I 
116TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1289 
To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to provide for a moratorium 
on number reassignment after a disaster declaration, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 14, 2019 
Mr. THOMPSON of California (for himself, Mr. CARSON of Indiana, Mr. DUNN, 
Ms. ESHOO, Mr. GARAMENDI, Ms. GARCIA of Texas, Ms. KUSTER of New 
Hampshire, Ms. NORTON, Mr. ROONEY of Florida, and Mr. WEBER of 
Texas) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 
on Energy and Commerce 
A BILL 
To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to provide for 
a moratorium on number reassignment after a disaster 
declaration, 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 ‘‘Preserving Home and 
Office Numbers in Emergencies Act of 2019’’. 
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SEC. 2. MORATORIUM ON NUMBER REASSIGNMENT AFTER 
DISASTER DECLARATION. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 251(e) of the Commu-
nications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 251(e)) is amended by 
adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(4) MORATORIUM ON NUMBER REASSIGNMENT 
AFTER DISASTER DECLARATION.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—During a covered pe-
riod with respect to an area, a number assigned 
in such area may not be reassigned, and the as-
signment of such number may not be rescinded 
or otherwise modified, except at the request of 
the subscriber to which such number is as-
signed. 
‘‘(B) EXTENSION
AT
REQUEST
OF
SUB-
SCRIBER.—At the request of the subscriber, the 
prohibition in subparagraph (A) shall be ex-
tended with respect to the number assigned to 
such subscriber for 2 years beyond the end of 
the covered period. 
‘‘(C) SUBSCRIBER RIGHT TO CANCEL AND 
RESUBSCRIBE.— 
‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—In the case of a 
number that is assigned to a subscriber for 
the provision of wireline voice service at a 
residence that is located in an area that is 
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in a covered period (or in the case of such 
a number with respect to which the sub-
scriber requests an extension under sub-
paragraph (B)), if the major disaster in-
volved results in covered damage to such 
residence— 
‘‘(I) the provider of such service 
may not charge the subscriber any 
early termination or other fee in con-
nection with the cancellation of such 
service; and 
‘‘(II) if the subscriber cancels 
such service, such provider (or any 
other provider of wireline voice service 
that serves the location involved)— 
‘‘(aa) shall permit the sub-
scriber to subscribe or resub-
scribe, as the case may be, to 
wireline voice service with such 
number at such residence or at a 
different residence (if such num-
ber is available in the location of 
such different residence); and 
‘‘(bb) may not charge the 
subscriber any connection fee or 
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other fee relating to the initiation 
of such service. 
‘‘(ii) TIMING.—Clause (i) shall cease 
to apply with respect to the number at the 
end of the covered period or at the end of 
the extended period under subparagraph 
(B), as the case may be. 
‘‘(iii) LIMITATION.—Except as pro-
vided in this subparagraph, the prohibition 
in subparagraph (A) and any extension of 
such prohibition under subparagraph (B) 
shall cease to apply with respect to a num-
ber when the subscriber cancels the service 
with respect to which the number is as-
signed. 
‘‘(D) IDENTIFICATION
ON
COMMISSION 
WEBSITE.—The Commission shall publicly iden-
tify on the website of the Commission each area 
that is in a covered period. 
‘‘(E) DEFINITIONS.—In this paragraph: 
‘‘(i) COVERED
DAMAGE.—The term 
‘covered damage’ means, with respect to a 
residence, damage— 
‘‘(I) that renders a residence in-
accessible or uninhabitable, or that re-
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