HANGUP Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 626 To repeal debt collection amendments made by the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES FEBRUARY 28, 2019 Mr. MARKEY (for himself and Mr. LEE) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation A BILL To repeal debt collection amendments made by the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015, 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 ‘‘Help Americans Never 4 Get Unwanted Phone calls Act of 2019’’ or the ‘‘HANG- 5 UP Act’’. 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:00 Mar 07, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S626.IS S626 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •S 626 IS SEC. 2. REPEAL OF DEBT COLLECTION AMENDMENTS; 1 CLARIFYING COVERAGE WITH RESPECT TO 2 GOVERNMENT CONTRACTORS. 3 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Communications Act of 1934 4 (47 U.S.C. 151 et seq.) is amended— 5 (1) in section 3 (47 U.S.C. 153), by striking 6 paragraph (39) and inserting the following: 7 ‘‘(39) PERSON.—The term ‘person’— 8 ‘‘(A) includes an individual, partnership, 9 association, joint-stock company, trust, or cor- 10 poration; and 11 ‘‘(B) for the purposes of section 227, in- 12 cludes— 13 ‘‘(i) a contractor of— 14 ‘‘(I) the United States Govern- 15 ment; or 16 ‘‘(II) any State or local govern- 17 ment; and 18 ‘‘(ii) an entity of any legal form.’’; 19 and 20 (2) in section 227(b) (47 U.S.C. 227(b))— 21 (A) in paragraph (1)— 22 (i) in subparagraph (A)(iii), by strik- 23 ing ‘‘, unless such call is made solely to 24 collect a debt owed to or guaranteed by the 25 United States’’; and 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:00 Mar 07, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S626.IS S626 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •S 626 IS (ii) in subparagraph (B), by striking 1 ‘‘, is made solely pursuant to the collection 2 of a debt owed to or guaranteed by the 3 United States,’’; and 4 (B) in paragraph (2)— 5 (i) in subparagraph (F)(ii), by adding 6 ‘‘and’’ at the end; 7 (ii) in subparagraph (G)(ii), by strik- 8 ing ‘‘; and’’ at the end and inserting a pe- 9 riod; and 10 (iii) by striking subparagraph (H). 11 (b) REGULATIONS.—Section 301(b) of the Bipartisan 12 Budget Act of 2015 (47 U.S.C. 227 note) is repealed. 13 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:00 Mar 07, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S626.IS S626 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS