SENATE BILL WOULD DEVOTE $500 MILLION FOR E-911

Burns and Clinton said their challenge is now to convince their colleagues to prioritize the $500 million expenditure and to keep controversial amendments, such as local number portability (LNP), off the bill. While neither directly addressed whether the FCC should delay the approaching LNP deadline for wireless carriers, they did say that E-911 should be a priority. “We need to learn to walk before we run,” Clinton said.

NTIA would distribute to state, local and tribal govts. the E-911 grants, which could be used for planning, infrastructure improvements, equipment purchases and personnel training and acquisition. Local govts. would have to provide a 50% match to federal grants. NTIA would give preference in grants to programs that were coordinated with PSAPs and integrated public and commercial services. NTIA would consult with the Dept. of Homeland Security (DHS) about grant recipients. DHS would also be a member of the NTIA task force, along with the Departments. of Justice, Defense, Interior and Transportation. The FCC, state and local first responders, telecom industry representatives and “others designated” by the NTIA dir. will also have positions on the task force.

The FCC would also be tasked with monitoring state spending on E-911. Several states have diverted funds collected for E-911, which has drawn complaints from several legislators, including Burns and Clinton. States would be required to certify that no e-911 fees are being used for other purposes and the FCC would review state spending twice a year. The FCC would have to notify Congress of states that divert funds and those states would be ineligible for E-911 grants.

Burns said the bill has support of Senate leadership and Clinton added that the $500 million price tag was the most controversial portion of the bill. “It’s a matter of will and priority,” Burns said of the bill’s funding level. “We waste more than $500 million each year.” Burns said it was important to keep the bill “clean” and avoid controversial amendments like LNP. Wireless industry lobbyists have been lobbying Congress for a measure to delay the LNP implementation deadline of Nov. 24. “I don’t see a lot of roadblocks,” Burns said of the bill. A similar measure is expected to be introduced in the House in a few weeks, House sources said. The bill would likely be introduced by E-911 caucus co-Chmn. Shimkus (R-Ill.) and Eshoo (D-Cal.).

Clinton said N.Y. has been charging a fee for E-911 deployment since 1991, but has diverted nearly all of the funds it has raised. The fee, which is now up to $1.20 a month, has raised $300 million, $221 million of which has been used to fill budget holes, Clinton said. “That’s just plain wrong,” she said. Recently, the state legislature approved a $100 million bonding initiative to help replace some of the E-911 funds, she said. Other states have been doing the same, officials said. On Wed., House Commerce Committee Chmn. Tauzin (R-La.) used his floor speech on spectrum trust fund legislation (CD June 12 p1) to blast states for diverting E-911 funds.

In a separate news conference, a group of industry and public safety groups said they're working to speed the deployment of wireless E-911 and praised the legislation announced earlier. About 93% of emergency call centers, known as public safety answering points (PSAPs) have enhanced E-911 for wireline callers but only 10% of them gave such capability for wireless calls, said John Melcher, National Emergency Number Assn. (NENA) pres. The number of PSAPs with wireless E-911 capability has grown to 643 from 299 since Feb., but that’s out of a total 6,121 centers, Melcher said, and 407 counties either lack any 911 service or can only receive voice calls with no data on location or call back number, he said.

The group said they're working to eliminate barriers to deployment of wireless E-911, supporting efforts to provide more money and more coordination among local, state and federal officials. Among the most significant barriers, they said, are (1) the stress on local response systems from the growth of wireless communications and (2) “the improper siphoning of public funds” that were set aside to upgrade 911 systems. The problem isn’t technology, it’s “funding, coordination and procedural issues,” said Karl Korsmo of AT&T Wireless. Wireless carriers and public safety groups have complained that the money raised for that purpose -- through fees on customers’ phone bills -- sometimes is used by governmental bodies for other purposes. NENA said in a news release that last year state agencies “diverted” $53 million in Cal., $10 million in R.I., $9 million in Ore. “The Bonnie and Clyde of public safety are those governors and state legislatures who broke into the E-911 bank and robbed the public of important safety resources,” said CTIA Pres. Tom Wheeler.

During the news conference, Wheeler made a fleeting reference to the difficulty of implementing E-911 at the same time as local number portability (LNP), one of CTIA’s arguments for delaying LNP. FCC Chmn. Powell, who also spoke at the news conference, said when questioned about that remark that it’s “not true.” Powell said E-911 is a “simple and intuitive idea” that’s complex to implement. A concerted industry-public safety effort to support deployment is important because “a subject as important as this needs to be fully committed,” Powell said.