IV 
113TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. RES. 536 
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that telephone service 
must be improved in rural areas of the United States and that no 
entity may unreasonably discriminate against telephone users in those 
areas. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
APRIL 2, 2014 
Mr. LATTA (for himself and Mr. WELCH) submitted the following resolution; 
which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 
RESOLUTION 
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that 
telephone service must be improved in rural areas of 
the United States and that no entity may unreasonably 
discriminate against telephone users in those areas. 
Whereas all people in the United States rely on quality, effi-
cient, and dependable telephone service in many aspects 
of life, including conducting business, securing the safety 
of the public, and connecting families; 
Whereas multiple surveys conducted by the National Ex-
change Carrier Association revealed that complaints of 
uncompleted telephone calls persist, with the most recent 
survey in October 2012 indicating a 41 percent increase 
in uncompleted calls between March and September of 
the same year; 
VerDate Mar 15 2010 
23:48 Apr 02, 2014
Jkt 039200
PO 00000
Frm 00001
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6300
E:\BILLS\HR536.IH
HR536
jbell on DSK7SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
•HRES 536 IH 
Whereas the National Exchange Carrier Association and 
rural telecommunications carriers in April 2012 supplied 
information that— 
(1) 6.4 percent of calls to rural areas failed, but only 
0.5 percent of calls to urban areas failed; and 
(2) 11 percent of calls to rural areas were either 
poor quality or were delayed, compared to only 5 percent 
in urban areas; 
Whereas the Federal Communications Commission was made 
aware of an issue regarding telephone service connection 
in rural areas in November 2010 and has since issued a 
declaratory ruling and a notice of proposed rulemaking 
with respect to the issue and has reached a settlement 
with one telecommunications carrier; 
Whereas, in a declaratory ruling in February 2012, the Fed-
eral Communications Commission made it clear that 
blocking or otherwise restricting telephone service is a 
violation of section 201(b) of the Communications Act of 
1934 (47 U.S.C. 201(b)), which prohibits unjust or un-
reasonable practices, and section 202(a) of that Act (47 
U.S.C. 202(a)), which outlines the duty of a tele-
communications carrier to refrain from discrimination; 
Whereas actions by the Federal Communications Commission 
have not significantly decreased the prevalence of tele-
phone calls being rerouted by telecommunications carriers 
and some States are seeing an increase in complaints as 
of April 2013; 
Whereas, in October 2013, the Federal Communications 
Commission adopted a Report and Order and Further 
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (FCC 13–135) requiring 
some providers of long-distance telephone service to 
record, retain, and report call completion data to the 
VerDate Mar 15 2010 
23:48 Apr 02, 2014
Jkt 039200
PO 00000
Frm 00002
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6300
E:\BILLS\HR536.IH
HR536
jbell on DSK7SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
•HRES 536 IH 
Commission and prohibiting all originating and inter-
mediate providers from causing audible ringing to be sent 
to the caller before the terminating provider has signaled 
that the called party is being alerted; 
Whereas telephone communications are vital to keeping rural 
areas of the United States competitive in the economy, 
and a low rate of telephone call completion results in eco-
nomic injury to rural businesses, including farmers, 
trucking companies, and suppliers who have seen thou-
sands of dollars in business lost when telephone calls are 
not completed; 
Whereas the safety of the public is at risk from a lack of 
quality telephone communications, including 911 services; 
Whereas schools depend on telephone calls to notify students 
and parents of emergencies, and health care centers de-
pend on telecommunications services to save lives and to 
communicate with rural patients; 
Whereas small, local telecommunications carriers are losing 
valuable, multi-line business subscribers because of a lack 
of quality telecommunications services, which is finan-
cially detrimental to those carriers and adversely affects 
the rural communities served by those carriers; and 
Whereas it may cost a telecommunications carrier serving a 
rural area hundreds of dollars to investigate each com-
plaint of an uncompleted telephone call: Now, therefore, 
be it 
Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Rep-
resentatives that— 
VerDate Mar 15 2010 
23:48 Apr 02, 2014
Jkt 039200
PO 00000
Frm 00003
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\HR536.IH
HR536
jbell on DSK7SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
•HRES 536 IH 
(1) all providers must appropriately complete 
calls to all areas of the United States regardless of 
the technology used by the providers; 
(2) no entity may unreasonably discriminate 
against telephone users in rural areas of the United 
States; and 
(3) the Federal Communications Commission 
should— 
(A) aggressively pursue entities whose vio-
lations of the rules of the Federal Communica-
tions Commission contribute to a lack of quality 
telecommunications services in rural areas of 
the United States, and impose swift and mean-
ingful enforcement actions to discourage— 
(i) practices leading to telephone calls 
not being completed in rural areas of the 
United States; and 
(ii) 
unreasonable 
discrimination 
against telephone users in rural areas of 
the United States; and 
(B) move forward with clear, comprehen-
sive, and enforceable actions in order to estab-
lish a robust and definitive solution to discrimi-
VerDate Mar 15 2010 
23:48 Apr 02, 2014
Jkt 039200
PO 00000
Frm 00004
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\HR536.IH
HR536
jbell on DSK7SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
•HRES 536 IH 
nation against telephone users in rural areas of 
the United States. 
Æ 
VerDate Mar 15 2010 
23:48 Apr 02, 2014
Jkt 039200
PO 00000
Frm 00005
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6301
E:\BILLS\HR536.IH
HR536
jbell on DSK7SPTVN1PROD with BILLS