II 

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. 

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 ‘‘Improving Rural Call 

5 Quality and Reliability Act of 2015’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. ENSURING THE INTEGRITY OF VOICE COMMUNICA2 TIONS. 

3 Part II of title II of the Communications Act of 1934 

4 (47 U.S.C. 251 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end 

5 the following: 

6 ‘‘SEC. 262. ENSURING THE INTEGRITY OF VOICE COMMU7 NICATIONS. 

8 ‘‘(a) REGISTRATION AND COMPLIANCE BY INTER9 MEDIATE PROVIDERS.—An intermediate provider that of10 fers or holds itself out as offering the capability to trans11 mit covered voice communications from one destination to 

12 another and that charges any rate to any other entity (in13 cluding an affiliated entity) for the transmission shall— 

14 ‘‘(1) register with the Commission; and 

15 ‘‘(2) comply with the service quality standards 

16 for such transmission to be established by the Com17 mission under subsection (c)(1)(B). 

18 ‘‘(b) REQUIRED USE OF REGISTERED INTER19 MEDIATE PROVIDERS.—A covered provider may not use 

20 an intermediate provider to transmit covered voice com21 munications unless such intermediate provider is reg22 istered under subsection (a)(1). 

23 ‘‘(c) COMMISSION RULES.— 

24 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 

25 after the date of the enactment of this section, the 

26 Commission shall promulgate rules to establish— 


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1 ‘‘(A) a registry to record registrations 

2 under subsection (a)(1); and 

3 ‘‘(B) service quality standards for the 

4 transmission of covered voice communications 

5 by intermediate providers. 

6 ‘‘(2) REQUIREMENTS.—In promulgating the 

7 rules required by paragraph (1), the Commission 

8 shall— 

9 ‘‘(A) ensure the integrity of the trans10 mission of covered voice communications to all 

11 customers in the United States; and 

12 ‘‘(B) prevent unjust or unreasonable dis13 crimination among areas of the United States 

14 in the delivery of covered voice communications. 

15 ‘‘(d) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY OF REGISTRY.—The 

16 Commission shall make the registry established under sub17 section (c)(1)(A) publicly available on the website of the 

18 Commission. 

19 ‘‘(e) SCOPE OF APPLICATION.—The requirements of 

20 this section shall apply regardless of the format by which 

21 any communication or service is provided, the protocol or 

22 format by which the transmission of such communication 

23 or service is achieved, or the regulatory classification of 

24 such communication or service. 


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1 ‘‘(f) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec2 tion shall be construed to affect the regulatory classifica3 tion of any communication or service. 

4 ‘‘(g) EFFECT ON OTHER LAWS.—Nothing in this sec5 tion shall be construed to preempt the authority of a State 

6 public utility commission or other relevant State agency 

7 to collect data, or investigate and enforce State law and 

8 regulations, regarding the completion of intrastate voice 

9 communications, regardless of the format by which any 

10 communication or service is provided, the protocol or for11 mat by which the transmission of such communication or 

12 service is achieved, or the regulatory classification of such 

13 communication or service. 

14 ‘‘(h) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

15 ‘‘(1) COVERED PROVIDER.—The term ‘covered 

16 provider’ has the meaning given the term in section 

17 64.2101 of title 47, Code of Federal Regulations, or 

18 any successor thereto. 

19 ‘‘(2) COVERED VOICE COMMUNICATION.—The 

20 term ‘covered voice communication’ means a voice 

21 communication (including any related signaling in22 formation) that is generated— 

23 ‘‘(A) from the placement of a call from a 

24 connection using a North American Numbering 


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1 Plan resource or a call placed to a connection 

2 using such a numbering resource; and 

3 ‘‘(B) through any service provided by a 

4 covered provider. 

5 ‘‘(3) INTERMEDIATE PROVIDER.—The term ‘in6 termediate provider’ means any entity that— 

7 ‘‘(A) carries or processes traffic that is 

8 generated from the placement of a call from a 

9 connection using a North American Numbering 

10 Plan resource or a call placed to a connection 

11 using such a numbering resource; and 

12 ‘‘(B) does not itself originate or terminate 

13 such traffic in the context of the carriage or 

14 processing.’’. 

Æ 


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