I 
109TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2418 
To promote and enhance public safety and to encourage the rapid deployment 
of IP-enabled voice services. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 18, 2005 
Mr. GORDON (for himself, Mr. SHIMKUS, and Ms. ESHOO) introduced the 
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 
A BILL 
To promote and enhance public safety and to encourage 
the rapid deployment of IP-enabled voice services. 
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 ‘‘IP-Enabled Voice 
Communications and Public Safety Act of 2005’’. 
SEC. 2. EMERGENCY SERVICE. 
(a) 911 AND E–911 SERVICES.—Notwithstanding 
section 2(b) or any other provision of the Communications 
Act of 1934, the Commission shall prescribe regulations 
to establish a set of requirements or obligations on pro-
viders of IP-enabled voice service to ensure that 911 and 
E–911 services are available to customers to IP-enabled 
voice service. Such regulations shall include an appro-
priate transition period by which to comply with such re-
quirements or obligations and take into consideration 
available industry technological and operational standards, 
including network security. 
(b) NON-DISCRIMINATORY ACCESS
TO CAPABILI-
TIES.—Each entity with ownership or control of the nec-
essary emergency services infrastructure shall provide any 
requesting IP-enabled voice service provider with non-
discriminatory access to their equipment, network, data-
bases, interfaces and any other related capabilities nec-
essary for the delivery and completion of 911 and E911 
calls and information related to such 911 or E911 calls. 
Such access shall be consistent with industry standards 
established by the National Emergency Number Associa-
tion or other applicable industry standards organizations. 
Such entity shall provide access to the infrastructure at 
just and reasonable, nondiscriminatory rates, terms and 
conditions. The telecommunications carrier or other entity 
shall provide such access to the infrastructure on a stand- 
alone basis. 
(c) STATE AUTHORITY.—Nothing in this Act, the 
Communications Act of 1934, or any Commission regula-
tion or order shall prevent the imposition on or collection 
from a provider of voice services, including IP-enabled 
voice services, of any fee or charge specifically designated 
or presented as dedicated by a State, political subdivision 
thereof, or Indian tribe on an equitable, and non-discrimi-
natory basis for the support of 911 and E–911 services 
if no portion of the revenue derived from such fee or 
charge is obligated or expended for any purpose other than 
support of 911 and E–911 services or enhancements of 
such services. 
(d) STANDARD.—The Commission may establish reg-
ulations imposing requirements or obligations on providers 
of voice services, entities with ownership or control of 
emergency services infrastructure under subsections (a) 
and (b) only to the extent that the Commission determines 
such regulations are technologically and operationally fea-
sible. 
(e) CUSTOMER NOTICE.—Prior to the compliance 
with the rules as required by subsection (a), a provider 
of an IP-enabled voice service that is not capable of pro-
viding 911 and E–911 services shall provide a clear and 
conspicuous notice of the unavailability of such services 
to each customer at the time of entering into a contract 
for such service with that customer.
(f) VOICE SERVICE PROVIDER RESPONSIBILITY.—An 
IP-enabled voice service provider shall have the sole re-
sponsibility for the proper design, operation, and function 
of the 911 and E911 access capabilities offered to the pro-
vider’s customers. 
(g) PARITY OF PROTECTION FOR PROVISION OR USE 
OF IP-ENABLED VOICE SERVICE.— 
(1) PROVIDER PARITY.—If a provider of an IP- 
enabled voice service offers 911 or E–911 services in 
compliance with the rules required by subsection (a), 
that provider, its officers, directors, employees, ven-
dors, and agents, shall have immunity or other pro-
tection from liability of a scope and extent that is 
not less than the scope and extent of immunity or 
other protection from liability that any local ex-
change company, and its officers directors, employ-
ees, vendors, or agents, have under the applicable 
Federal and State law (whether through statute, ju-
dicial decision, tariffs filed by such local exchange 
company, or otherwise), including in connection with 
an act or omission involving the release of subscriber 
information related to the emergency calls or emer-
gency services to a public safety answering point, 
emergency medical service provider, or emergency 
dispatch provider, public safety, fire service, or law
enforcement official, or hospital emergency or trau-
ma care facility. 
(2) USER PARITY.—A person using an IP-en-
abled voice service that offers 911 or E–911 services 
pursuant to this subsection shall have immunity or 
other protection from liability of a scope and extent 
that is not less than the scope and extent of immu-
nity or other protection from liability under applica-
ble law in similar circumstances of a person using 
911 or E–911 service that is not provided through 
an IP-enabled voice service. 
(3) PSAP PARITY.—In matters related to IP- 
enabled 911 and E–911 communications, a PSAP, 
and its employees, vendors, agents, and authorizing 
government entity (if any) shall have immunity or 
other protection from liability of a scope and extent 
that is not less than the scope and extent of immu-
nity or other protection from liability under applica-
ble law accorded to such PSAP, employees, vendors, 
agents, and authorizing government entity, respec-
tive, in matters related to 911 or E–911 communica-
tions that are not provided via an IP-enabled voice 
service. 
(h) DELEGATION
PERMITTED.—The Commission 
may, in the regulations prescribed under this section, pro-
vide for the delegation to State commissions of authority 
to implement and enforce the requirements of this section 
and the regulations thereunder. 
SEC. 3. MIGRATION TO IP–ENABLED EMERGENCY NET-
WORK. 
Section 158 of the National Telecommunications and 
Information Administration Organization Act (as added 
by section 104 of the ENHANCE 911 Act of 2004) is 
amended— 
(1) by redesignating subsections (d) and (e) as 
subsections (e) and (f), respectively; and 
(2) by inserting after subsection (c) the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(d) MIGRATION PLAN REQUIRED.— 
‘‘(1) NATIONAL
PLAN
REQUIRED.—No more 
than 18 months after the date of the enactment of 
the ENHANCE 911 Act of 2004, the Office shall 
develop and report to Congress on a national plan 
for migrating to a national IP-enabled emergency 
network capable of receiving and responding to all 
citizen activated emergency communications. 
‘‘(2) CONTENTS OF PLAN.—The plan required 
by paragraph (1) shall— 
‘‘(A) outline the potential benefits of such 
a migration;
‘‘(B) identify barriers that must be over-
come and funding mechanisms to address those 
barriers; 
‘‘(C) include a proposed timetable, an out-
line of costs and potential savings; 
‘‘(D) provide specific legislative language, 
if necessary, for achieving the plan; and 
‘‘(E) provide recommendations on any leg-
islative changes, including updating definitions, 
to facilitate a national IP-enabled emergency 
network. 
‘‘(3) CONSULTATION.—In developing the plan 
required by paragraph (1), the Office shall consult 
with representatives of the public safety community, 
technology and telecommunications providers, and 
others it deems appropriate.’’. 
SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of this Act: 
(1) 911 AND E–911 SERVICES.— 
(A) 911.—The term ‘‘911’’ means a serv-
ice that allows a user, by dialing the three-digit 
code 911, to call a public safety answering 
point operated by a State, local government, In-
dian tribe, or authorized entity.
(B) E–911.—The term ‘‘E–911 service’’ 
means a 911 service that automatically delivers 
the 911 call to the appropriate public safety an-
swering point, and provides automatic identi-
fication data, including the originating number 
of an emergency call, the physical location of 
the caller, and the capability for the public safe-
ty answering point to call the user back if the 
call is disconnected. 
(2) IP-ENABLED
VOICE
SERVICE.—The term 
‘‘IP-enabled voice service’’ means an IP-enabled 
service used for real-time 2-way or multidirectional 
voice communications offered to a customer that— 
(A) uses North American Numbering Plan 
administered telephone numbers, or successor 
protocol; and 
(B) has two-way interconnection or other-
wise exchange traffic with the public switched 
telephone network. 
(3) CUSTOMER.—The term ‘‘customer’’ includes 
a consumer of goods or services whether for a fee, 
in exchange for an explicit benefit, or provided for 
free. 
(4) IP-ENABLED SERVICE.—The term ‘‘IP-en-
abled service’’ means the use of software, hardware,
or network equipment that enable an end user to 
send or receive a communication over the public 
Internet or a private network utilizing Internet pro-
tocol, or any successor protocol, in whole or part, to 
connect users— 
(A) regardless of whether the communica-
tion is voice, data, video, or other form; and 
(B) notwithstanding — 
(i) the underlying transmission tech-
nology used to transmit the communica-
tions; 
(ii) whether the packetizing and 
depacketizing of the communications oc-
curs at the customer premise or network 
level; or 
(iii) the software, hardware, or net-
work equipment used to connect users. 
(5) 
PUBLIC
SWITCHED
TELEPHONE
NET-
WORK.—The term ‘‘public switched telephone net-
work’’ means any switched common carrier service 
that is interconnected with the traditional local ex-
change or interexchange switched network. 
(6) PSAP.—The term ‘‘public safety answering 
point’’ or ‘‘PSAP’’ means a facility that has been 
designated to receive 911 calls.
(b) COMMON TERMINOLOGY.—Except as otherwise 
provided in subsection (a), terms used in this Act have 
the meanings provided under section 3 of the Communica-
tions Act of 1934. 
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