TRUE Fees Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1220 To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to provide for certain require- ments relating to charges for internet, television, and voice services, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FEBRUARY 14, 2019 Ms. ESHOO (for herself, Mr. TAKANO, Ms. NORTON, Mr. RYAN, Mr. BLU- MENAUER, Mr. RASKIN, Mr. COURTNEY, Mr. BEYER, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, and Mr. THOMPSON of California) 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 certain requirements relating to charges for internet, tel- evision, and voice services, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Truth-in-Billing, Rem- 4 edies, and User Empowerment over Fees Act of 2019’’ 5 or the ‘‘TRUE Fees Act of 2019’’. 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:07 Mar 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1220.IH H1220 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 1220 IH SEC. 2. REQUIREMENTS RELATING TO CHARGES FOR COV- 1 ERED SERVICES. 2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title VII of the Communications 3 Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 601 et seq.) is amended by adding 4 at the end the following: 5 ‘‘SEC. 723. REQUIREMENTS RELATING TO CHARGES FOR 6 COVERED SERVICES. 7 ‘‘(a) TRANSPARENCY IN ADVERTISING.— 8 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A provider of a covered 9 service may not advertise the price of such service 10 unless the advertised price is the total amount that 11 the provider will charge for or relating to the provi- 12 sion of such service, including any related taxes, ad- 13 ministrative fees, equipment rental fees, or other 14 charges, to a consumer who accepts the offer made 15 in the advertisement. 16 ‘‘(2) EXCEPTION.—Paragraph (1) does not re- 17 quire a provider of a covered service to include in 18 the advertised price of the service any tax, fee, or 19 other charge that— 20 ‘‘(A) the provider is required to charge 21 under any provision of Federal law or of the 22 law of a State or political subdivision of a 23 State; and 24 ‘‘(B) is not uniform throughout the United 25 States. 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:07 Mar 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1220.IH H1220 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 1220 IH ‘‘(b) TRANSPARENCY IN E-BILLING.—A provider of 1 a covered service may not provide a bill to a consumer 2 in an electronic format unless the provider— 3 ‘‘(1) provides the bill, or a notification that the 4 bill is available, by email or a functional equivalent 5 of email that permits the consumer to view the bill 6 or notification without having to access an online ac- 7 count or the functional equivalent of an online ac- 8 count or to take any similar additional steps; and 9 ‘‘(2) includes in the bill or notification provided 10 in accordance with paragraph (1) an itemized state- 11 ment that breaks down the total amount charged for 12 or relating to the provision of the covered service by 13 the amount charged for the provision of the service 14 itself and the amount of any related taxes, adminis- 15 trative fees, equipment rental fees, or other charges, 16 in the same level of detail as would be provided in 17 a paper bill. 18 ‘‘(c) REQUIREMENTS FOR INCREASES IN CHARGES.— 19 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In the case of a provider of 20 a covered service that enters into a contract with a 21 consumer for the provision of a covered service— 22 ‘‘(A) if the provider increases the total 23 amount charged for or relating to the provision 24 of the service under the contract, regardless of 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:07 Mar 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1220.IH H1220 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 1220 IH the amount of the increase or whether the in- 1 crease is in the amount charged for the provi- 2 sion of the service itself or in any related taxes, 3 administrative fees, equipment rental fees, or 4 other charges, the provider shall— 5 ‘‘(i) provide the consumer with clear 6 notice of the increase not later than 21 7 days before the increase takes effect, in the 8 same manner in which the provider pro- 9 vides to the consumer a notification that 10 the consumer’s bill is available (or, if no 11 separate notification is provided, in the 12 same manner as the provider provides the 13 consumer’s bill to the consumer); and 14 ‘‘(ii) permit the consumer to termi- 15 nate the contract without paying any early 16 termination fee or other penalty; and 17 ‘‘(B) the provider may not increase any fee 18 or other charge for equipment rental unless the 19 equipment is upgraded (whether through a 20 hardware or software upgrade) so as to provide 21 a substantial increase in functionality. 22 ‘‘(2) EXCEPTION FOR ADDITIONAL OR UP- 23 GRADED SERVICE REQUESTED BY CONSUMER.— 24 Paragraph (1)(A) does not apply with respect to an 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:07 Mar 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1220.IH H1220 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 1220 IH increase resulting from the provision, at the request 1 of the consumer, of a service that is in addition to, 2 or an upgrade of, a service covered by the contract. 3 ‘‘(d) PROHIBITION ON COMPULSORY ALTERNATIVE 4 DISPUTE RESOLUTION.— 5 ‘‘(1) PROHIBITION ON CONTRACTUAL PROVI- 6 SION.—A provider of a covered service may not in- 7 clude in a contract with a consumer for the provision 8 of a covered service a provision that requires the 9 consumer to resolve a covered dispute with the pro- 10 vider through alternative dispute resolution. 11 ‘‘(2) UNENFORCEABILITY OF CONTRACTUAL 12 PROVISION.—Any alternative dispute resolution pro- 13 vision included in a contract in violation of para- 14 graph (1) shall be void and unenforceable. 15 ‘‘(e) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 16 ‘‘(1) ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE RESOLUTION.— 17 The term ‘alternative dispute resolution’ has the 18 meaning given such term in section 3 of the Y2K 19 Act (15 U.S.C. 6602). 20 ‘‘(2) COVERED DISPUTE.—The term ‘covered 21 dispute’ means a dispute between a provider of a 22 covered service and a consumer in which the con- 23 sumer alleges that— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:07 Mar 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1220.IH H1220 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 1220 IH ‘‘(A) the amount charged by the provider 1 for or relating to the provision of the service 2 (including any related taxes, administrative 3 fees, equipment rental fees, or other charges)— 4 ‘‘(i) was increased without notice 5 being provided to the consumer as required 6 by subsection (c)(1)(A)(i); or 7 ‘‘(ii) during the period covered by any 8 promotional rate or other discount that 9 was included in the price that the con- 10 sumer agreed to pay for or relating to the 11 provision of the covered service, did not re- 12 flect the promotional rate or other dis- 13 count; or 14 ‘‘(B) the provider billed the consumer— 15 ‘‘(i) for the provision of a service (or 16 for any related taxes, administrative fees, 17 or other charges) to which the consumer 18 did not subscribe during the period covered 19 by the bill; or 20 ‘‘(ii) for rental of equipment (or for 21 any related taxes, administrative fees, or 22 other charges) that the consumer did not 23 rent during the period covered by the bill. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:07 Mar 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1220.IH H1220 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 1220 IH ‘‘(3) COVERED SERVICE.—The term ‘covered 1 service’— 2 ‘‘(A) means— 3 ‘‘(i) internet access service; 4 ‘‘(ii) voice service (as defined in sec- 5 tion 227(e)(8)); 6 ‘‘(iii) commercial mobile service (as 7 defined in section 332); 8 ‘‘(iv) commercial mobile data service 9 (as defined in section 6001 of the Middle 10 Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 11 2012 (47 U.S.C. 1401)); and 12 ‘‘(v) service provided by a multi- 13 channel video programming distributer (as 14 defined in section 602), to the extent such 15 distributor is acting as a multichannel 16 video programming distributor; and 17 ‘‘(B) includes any other service offered or 18 provided as part of a bundle or package with 19 any service referred to in subparagraph (A). 20 ‘‘(4) INTERNET ACCESS SERVICE.—The term 21 ‘internet access service’— 22 ‘‘(A) means a mass-market retail service 23 by wire or radio that provides the capability to 24 transmit data to and receive data from all or 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:07 Mar 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1220.IH H1220 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 1220 IH substantially all internet endpoints, including 1 any capabilities that are incidental to and en- 2 able the operation of the communications serv- 3 ice; and 4 ‘‘(B) also includes any service that— 5 ‘‘(i) the Commission finds to be pro- 6 viding a functional equivalent of the service 7 described in subparagraph (A); or 8 ‘‘(ii) is used to evade the protections 9 set forth in this section.’’. 10 (b) TRANSITIONAL RULE RELATING TO DEFINITION 11 OF VOICE SERVICE.—Subsection (e)(3)(A)(ii) of section 12 723 of the Communications Act of 1934, as added by sub- 13 section (a) of this section, shall apply before the effective 14 date of the amendment made to subsection (e)(8) of sec- 15 tion 227 of such Act (47 U.S.C. 227) by subparagraph 16 (C) of section 503(a)(2) of division P of the Consolidated 17 Appropriations Act, 2018 (Public Law 115–141) as if 18 such amendment was already in effect. 19 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Section 723 of the Commu- 20 nications Act of 1934, as added by subsection (a) of this 21 section, shall apply beginning on the date that is 180 days 22 after the date of the enactment of this Act, except that 23 subsections (c) and (d) of such section 723 shall not apply 24 with respect to a contract entered into, and as in effect, 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:07 Mar 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1220.IH H1220 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 1220 IH before the date that is 180 days after the date of the en- 1 actment of this Act. 2 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:07 Mar 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H1220.IH H1220 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS