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. Default 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. Default configuration of multi-line telephone systems for direct dialing of 9–1–1 (a) Definition In this section, the term multi-line telephone system 47 U.S.C. 1471 (b) Direct initiation of calls to 9–1–1 A person engaged in the business of manufacturing, importing, selling, leasing, or installing multi-line telephone systems may not manufacture or import for use in the United States, sell or lease or offer to sell or lease in the United States, or install in the United States a multi-line telephone system unless the default configuration of the system allows a user to directly initiate a call to 9–1–1 from any station equipped with dialing facilities— (1) without requiring the user to dial any additional digit, code, prefix, or post-fix, including any trunk-access code (such as the digit 9 (2) regardless of whether the user is required to dial such a digit, code, prefix, or post-fix for other calls. (c) On-Site notification (1) In general A person engaged in the business of installing multi-line telephone systems, in installing a system described in paragraph (2), shall configure the system to provide a notification to a central location— (A) at the facility where the system is installed; and (B) when a person at the facility initiates a call to 9–1–1 using the system. (2) Configuration A system described in this paragraph is a multi-line telephone system that is able to be configured to provide the notification described in paragraph (1) without an improvement to the hardware of the system. (d) Enforcement This section shall be enforced under title V, except that section 501 applies only to the extent that the section provides for the imposition of a fine. . (b) Effective date The amendment made by subsection (a) shall apply with respect to a multi-line telephone system that is manufactured, imported, offered for first sale or lease, first sold or leased, or installed after the date that is 2 years after the date of the enactment of this Act.

Summary: Kari's Law Act of 2016 This bill amends the Communications Act of 1934 to require multi-line telephone systems to have a default configuration that allows 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 installing such systems must configure the systems to provide a notification to a central location at the facility where the system is installed when a person at the facility initiates a call to 9-1-1 using the system, provided that the system is able to be so configured without an improvement to the hardware.