House E-911 Bill Would Give VoIP Liability Protection
A draft E-911 bill by Rep. Gordon (D-Tenn.) would offer VoIP providers protection from suits if emergency calls aren’t connected to public safety answering points (PSAPs), Gordon’s legislative asst., Dana Lichtenberg, said at an FCBA lunch Fri. The immunity provision is a key element in the bill, circulating among House Commerce Committee lawmakers and expected to be introduced within 2 weeks, she said. The bill updates one debated last year and resembles S-428, which the Senate Commerce Committee unanimously reported out April 25.
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S-428 would require VoIP companies to offer customers E- 911 services and would give the FCC regulatory authority over communications providers of 911 and E-911 services, relieving Congress of involvement with new technologies. The resulting flexibility will allow innovation and speed development of consumer services, panelists agreed at the luncheon. “By the time Congress legislates and the FCC writes rules, you've missed the train,” said Chris Guttman-McCabe, CTIA vp- regulatory affairs.
Nearly 98% of VoIP subscribers have E-911 services, a rate achieved without new legislation, said Jim Kohlenberger, exec. dir., VON Coalition. The FCC has prodded industry to act, and last year’s hearings and legislative efforts sho0wed industry’s vulnerability, he said. Competition drove firms to solve the E-911 location problem, making a distant memory of FCC rules requiring stickers on non-E-911 compliant phones. As for many waivers companies requested from the FCC, they're pending in regulatory no-man’s land, he said.
Despite progress, Congress needs to provide legislative clarity for the industry -- the House and Senate bills’ goal, congressional aides said. “We're in a pretty good place in terms of compliance” with E-911 for VoIP providers, said Mike O'Rielly, senior legislative asst. to Sen. Sununu (R-N.H.). Problems have been solved but others remain, such failure by some wireline companies to provide E-911 services for all their customers, he said: “No one wants to talk about that.”
“Liability parity is the biggest issue for us,” said Patrick Halley, dir.-govt. affairs, NENA. VoIP and other new technologies should have the immunity from lawsuits the wireline and wireless industries do, he said. Backing a light regulatory touch to encourage innovation, Halley stressed the importance of firm rules on safety compliance.
Without Congressional and FCC scrutiny, companies might not have been so quick to figure out how to link a consumer’s address with a VoIP phone number, Halley said: “I haven’t seen companies move on E-911 without a regulatory push.” Halley said the safety community is modernizing; 2-3 years ago “you would never had heard anyone talking positively about” VoIP, he said. Now it’s becoming more acceptable as the technology is proving robust.