I 
118TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 4974 
To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to improve the accessibility 
of 9–8–8, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 27, 2023 
Mr. CA´RDENAS (for himself, Mr. FITZPATRICK, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Ms. MAT-
SUI, Ms. KUSTER, and Mr. MOULTON) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 
A BILL 
To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to improve the 
accessibility of 9–8–8, 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 ‘‘Local 9–8–8 Response 
Act of 2023’’. 
SEC. 2. 9–8–8 IMPROVEMENT. 
(a) PROXIMITY-BASED ROUTING.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after 
the date of the enactment of this Act, the Commis-
sion shall promulgate regulations to ensure that 
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each phone call, text message, and chat made or 
sent to 9–8–8 is routed to the participating crisis 
center that is closest to the geographic area from 
which such phone call, text message, or chat origi-
nated. 
(2) LIMITATION.—In promulgating regulations 
under paragraph (1), the Commission shall protect 
the privacy of individuals who contact 9–8–8 by en-
suring that a call, text message, or chat made or 
sent to 9–8–8 does not reveal the precise location of 
the individual who made or sent such call, text mes-
sage, or chat. 
(b) TRANSMISSION OF ALL CALLS AND TEXTS.—Not 
later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this 
Act, the Commission shall promulgate regulations to en-
sure that each provider of commercial mobile service 
transmits all calls and text messages made or sent to 9– 
8–8, including a call or text message that originates from 
a non-service-initialized handset (if such call or text mes-
sage originates on a phone using a compliant radio fre-
quency protocol of the provider). 
(c) CONFIGURATION
OF MULTI-LINE TELEPHONE 
SYSTEMS FOR DIRECT DIALING.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Section 721 of the Commu-
nications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 623) is amended— 
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(A) in the section heading, by inserting 
‘‘AND 9–8–8’’ after ‘‘9–1–1’’; 
(B) in subsection (a), by inserting ‘‘and 9– 
8–8’’ after ‘‘9–1–1’’; and 
(C) in subsection (b), by inserting ‘‘and 9– 
8–8’’ after ‘‘9–1–1’’. 
(2) APPLICABILITY.— 
(A) IN GENERAL.—The amendments made 
by paragraph (1) shall apply to actions occur-
ring on and after the date that is 2 years after 
the date of the enactment of this Act. 
(B) EXCEPTION.—The amendment made 
by paragraph (1)(C) shall not apply to the 
management or operation of a multi-line tele-
phone system installed before the date that is 2 
years after the date of the enactment of this 
Act, if such system is not able to be configured 
to satisfy the requirements of such amendment, 
without an improvement to the hardware or 
software of the system. 
(d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
(1) 9–8–8.—The term ‘‘9–8–8’’ means 9–8–8, 
as designated as the universal telephone number 
within the United States for the purpose of the na-
tional suicide prevention and mental health crisis 
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