Code 
        of Federal Regulations, or any successor thereto.
            ``(2) Covered voice communication.--The term `covered voice 
        communication' means a voice communication (including any 
        related signaling information) that is generated--
                    ``(A) from the placement of a call from a 
                connection using a North American Numbering Plan 
                resource or a call placed to a connection using such a 
                numbering resource; and
                    ``(B) through any service provided by a covered 
                provider.
            ``(3) Intermediate provider.--The term `intermediate 
        provider' means any entity that--
                    ``(A) carries or processes traffic that is 
                generated from the placement of a call from a 
                connection using a North American Numbering Plan 
                resource or a call placed to a connection using such a 
                numbering resource; and
                    ``(B) does not itself originate or terminate such 
                traffic in the context of the carriage or 
                processing.''.
                                 <all>
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