II 
117TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 7132 
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 
JULY 28, 2022 
Received 
AN ACT 
To preserve safe access to communications services for sur-
vivors of domestic violence and other crimes, and for 
other purposes. 
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 ‘‘Safe Connections Act 
of 2022’’. 
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 
Except as otherwise provided in this Act, terms used 
in this Act that are defined in section 345(a) of the Com-
munications Act of 1934, as added by section 4 of this 
Act, have the meanings given those terms in such section 
345(a). 
SEC. 3. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) Domestic violence, dating violence, stalking, 
sexual assault, human trafficking, and related 
crimes are life-threatening issues and have lasting 
and harmful effects on individuals, families, and en-
tire communities. 
(2) Survivors often lack meaningful support 
and options when establishing independence from an 
abuser, including barriers such as financial insecu-
rity and limited access to reliable communications 
tools to maintain essential connections with family, 
social safety networks, employers, and support serv-
ices. 
(3) Perpetrators of violence and abuse described 
in paragraph (1) increasingly use technological and 
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communications tools to exercise control over, mon-
itor, and abuse their victims. 
(4) Communications law can play a public in-
terest role in the promotion of safety, life, and prop-
erty with respect to the types of violence and abuse 
described in paragraph (1). For example, inde-
pendent access to a wireless phone plan can assist 
survivors in establishing security and autonomy. 
(5) Safeguards within communications services 
can serve a role in preventing abuse and narrowing 
the digital divide experienced by survivors of abuse. 
SEC. 4. PROTECTION OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE SURVIVORS 
WITHIN COMMUNICATIONS SERVICES. 
Part I of title III of the Communications Act of 1934 
(47 U.S.C. 301 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end 
the following: 
‘‘SEC. 345. PROTECTION OF SURVIVORS OF DOMESTIC VIO-
LENCE, HUMAN TRAFFICKING, AND RELATED 
CRIMES. 
‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
‘‘(1) ABUSER.—The term ‘abuser’ means an in-
dividual who has committed or allegedly committed 
a covered act against— 
‘‘(A) an individual who seeks relief under 
subsection (b); or 
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‘‘(B) an individual in the care of an indi-
vidual who seeks relief under subsection (b). 
‘‘(2) COVERED ACT.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘covered act’ 
means conduct that constitutes— 
‘‘(i) a crime described in section 
40002(a) of the Violence Against Women 
Act of 1994 (34 U.S.C. 12291(a)), includ-
ing domestic violence, dating violence, sex-
ual assault, stalking, and sex trafficking; 
‘‘(ii) an act or practice described in 
paragraph (11) or (12) of section 103 of 
the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 
2000 (22 U.S.C. 7102) (relating to severe 
forms of trafficking in persons and sex 
trafficking, respectively); or 
‘‘(iii) an act under State law, Tribal 
law, or the Uniform Code of Military Jus-
tice that is similar to an offense described 
in clause (i) or (ii). 
‘‘(B) CONVICTION NOT REQUIRED.—Noth-
ing in subparagraph (A) shall be construed to 
require a criminal conviction or any other deter-
mination of a court in order for conduct to con-
stitute a covered act. 
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‘‘(3) COVERED PROVIDER.—The term ‘covered 
provider’ means a provider of a private mobile serv-
ice or commercial mobile service, as those terms are 
defined in section 332(d). 
‘‘(4) PRIMARY ACCOUNT HOLDER.—The term 
‘primary account holder’ means an individual who is 
a party to a mobile service contract with a covered 
provider. 
‘‘(5) SHARED
MOBILE
SERVICE
CONTRACT.— 
The term ‘shared mobile service contract’— 
‘‘(A) means a mobile service contract for 
an account that includes not less than 2 con-
sumers; and 
‘‘(B) does not include enterprise services 
offered by a covered provider. 
‘‘(6) SURVIVOR.—The term ‘survivor’ means an 
individual who is not less than 18 years old and— 
‘‘(A) against whom a covered act has been 
committed or allegedly committed; or 
‘‘(B) who cares for another individual 
against whom a covered act has been committed 
or allegedly committed (provided that the indi-
vidual providing care did not commit or alleg-
edly commit the covered act). 
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‘‘(b) SEPARATION OF LINES FROM SHARED MOBILE 
SERVICE CONTRACT.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 2 business 
days after receiving a completed line separation re-
quest from a survivor pursuant to subsection (c), a 
covered provider shall, as applicable, with respect to 
a shared mobile service contract under which the 
survivor and the abuser each use a line— 
‘‘(A) separate the line of the survivor, and 
the line of any individual in the care of the sur-
vivor, from the shared mobile service contract; 
or 
‘‘(B) separate the line of the abuser from 
the shared mobile service contract. 
‘‘(2) LIMITATIONS ON PENALTIES, FEES, AND 
OTHER
REQUIREMENTS.—Except as provided in 
paragraphs (5) through (7), a covered provider may 
not make separation of a line from a shared mobile 
service contract under paragraph (1) contingent on 
any requirement other than the requirements under 
subsection (c), including— 
‘‘(A) payment of a fee, penalty, or other 
charge; 
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‘‘(B) maintaining contractual or billing re-
sponsibility of a separated line with the pro-
vider; 
‘‘(C) approval of separation by the primary 
account holder, if the primary account holder is 
not the survivor; 
‘‘(D) a prohibition or limitation, including 
one described in subparagraph (A), on number 
portability, provided such portability is tech-
nically feasible, or a request to change phone 
numbers; 
‘‘(E) a prohibition or limitation on the sep-
aration of lines as a result of arrears accrued 
by the account; 
‘‘(F) an increase in the rate charged for 
the mobile service plan of the primary account 
holder with respect to service on any remaining 
line or lines; or 
‘‘(G) any other limitation or requirement 
not listed under subsection (c). 
‘‘(3) RULE
OF
CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in 
paragraph (2) shall be construed to require a cov-
ered provider to provide a rate plan for the primary 
account holder that is not otherwise commercially 
available. 
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‘‘(4) REMOTE
OPTION.—A covered provider 
shall offer a survivor the ability to submit a line sep-
aration request under subsection (c) through secure 
remote means that are easily navigable, provided 
that remote options are commercially available and 
technically feasible. 
‘‘(5) 
RESPONSIBILITY
FOR
TRANSFERRED 
TELEPHONE
NUMBERS.—Notwithstanding 
para-
graph (2), beginning on the date on which a covered 
provider transfers billing responsibilities for and use 
of a telephone number or numbers to a survivor 
under paragraph (1)(A) in response to a line separa-
tion request submitted by the survivor under sub-
section (c), unless ordered otherwise by a court, the 
survivor shall assume financial responsibility, includ-
ing for monthly service costs, for the transferred 
telephone number or numbers. 
‘‘(6) 
RESPONSIBILITY
FOR
TRANSFERRED 
TELEPHONE
NUMBERS
FROM
A
SURVIVOR’S
AC-
COUNT.—Notwithstanding paragraph (2), upon the 
transfer of a telephone number under paragraph 
(1)(B) in response to a line separation request sub-
mitted by a survivor under subsection (c), the sur-
vivor shall have no further financial responsibilities 
to the transferring covered provider for the services 
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provided by the transferring covered provider for the 
telephone number or for any mobile device associ-
ated with the telephone number. 
‘‘(7) RESPONSIBILITY FOR MOBILE DEVICE.— 
Notwithstanding paragraph (2), beginning on the 
date on which a covered provider transfers billing re-
sponsibilities for and rights to a telephone number 
or numbers to a survivor under paragraph (1)(A) in 
response to a line separation request submitted by 
the survivor under subsection (c), unless otherwise 
ordered by a court, the survivor shall not assume fi-
nancial responsibility for any mobile device associ-
ated with the separated line, unless the survivor pur-
chased the mobile device, or affirmatively elects to 
maintain possession of the mobile device. 
‘‘(8) NOTICE TO SURVIVOR.—If a covered pro-
vider separates a line from a shared mobile service 
contract under paragraph (1) and the primary ac-
count holder is not the survivor, the covered provider 
shall notify the survivor of the date on which the 
covered provider intends to give any formal notice to 
the primary account holder. 
‘‘(c) LINE SEPARATION REQUEST.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In the case of a survivor 
seeking to separate a line from a shared mobile serv-
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‘‘(i) a line used by the survivor that 
the survivor seeks to have separated, states 
that the survivor is the user of that spe-
cific line; and 
‘‘(ii) a line used by an individual in 
the care of the survivor that the survivor 
seeks to have separated, includes an affi-
davit setting forth that the individual— 
‘‘(I) is in the care of the survivor; 
and 
‘‘(II) is the user of that specific 
line; and 
‘‘(C) requests relief under subparagraph 
(A) or (B) of subsection (b)(1) and identifies 
each line that should be separated. 
‘‘(2) COMMUNICATIONS
FROM
COVERED
PRO-
VIDERS.— 
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—A covered provider 
shall notify a survivor seeking relief under sub-
section (b) in clear and accessible language that 
the covered provider may contact the survivor, 
or designated representative of the survivor, to 
confirm the line separation, or if the covered 
provider is unable to complete the line separa-
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