Kari's Law Act of 2016

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to require multi-line telephone systems to have a default configuration that permits users to directly initiate a call to 9–1–1 without dialing any additional digit, code, prefix, or post-fix, and for other purposes. 1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Kari’s Law Act of 2016 2. Configuration of multi-line telephone systems for direct dialing of 9-1-1 (a) In general Title VII of the Communications Act of 1934 ( 47 U.S.C. 601 et seq. 721. Configuration of multi-line telephone systems for direct dialing of 9-1-1 (a) System manufacture, importation, sale, and lease A person engaged in the business of manufacturing, importing, selling, or leasing multi-line telephone systems may not manufacture or import for use in the United States, or sell or lease or offer to sell or lease in the United States, a multi-line telephone system, unless such system is pre-configured such that, when properly installed in accordance with subsection (b), a user may directly initiate a call to 9-1-1 from any station equipped with dialing facilities, without dialing any additional digit, code, prefix, or post-fix, including any trunk-access code such as the digit ‘9’, regardless of whether the user is required to dial such a digit, code, prefix, or post-fix for other calls. (b) System installation, management, and operation A person engaged in the business of installing, managing, or operating multi-line telephone systems may not install, manage, or operate for use in the United States such a system, unless such system is configured such that a user may directly initiate a call to 9-1-1 from any station equipped with dialing facilities, without dialing any additional digit, code, prefix, or post-fix, including any trunk-access code such as the digit ‘9’, regardless of whether the user is required to dial such a digit, code, prefix, or post-fix for other calls. (c) On-site notification A person engaged in the business of installing, managing, or operating multi-line telephone systems shall, in installing, managing, or operating such a system for use in the United States, configure the system to provide a notification to a central location at the facility where the system is installed or to another person or organization regardless of location, if the system is able to be configured to provide the notification without an improvement to the hardware or software of the system. (d) Effect on State law Nothing in this section is intended to alter the authority of State commissions or other State or local agencies with jurisdiction over emergency communications, if the exercise of such authority is not inconsistent with this Act. (e) Enforcement This section shall be enforced under title V, except that section 501 applies only to the extent that such section provides for the punishment of a fine. (f) Multi-line telephone system defined In this section, the term multi-line telephone system 47 U.S.C. 1471 . (b) Effective date The amendment made by subsection (a) shall apply beginning on the date that is 2 years after the date of the enactment of this Act. Amend the title so as to read: A bill to amend the Communications Act of 1934 to require multi-line telephone systems to have a configuration that permits users to directly initiate a call to 9-1-1 without dialing any additional digit, code, prefix, or post-fix, and for other purposes. May 23, 2016 Reported with amendments, committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed

Summary: Kari's Law Act of 2016 (Sec. 2) This bill amends the Communications Act of 1934 to prohibit businesses from manufacturing or importing for use in the United States, or selling or leasing in the United States, a multi-line telephone system unless it is pre-configured to allow users to directly initiate a call to 9-1-1 (without dialing any additional digit, code, prefix, or post-fix, including any trunk-access code such as the digit "9") from any station equipped with dialing facilities. Businesses are prohibited from installing, managing, or operating multi-line telephone systems without such a direct 9-1-1 call configuration. Businesses installing, managing, or operating such systems for use in the United States must configure the systems to provide a notification to a central location at the facility where the system is installed, or to another person or organization regardless of location, if the system is able to be so configured without an improvement to the hardware or software.