Kari's Law Reporting Act

Floor Speech

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 5201, the Kari's Law Reporting Act. This is an important bill that follows up on legislation signed into law in 2018.

The original Kari's Law was prompted by the tragic story of a young child unable to reach 911 when it mattered most. During what became a fatal domestic dispute in a hotel room, she repeatedly dialed 911 to call for help, but the call was never connected because the hotel system required guests to dial a prefix to make an external call. The young daughter of the victim did exactly as she was taught and correctly dialed 911, but that one digit ultimately stood between Kari Hunt and the help that she needed that day.

Kari's Law requires providers of multiline telephone systems, which serve entities like office buildings and hotels, to reconfigure their systems to enable callers to simply dial 911 without a prefix to reach emergency assistance.

Today, however, it is evident that providers have yet to fully comply with Kari's Law, and so this legislation will provide Congress and the FCC with the tools necessary to track down delinquent providers and ensure they comply with the law. This is critically important so that tragedies like that of Kari Hunt do not happen again.

I thank Ranking Member Matsui and Representative Bilirakis for their leadership on this important bill, and I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 5201.

Matsui), the ranking member.

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Ms. McCLELLAN. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of H.R. 5201, the Kari's Law Reporting Act, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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