PHONE Act of 2021

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 678) to amend the Communications Act of 1934 to provide for a moratorium on number reassignment after a disaster declaration, and for other purposes.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and to include any extraneous material on H.R. 678.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 678, the Preserving Home and Office Numbers in Emergencies Act or the PHONE Act.

The PHONE Act is a bill that Representative Mike Thompson was inspired to write because of stories he heard at home in his district in the aftermath of devastating wildfires in northern California. After being evacuated by the Atlas and Tubbs fires a few years ago, Representative Thompson's constituents returned to their homes determined to rebuild what was lost; however, when it came time to hook up their telephone service again, they were rightly outraged to discover that the phone company had rescinded their phone numbers and, in most cases, reassigned them to different subscribers.

Nobody should have to worry about losing a phone number they have had for years because their home or their small business was left uninhabitable by a natural disaster like a wildfire or a hurricane. This legislation makes sure that that doesn't happen again.

The PHONE Act prohibits providers from reassigning phone numbers of subscribers within an area subject to a major disaster declaration. Specifically, if the President has issued a major disaster declaration and a Governor has designated the area to the FCC, the phone numbers in that designated area cannot be reassigned for 1 year. And then, if a subscriber needs more time, this bill allows them to get a year-long extension.

The legislation would also allow consumers whose homes are inaccessible or uninhabitable to cancel their service without a cancellation fee or resubscription fee when they get phone service somewhere else in the area during that covered period.

What we are doing here, Mr. Speaker, ultimately is ensuring some stability for people who have lost their homes or businesses after a major disaster hits their community. This is one less thing that a resident or a small business will have to worry about as they work to pick up the pieces. In the age of robocalls, our phone numbers are how our friends and family know exactly who is trying to reach them when we call, and that is why this legislation is necessary.

When disaster strikes, our constituents should know they won't lose their numbers; especially the seniors and the small businesses who rely on landline telephones more than others.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank Representative Thompson for his tireless leadership on this issue, as well as my Republican colleagues, for working with us to improve the bill before it passed the House last Congress. This is a really good bill, the same bill we passed and sent to the Senate last fall.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this commonsense legislation. I hope our colleagues in the Senate will finally take up the PHONE Act, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the

gentleman from California (Mr. McNerney).

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Before we conclude this series of bills under the jurisdiction of the Energy and Commerce Committee, I want to say that this is a bittersweet day for me. After 25 years of outstanding service, Jeff Carroll, who is sitting behind me here, who has been my longtime chief of staff and is now the staff director of the committee, will be leaving the House at the beginning of August, in just another 10 days or so.

It would be an understatement to say that Jeff has been my most trusted adviser for almost my entire time in Congress. He is known to Members and staff on both sides of the aisle for his candor, political savvy, and commitment to the little guy.

He has never forgotten his roots back in New Jersey. That, again, would be an understatement. Many of you know that he is a diehard fan of Bruce Springsteen, but also the Mets, the Giants, and the vaunted pork roll. He is a Jersey guy through and through. I don't think anybody would argue with that.

He joined my staff as an executive assistant in 1997 after graduating from George Washington University. I won't tell you how many people from GW he has hired in the office and on the committee. Before that, he briefly served as a staff assistant to New Jersey's then-Senator, Robert Torricelli.

Shortly after joining my staff, Jeff took on the added responsibility of serving as my legislative aide on both labor and defense issues. It was here that he began his longtime work of protecting New Jersey military installations from closure.

He was my defense staffer on 9/11 and during the debate on the Authorization for Use of Military Force against Iraq. I valued his counsel at the time, and my vote against that authorization and the invasion into Iraq remains one of my most proud moments as a Member of the House. But I have to tell you, without Jeff, it might not have turned out that way.

Within 6 years, he became my chief of staff, serving with distinction the people of New Jersey's Sixth Congressional District for 12 years.

Without a doubt, the largest crisis that we confronted during his time as my chief of staff was Superstorm Sandy in 2012. My congressional district is along the coast of north Jersey, and was one of the hardest hit districts in the country by Sandy. For more than a year, Jeff led my team in response and recovery, literally being out there. Both in New Jersey and here, they worked around the clock, helping families and small businesses pick up the pieces.

Jeff also fought relentlessly, along with me and others in New Jersey and New York, to make sure we received the Federal assistance that our States needed and deserved.

In 2015, when I was elected the ranking member of the Energy and Commerce Committee--and that was certainly in large part because of Jeff--he became the Democratic staff director. Then, 4 years later, when I became the chairman of the committee, Jeff became the committee staff director.

As staff director of the committee, Jeff has led the committee staff in all the committee's accomplishments over the last 6 years. I am going to list some of them, but I have to tell you, it is an incredible list of accomplishments through Jeff's efforts, including, of course, the latest, the COVID-19 pandemic and the severe economic downturn.

Jeff helped shepherd four bills through the House to help combat the coronavirus that became law. These laws ensured Congress provided the tools and resources needed to bring an end to this terrible pandemic while also providing relief to struggling American families.

Besides responding to the pandemic, Jeff was instrumental in our efforts, and I want to list some of the very important bills: to end surprise medical bills; to reduce and block robocalls; to phase down the production and consumption of hydrofluorocarbons and mandate the repair of methane leaks; to protect Americans from suspected foreign communications network equipment; to reauthorize the Safe Drinking Water Act for the first time in 20 years; to expand treatment for people fighting opioid use disorder; to invest in new medical treatments and cures for some of the most debilitating and life- threatening diseases; to modernize the Toxic Substances Control Act, which took about 14 years, to better protect public health and the environment; and to extend critical funding for programs that improve the health and welfare of millions of children, families, and seniors across the country. That is not an exaggeration, Jeff's role in all of that.

He has been by my side through my greatest trials and achievements in office. My congressional office, the Energy and Commerce Committee, the Congress, and the Nation have benefited enormously from Jeff's commitment to achieving meaningful progress for the American people.

It means time away from his family. There have been a lot of long nights, late-night phone calls, which I am known for, and weekends spent working to move forward.

I don't know what to say other than to acknowledge the unwavering support that Jeff has received from his wife, Shannon; his daughter, Lizzie; and his son, Ryan. I thank them for sharing Jeff with all of us for all these years.

I know I am going to be talking to Jeff and getting advice from Jeff, but when I say bittersweet, I really mean it. I don't know how we are going to do without him, but I guess we have to continue. That is the way it goes.

Mr. Speaker, I want to conclude by saying that the American people have benefited from Jeff Carroll's 25 years of public service. I am going to miss him tremendously, and I wish him nothing but the best in his future pursuits.

I yield to the gentleman from Ohio.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak on H.R. 678, the PHONE Act. This legislation will ensure that Americans whose homes are lost during a fire or other natural disaster do not have to worry about losing their home phone numbers.

As we have seen from the horrific fires over the last several years, they destroy everything in their path. No matter how resilient a home or communications tower may be, you cannot regulate your way out of a fire's burning path.

Today, when a natural disaster strikes, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA, is activated to provide housing assistance and other resources to respond to the crisis at hand. If your home is completely burned to the ground, the last thing that you should have to worry about is if your home phone number will be available when you return.

Thankfully, the Federal Communications Commission, FCC, can prevent that from happening. The FCC can waive rules and regulations that require landline phone numbers to return to the pool of available numbers when a home is completely destroyed by a natural disaster. This bill codifies that process, but we still must be cautious. This type of relief should only apply to areas where significant physical damage has occurred to render a home uninhabitable, as is the objective of the bill.

It is FEMA's role to determine which households have actually sustained damage in an affected county, which this bill does not codify, and we hope can be addressed as it moves through the process. As the experts on the ground, we should defer to their assessment before these regulations go into effect.

While it may be easy to grab a cell phone upon evacuating, landlines cannot be brought on the go. For many people, especially our seniors, they rely on their landline phone number to stay connected to family, their doctor, and others during such a trying time in their life. During a traumatic event, one less thing they should not have to worry about is losing their home phone number.

I ask for support of this measure moving forward, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I am prepared to close. I support H.R. 678 moving forward, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Will the gentleman yield?

Mr. Speaker, I want to congratulate Jeff on his future endeavors.

Our staffs do so much for us. As the chairman was speaking, I was thinking that the hours that they put in aren't ever recognized, including the work over the weekends. I know when I have talked to our committee staff, especially when we have worked on pieces of legislation the last several Congresses, with the amount of work that goes into it, we have to thank our staff.

For all his years of service here and for his future endeavors, I give him my best wishes.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 678, the PHONE Act, a simple but powerful bill to ensure that Americans who lose their homes in natural disasters do not also lose their home phone numbers.

Last year, the CZU Lightning Complex Fire burned 86,509 acres in my Congressional District, making it the 12th most destructive fire in California history. Seventy-seven thousand of my constituents were evacuated, and the fire destroyed nearly 1,500 homes, businesses, and other buildings.

This figure includes nearly 1,000 families in my district who couldn't return home because their home was destroyed. The PHONE Act helps these families and thousands of other American families who lose their homes in wildfires and other disasters.

The PHONE Act has three parts. First, if the President issues a major disaster declaration and a governor designates a disaster area, phone numbers in that designated area cannot be reassigned for one year. Second, if someone in the disaster area needs more than a year, they can get a one-year extension because rebuilding can take years. Third, the bill allows consumers to cancel phone service without a cancellation fee if their home is inaccessible or uninhabitable. The bill also prohibits resubscription fees if consumers get phone service somewhere else in the area.

Some may ask why we need all of this for a simple phone number. One of the first things parents teach their children is their phone number. Many of us still remember our parents' home phone numbers. While many are opting to live with just cellphones, it's important to consider who depends on landlines: older Americans and retirees who often have multiple doctors, caregivers, and loved ones using long-held phone numbers.

Congressman Mike Thompson authored the bill to help the survivors of the Atlas and Tubbs fires that ravished his Congressional District in 2017. Thousands lost their homes and were further frustrated to learn they also lost their phone number, because phone companies had given the numbers away.

The bill is carefully drafted to plug a small gap in the law, but this gap means the world to our constituents for whom this bill is written to protect.

Last Congress, the bill was marked up on March 10, 2020, by the Subcommittee on Communications and Technology and on September 9, 2020, by the full Energy & Commerce Committee. At both markups, I offered amendments to ensure the bill would have broad, bipartisan support and would be as effective as possible. On September 29, 2020, the House passed the bill by voice vote. Sadly, the Senate did not consider the measure.

I urge my House colleagues to pass this bill once again and urge the Senate to take it up and pass the bill as well.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 678, the PHONE Act. As we stand here today, wildfires are raging across the West, including in my home of northern California.

Last year, California witnessed a devastating and terrible fire season. We saw some of the largest fires in the State's history and a record-breaking 4.4 million acres burned. Nearly every part of the State was blanketed by fire and smoke, and we really haven't gotten much of a break. The number of wildfires and the amount of land burned in our State so far this year greatly exceeds the totals for the same period last year.

Climate change is resulting in longer and more extreme wildfire seasons, and this is expected to continue. Worrying about deadly fires spreading quickly is the new norm that my constituents are now living in. And worrying about whether they will have to evacuate their homes is also part of this new norm.

Because of this legislation that we are considering today, the PHONE Act, which I am proud to cosponsor, my constituents, Californians, and Americans all across the country who are impacted all too frequently now by natural disasters due to climate change, will have to worry about one less thing when they are forced to evacuate their homes, and that is their ability to keep their phone numbers.

Under this legislation, communications providers will be prohibited from reassigning phone numbers of customers in areas covered by a major disaster declaration for the duration of the declaration, and this may be extended. The bill would also prohibit providers from assessing early termination fees to cancel services or connection fees to resubscribe to a new address for subscribers whose residence is inaccessible or uninhabitable due to major disaster.

There is so much that wildfire victims already have to worry about. We must move quickly to ensure the PHONE Act is signed into law so there is one less item on their plate. It is hard enough to pick up the pieces after a disaster. Let's not add insult to injury.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my good friend, Representative Mike Thompson, for his work on this legislation.

Madam Speaker, I am pleased to see that this week we are taking up H.R. 678, the PHONE Act.

This bipartisan piece of legislation is common sense and helps real people after natural disasters.

This bill would place a moratorium on phone companies reassigning people's landline phone numbers when their house is destroyed by a natural disaster, such as forest fires, which I am having so many of in my district.

I have heard countless stories of people whose houses are burned down in wildfires that continue to get charged for their landline phone number, or their number is reassigned to a new customer.

This bill would help alleviate some stress and give people one less thing they have to deal with.

I am proud to cosponsor a bill that is stepping up and providing a solution to help out wildfire victims and other natural disaster victims.

The goal of recovery is to bring back a sense of normalcy, and helping people maintain their phone number is a good step.