I 
115TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 5983 
To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to require providers of a covered 
service to provide location information concerning the telecommunications 
device of a user of such service to an investigative or law enforcement 
officer or an employee or other agent of a public safety answering 
point in an emergency situation involving risk of death or serious physical 
harm or in order to respond to the user’s call for emergency services. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 25, 2018 
Mr. YODER (for himself, Ms. JENKINS of Kansas, and Mr. ESTES of Kansas) 
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on En-
ergy and Commerce 
A BILL 
To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to require pro-
viders of a covered service to provide location information 
concerning the telecommunications device of a user of 
such service to an investigative or law enforcement officer 
or an employee or other agent of a public safety answer-
ing point in an emergency situation involving risk of 
death or serious physical harm or in order to respond 
to the user’s call for emergency services. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Kelsey Smith Act’’. 
SEC. 2. REQUIRED EMERGENCY DISCLOSURE OF LOCATION 
INFORMATION TO LAW ENFORCEMENT OR 
PUBLIC SAFETY ANSWERING POINT. 
Section 222 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 
U.S.C. 222) is amended— 
(1) in subsection (d)— 
(A) in paragraph (4), by redesignating 
subparagraphs (A), (B), and (C) as clauses (i), 
(ii), and (iii), respectively, and adjusting the 
margins accordingly; 
(B) 
by 
redesignating 
paragraphs 
(1) 
through (4) as subparagraphs (A) through (D), 
respectively, and adjusting the margins accord-
ingly; 
(C) in the matter preceding subparagraph 
(A), as so redesignated, by striking ‘‘Nothing in 
this section’’ and inserting the following: 
‘‘(1) PERMITTED
DISCLOSURES.—Nothing in 
this section’’; and 
(D) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(2) REQUIRED
EMERGENCY
DISCLOSURE
OF 
LOCATION INFORMATION TO LAW ENFORCEMENT OR 
PUBLIC SAFETY ANSWERING POINT.— 
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‘‘(A) 
LOCATION
INFORMATION
RE-
QUESTS.—Notwithstanding subsections (a), (b), 
and (c), at the request of an investigative or 
law enforcement officer or an employee or other 
agent of a public safety answering point acting 
on behalf of such an officer, who is acting in 
the course of the official duties of the officer or 
agent, a provider of a covered service shall pro-
vide to the officer or agent the available loca-
tion information of a telecommunications device 
without delay if the officer or agent asserts— 
‘‘(i) that the device was used to place 
a 9–1–1 call requesting emergency assist-
ance during the preceding 48-hour period; 
or 
‘‘(ii) reasonable suspicion that the de-
vice is in the possession of an individual 
who is involved in an emergency situation 
that involves the risk of death or serious 
physical harm. 
‘‘(B) RECORDS OF DISCLOSED RECORDS.— 
If an investigative or law enforcement officer, 
or an employee or other agent of a public safety 
answering point acting on behalf of such an of-
ficer, submits a request for location information 
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to a provider of a covered service under sub-
paragraph (A), the investigative or law enforce-
ment agency employing the officer shall main-
tain a record of the request that includes each 
of the following: 
‘‘(i) The name of the officer or agent 
making the request (and, in the case of a 
request made by an agent, the name of the 
officer on whose behalf the agent is act-
ing). 
‘‘(ii) A description of the request that 
explains the need for disclosure of location 
information. 
‘‘(iii) A declaration that disclosure of 
location information is needed based on the 
conditions described in clause (i) or (ii) of 
subparagraph (A). 
‘‘(C) HOLD HARMLESS.—No cause of ac-
tion shall lie in any court, nor shall any civil or 
administrative proceeding be commenced by any 
person or entity, against a provider of a covered 
service, or its directors, officers, employees, 
agents, or vendors, for providing location infor-
mation or assistance in accordance with sub-
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paragraph (A) and any regulations promulgated 
under this paragraph. 
‘‘(D) RELATIONSHIP TO STATE LAW.— 
‘‘(i) IN
GENERAL.—Nothing in this 
section exempts a telecommunications car-
rier or a provider of a covered service from 
complying, in a circumstance described in 
clause (ii), with any applicable State law 
that requires the carrier or provider to pro-
vide location information of a telecommuni-
cations device to an investigative or law en-
forcement officer or an employee or other 
agent of a public safety answering point 
acting on behalf of such an officer in re-
sponse to a request by the officer or agent. 
‘‘(ii) APPLICABILITY.—A circumstance 
described in this clause is a circumstance 
in which the officer or agent— 
‘‘(I) makes the request while act-
ing in the course of the official duties 
of the officer or agent; and 
‘‘(II) asserts that the request is 
made for the purpose of responding 
to— 
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‘‘(aa) a call for emergency 
services; or 
‘‘(bb) an emergency situa-
tion that involves the risk of 
death or serious physical harm.’’; 
(2) in subsection (f)(1), by striking ‘‘subsection 
(d)(4)’’ and inserting ‘‘subsection (d)(1)(D)’’; and 
(3) in subsection (h), by adding at the end the 
following: 
‘‘(8) COVERED
SERVICE.—The term ‘covered 
service’ means— 
‘‘(A) a commercial mobile service (as de-
fined in section 332(d)); or 
‘‘(B) an IP-enabled voice service (as de-
fined in section 7 of the Wireless Communica-
tions and Public Safety Act of 1999 (47 U.S.C. 
615b)). 
‘‘(9) INVESTIGATIVE
OR
LAW
ENFORCEMENT 
OFFICER.—The term ‘investigative or law enforce-
ment officer’ has the meaning given the term ‘Inves-
tigative or law enforcement officer’ in section 2510 
of title 18, United States Code.’’. 
Æ 
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