I 
115TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 6987 
To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to provide for certain require-
ments relating to charges for internet, television, and voice services, 
and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
SEPTEMBER 28, 2018 
Ms. ESHOO introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 
on Energy and Commerce 
A BILL 
To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to provide for 
certain requirements relating to charges for internet, tel-
evision, and voice services, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Truth-in-Billing, Rem-
edies, and User Empowerment over Fees Act of 2018’’ 
or the ‘‘TRUE Fees Act of 2018’’. 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
00:05 Oct 10, 2018
Jkt 079200
PO 00000
Frm 00001
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H6987.IH
H6987
pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS
SEC. 2. REQUIREMENTS RELATING TO CHARGES FOR COV-
ERED SERVICES. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Title VII of the Communications 
Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 601 et seq.) is amended by adding 
at the end the following: 
‘‘SEC. 723. REQUIREMENTS RELATING TO CHARGES FOR 
COVERED SERVICES. 
‘‘(a) TRANSPARENCY IN ADVERTISING.— 
‘‘(1) IN
GENERAL.—A provider of a covered 
service may not advertise the price of such service 
unless the advertised price is the total amount that 
the provider will charge for or relating to the provi-
sion of such service, including any related taxes, ad-
ministrative fees, equipment rental fees, or other 
charges, to a consumer who accepts the offer made 
in the advertisement. 
‘‘(2) EXCEPTION.—Paragraph (1) does not re-
quire a provider of a covered service to include in 
the advertised price of the service any tax, fee, or 
other charge that— 
‘‘(A) the provider is required to charge 
under any provision of Federal law or of the 
law of a State or political subdivision of a 
State; and 
‘‘(B) is not uniform throughout the United 
States. 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
00:05 Oct 10, 2018
Jkt 079200
PO 00000
Frm 00002
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H6987.IH
H6987
pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS
‘‘(b) TRANSPARENCY IN E-BILLING.—A provider of a 
covered service may not provide a bill to a consumer in 
an electronic format unless the provider— 
‘‘(1) provides the bill, or a notification that the 
bill is available, by email or a functional equivalent 
of email that permits the consumer to view the bill 
or notification without having to access an online ac-
count or the functional equivalent of an online ac-
count or to take any similar additional steps; and 
‘‘(2) includes in the bill or notification provided 
in accordance with paragraph (1) an itemized state-
ment that breaks down the total amount charged for 
or relating to the provision of the covered service by 
the amount charged for the provision of the service 
itself and the amount of any related taxes, adminis-
trative fees, equipment rental fees, or other charges, 
in the same level of detail as would be provided in 
a paper bill. 
‘‘(c) REQUIREMENTS FOR INCREASES IN CHARGES.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In the case of a provider of 
a covered service that enters into a contract with a 
consumer for the provision of a covered service— 
‘‘(A) the provider may not increase the 
total amount charged for or relating to the pro-
vision of the service under the contract, includ-
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
00:05 Oct 10, 2018
Jkt 079200
PO 00000
Frm 00003
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H6987.IH
H6987
pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS
ing any related taxes, administrative fees, 
equipment rental fees, or other charges, unless 
the increase is the result of an objectively quan-
tifiable increase in the cost to the provider of 
providing the service, as demonstrated through 
a change in an indicator such as a prime inter-
est rate or a tax applicable to the service; 
‘‘(B) if the provider increases such total 
amount, regardless of the amount of the in-
crease or whether the increase is in the amount 
charged for the provision of the service itself or 
in any related taxes, administrative fees, equip-
ment rental fees, or other charges, the provider 
shall— 
‘‘(i) provide the consumer with clear 
notice of the increase not later than 21 
days before the increase takes effect, in the 
same manner in which the provider pro-
vides to the consumer a notification that 
the consumer’s bill is available (or, if no 
separate notification is provided, in the 
same manner as the provider provides the 
consumer’s bill to the consumer); and 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
00:05 Oct 10, 2018
Jkt 079200
PO 00000
Frm 00004
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H6987.IH
H6987
pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS
‘‘(ii) permit the consumer to termi-
nate the contract without paying any early 
termination fee or other penalty; and 
‘‘(C) the provider may not increase any fee 
or other charge for equipment rental unless the 
equipment is upgraded (whether through a 
hardware or software upgrade) so as to provide 
a substantial increase in functionality. 
‘‘(2) EXCEPTION
FOR
ADDITIONAL
OR
UP-
GRADED SERVICE REQUESTED BY CONSUMER.—Sub-
paragraphs (A) and (B) of paragraph (1) do not 
apply with respect to an increase resulting from the 
provision, at the request of the consumer, of a serv-
ice that is in addition to, or an upgrade of, a service 
covered by the contract. 
‘‘(d) PROHIBITION ON COMPULSORY ALTERNATIVE 
DISPUTE RESOLUTION.— 
‘‘(1) PROHIBITION
ON
CONTRACTUAL
PROVI-
SION.—A provider of a covered service may not in-
clude in a contract with a consumer for the provision 
of a covered service a provision that requires the 
consumer to resolve a covered dispute with the pro-
vider through alternative dispute resolution. 
‘‘(2) UNENFORCEABILITY
OF
CONTRACTUAL 
PROVISION.—Any alternative dispute resolution pro-
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
00:05 Oct 10, 2018
Jkt 079200
PO 00000
Frm 00005
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H6987.IH
H6987
pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS
vision included in a contract in violation of para-
graph (1) shall be void and unenforceable. 
‘‘(e) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
‘‘(1) ALTERNATIVE
DISPUTE
RESOLUTION.— 
The term ‘alternative dispute resolution’ has the 
meaning given such term in section 3 of the Y2K 
Act (15 U.S.C. 6602). 
‘‘(2) COVERED
DISPUTE.—The term ‘covered 
dispute’ means a dispute between a provider of a 
covered service and a consumer in which the con-
sumer alleges that— 
‘‘(A) the amount charged by the provider 
for or relating to the provision of the service 
(including any related taxes, administrative 
fees, equipment rental fees, or other charges)— 
‘‘(i) was increased without notice 
being provided to the consumer as required 
by subsection (c)(1)(B)(i); or 
‘‘(ii) during the period covered by any 
promotional rate or other discount that 
was included in the price that the con-
sumer agreed to pay for or relating to the 
provision of the covered service, did not re-
flect the promotional rate or other dis-
count; or 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
00:05 Oct 10, 2018
Jkt 079200
PO 00000
Frm 00006
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H6987.IH
H6987
pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS
‘‘(B) the provider billed the consumer— 
‘‘(i) for the provision of a service (or 
for any related taxes, administrative fees, 
or other charges) to which the consumer 
did not subscribe during the period covered 
by the bill; or 
‘‘(ii) for rental of equipment (or for 
any related taxes, administrative fees, or 
other charges) that the consumer did not 
rent during the period covered by the bill. 
‘‘(3) COVERED
SERVICE.—The term ‘covered 
service’— 
‘‘(A) means— 
‘‘(i) internet access service; 
‘‘(ii) voice service (as defined in sec-
tion 227(e)(8)); 
‘‘(iii) commercial mobile service (as 
defined in section 332); 
‘‘(iv) commercial mobile data service 
(as defined in section 6001 of the Middle 
Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 
2012 (47 U.S.C. 1401)); and 
‘‘(v) service provided by a multi-
channel video programming distributer (as 
defined in section 602), to the extent such 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
00:05 Oct 10, 2018
Jkt 079200
PO 00000
Frm 00007
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H6987.IH
H6987
pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS
distributor is acting as a multichannel 
video programming distributor; and 
‘‘(B) includes any other service offered or 
provided as part of a bundle or package with 
any service referred to in subparagraph (A). 
‘‘(4) INTERNET
ACCESS
SERVICE.—The term 
‘internet access service’— 
‘‘(A) means a mass-market retail service 
by wire or radio that provides the capability to 
transmit data to and receive data from all or 
substantially all internet endpoints, including 
any capabilities that are incidental to and en-
able the operation of the communications serv-
ice; and 
‘‘(B) also includes any service that— 
‘‘(i) the Commission finds to be pro-
viding a functional equivalent of the service 
described in subparagraph (A); or 
‘‘(ii) is used to evade the protections 
set forth in this section.’’. 
(b) TRANSITIONAL RULE RELATING TO DEFINITION 
OF VOICE SERVICE.—Subsection (e)(3)(A)(ii) of section 
723 of the Communications Act of 1934, as added by sub-
section (a) of this section, shall apply before the effective 
date of the amendment made to subsection (e)(8) of sec-
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
00:05 Oct 10, 2018
Jkt 079200
PO 00000
Frm 00008
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H6987.IH
H6987
pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS
tion 227 of such Act (47 U.S.C. 227) by subparagraph 
(C) of section 503(a)(2) of division P of the Consolidated 
Appropriations Act, 2018 (Public Law 115–141) as if 
such amendment was already in effect. 
(c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Section 723 of the Commu-
nications Act of 1934, as added by subsection (a) of this 
section, shall apply beginning on the date that is 180 days 
after the date of the enactment of this Act, except that 
subsections (c) and (d) of such section 723 shall not apply 
with respect to a contract entered into, and as in effect, 
before the date that is 180 days after the date of the en-
actment of this Act. 
Æ 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
00:05 Oct 10, 2018
Jkt 079200
PO 00000
Frm 00009
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6301
E:\BILLS\H6987.IH
H6987
pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS