Title: Kari's Law Act of 2017
Policy area: Science, Technology, Communications

Summary:
Kari's Law Act of 2017
This bill amends the Communications Act of 1934 to prohibit businesses from manufacturing or importing for use in the United States, or selling or leasing in the United States, a multi-line telephone system unless it can be installed to: (1) allow 9-1-1 calls to be transmitted to the appropriate public safety answering point without requiring the user to dial any additional digit, code, prefix, or post-fix (including any trunk-access code such as the digit "9"), regardless of what a user is required to dial for other calls; and (2) provide on-site notifications (if possible without any improvement to the system) so that when a person at the facility where the system is installed initiates a 9-1-1 call, the system notifies a central location at the facility or a person or organization with responsibility for safety or security for the location.
Businesses are prohibited from installing multi-line telephone systems unless, upon installation, they allow 9-1-1 calls to be initiated without dialing such additional codes.
Installers must configure such systems to provide such on-site notifications.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 123 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 123

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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            January 12, 2017

 Ms. Klobuchar (for herself, Mrs. Fischer, Mr. Schatz, Mr. Cornyn, Mr. 
  Thune, and Mr. Cruz) introduced the following bill; which was read 
     twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 
                             Transportation

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 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.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives 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 2017''.

SEC. 2. DEFAULT CONFIGURATION OF MULTI-LINE TELEPHONE SYSTEMS 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. DEFAULT CONFIGURATION OF MULTI-LINE TELEPHONE SYSTEMS FOR 
              DIRECT DIALING OF 9-1-1.

    ``(a) Definitions.--In this section--
            ``(1) the term `multi-line telephone system' has the 
        meaning given the term in section 6502 of the Middle Class Tax 
        Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 (47 U.S.C. 1471); and
            ``(2) the term `public safety answering point' has the 
        meaning given the term in section 222(h).
    ``(b) Multi-Line Telephone System Functionality.--A person engaged 
in the business of manufacturing, 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 the technology of the 
system has the capabilities described in subsections (c) and (e).
    ``(c) Multi-Line Telephone System Installation.--A person engaged 
in the business of installing multi-line telephone systems serving 
locations in the United States may not install such a system in the 
United States unless, upon installation, the system allows a call that 
is initiated when a user dials 9-1-1 from any station equipped with 
dialing facilities to be transmitted to the appropriate public safety 
answering point--
            ``(1) without requiring the user to dial any additional 
        digit, code, prefix, or post-fix, including any trunk-access 
        code (such as the digit 9); and
            ``(2) regardless of whether the user is required to dial a 
        digit, code, prefix, or post-fix described in paragraph (1) for 
        other calls.
    ``(d) Other 9-1-1 Emergency Dialing Patterns.--Nothing in this 
section shall prohibit the configuration of a multi-line telephone 
system so that other 9-1-1 emergency dialing patterns will also 
initiate a call to a public safety answering point, provided that the 
dialing pattern 9-1-1 remains available to users.
    ``(e) On-Site Notification.--
            ``(1) In general.--A person engaged in the business of 
        installing multi-line telephone systems serving locations in 
        the United States, in installing a system described in 
        paragraph (2) in the United States, shall configure the system 
        so that when a person at the facility where the system is 
        installed initiates a call to 9-1-1 using the system, the 
        system provides a notification to--
                    ``(A) a central location at the facility; or
                    ``(B) a person or organization with responsibility 
                for safety or security for the location as designated 
                by the manager or operator of the system.
            ``(2) Application.--A system described in this paragraph is 
        a multi-line telephone system that is able to be configured to 
        provide the notification described in paragraph (1) without any 
        improvement to the system.
    ``(f) Regulations.--
            ``(1) Authority.--The Commission may prescribe regulations 
        to carry out this section.
            ``(2) Technologically neutral.--Regulations prescribed 
        under paragraph (1) shall, to the extent practicable, promote 
        the purposes of this section in a technologically neutral 
        manner.
    ``(g) Enforcement.--This section shall be enforced under title V, 
except that section 501 applies only to the extent that the section 
provides for the imposition of a fine.
    ``(h) Effect on State Law.--Nothing in this section or in 
regulations prescribed under this section shall be construed to prevent 
any State from enforcing any State law that is not inconsistent with 
this section.''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by subsection (a) shall 
apply with respect to a multi-line telephone system that is 
manufactured, imported, offered for first sale or lease, first sold or 
leased, or installed after the date that is 2 years after the date of 
the enactment of this Act.
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