Press Release
Posted:
Washington – Today Rep. Mike Thompson (CA-05) and Rep. Anna Eshoo (CA-18) announced that Thompson’s bipartisan PHONE Act has been referred by the Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Communications and Technology to the full committee for consideration, the final step before a vote on the House floor. H.R. 1289, the PHONE Act, would allow residents who lost their homes to natural disasters, such as wildfires, to keep their phone numbers at no cost to them while they rebuild.
“Disaster survivors who are working to rebuild deserve every piece of normalcy we can give them, and yet current law prohibits phone companies from letting people keep their phone numbers while they rebuild their homes,” said Thompson. “That’s why I am proud to see my bill to solve this problem pass the subcommittee. This bill will let survivors, like those in my district, keep their phone numbers. I will continue working with Representative Eshoo to get this bill approved by the full committee and brought up for a vote on the House floor.”
“Passing the PHONE Act out of the Communications and Technology Subcommittee brings us one step closer to this critical policy becoming law,” said Rep. Eshoo. The bill ensures that individuals who lose their homes to a natural disaster won’t have to worry about losing their phone number by prohibiting phone companies from reassigning phone numbers of any household in a disaster area. I thank Rep. Thompson for his leadership on this bill, and I’m proud to help champion it at the Subcommittee.”