IB 
Union Calendar No. 449 
114TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 4167 
[Report No. 114–579] 
To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to require multi-line telephone 
systems to have a default configuration that permits users to directly 
initiate a call to 9–1–1 without dialing any additional digit, code, prefix, 
or post-fix, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
DECEMBER 3, 2015 
Mr. GOHMERT (for himself, Mr. FARENTHOLD, Mr. DUNCAN of Tennessee, 
Mr. THOMPSON of California, and Mr. CULBERSON) introduced the fol-
lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Com-
merce 
MAY 23, 2016 
Additional sponsors: Mrs. BLACK, Mr. OLSON, Mr. O’ROURKE, Mr. NEUGE-
BAUER, Mr. BARR, Mr. BURGESS, Ms. BORDALLO, Mr. BRADY of Texas, 
Mr. SHIMKUS, Mr. CUELLAR, Mr. BROOKS of Alabama, Mr. VELA, Mr. 
DESJARLAIS, Mr. CRAMER, Mr. WILLIAMS, Mr. NEWHOUSE, Mr. BYRNE, 
Mr. ALLEN, Mr. HECK of Nevada, and Mr. KING of Iowa 
MAY 23, 2016 
Reported with amendments, committed to the Committee of the Whole House 
on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 
[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 
[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on December 3, 2015] 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
00:09 May 24, 2016
Jkt 059200
PO 00000
Frm 00001
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6652
E:\BILLS\H4167.RH
H4167
emcdonald on DSK9F6TC42PROD with BILLS
A BILL 
To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to require multi- 
line telephone systems to have a default configuration 
that permits users to directly initiate a call to 9–1– 
1 without dialing any additional digit, code, prefix, or 
post-fix, and for other purposes. 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
00:09 May 24, 2016
Jkt 059200
PO 00000
Frm 00002
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6652
E:\BILLS\H4167.RH
H4167
emcdonald on DSK9F6TC42PROD with BILLS
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 ‘‘Kari’s Law Act of 
2016’’. 
SEC. 2. CONFIGURATION OF MULTI-LINE TELEPHONE SYS-
TEMS FOR DIRECT DIALING OF 9-1-1. 
(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. 721. CONFIGURATION OF MULTI-LINE TELEPHONE 
SYSTEMS FOR DIRECT DIALING OF 9-1-1. 
‘‘(a) SYSTEM MANUFACTURE, IMPORTATION, SALE, 
AND LEASE.—A person engaged in the business of manufac-
turing, importing, selling, or leasing multi-line telephone 
systems may not manufacture or import for use in the 
United States, or sell or lease or offer to sell or lease in 
the United States, a multi-line telephone system, unless 
such system is pre-configured such that, when properly in-
stalled in accordance with subsection (b), a user may di-
rectly initiate a call to 9-1-1 from any station equipped 
with dialing facilities, without dialing any additional 
digit, code, prefix, or post-fix, including any trunk-access 
code such as the digit ‘9’, regardless of whether the user is 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
00:09 May 24, 2016
Jkt 059200
PO 00000
Frm 00003
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6203
E:\BILLS\H4167.RH
H4167
emcdonald on DSK9F6TC42PROD with BILLS
required to dial such a digit, code, prefix, or post-fix for 
other calls. 
‘‘(b) SYSTEM INSTALLATION, MANAGEMENT, AND OP-
ERATION.—A person engaged in the business of installing, 
managing, or operating multi-line telephone systems may 
not install, manage, or operate for use in the United States 
such a system, unless such system is configured such that 
a user may directly initiate a call to 9-1-1 from any station 
equipped with dialing facilities, without dialing any addi-
tional digit, code, prefix, or post-fix, including any trunk- 
access code such as the digit ‘9’, regardless of whether the 
user is required to dial such a digit, code, prefix, or post- 
fix for other calls. 
‘‘(c) ON-SITE NOTIFICATION.—A person engaged in the 
business of installing, managing, or operating multi-line 
telephone systems shall, in installing, managing, or oper-
ating such a system for use in the United States, configure 
the system to provide a notification to a central location 
at the facility where the system is installed or to another 
person or organization regardless of location, if the system 
is able to be configured to provide the notification without 
an improvement to the hardware or software of the system. 
‘‘(d) EFFECT ON STATE LAW.—Nothing in this section 
is intended to alter the authority of State commissions or 
other State or local agencies with jurisdiction over emer-
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
00:09 May 24, 2016
Jkt 059200
PO 00000
Frm 00004
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6203
E:\BILLS\H4167.RH
H4167
emcdonald on DSK9F6TC42PROD with BILLS
gency communications, if the exercise of such authority is 
not inconsistent with this Act. 
‘‘(e) ENFORCEMENT.—This section shall be enforced 
under title V, except that section 501 applies only to the 
extent that such section provides for the punishment of a 
fine. 
‘‘(f) MULTI-LINE TELEPHONE SYSTEM DEFINED.—In 
this section, the term ‘multi-line telephone system’ has the 
meaning given such term in section 6502 of the Middle 
Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 (47 U.S.C. 
1471).’’. 
(b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by sub-
section (a) shall apply beginning on the date that is 2 years 
after the date of the enactment of this Act. 
Amend the title so as to read: ‘‘A bill to amend the 
Communications Act of 1934 to require multi-line tele-
phone systems to have a configuration that permits users 
to directly initiate a call to 9-1-1 without dialing any ad-
ditional digit, code, prefix, or post-fix, and for other pur-
poses.’’. 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
00:09 May 24, 2016
Jkt 059200
PO 00000
Frm 00005
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H4167.RH
H4167
emcdonald on DSK9F6TC42PROD with BILLS