Pai Highlights FCC Timelines, Ongoing Efforts to Enhance 911 Calling, Responses

and campus multiline telephone systems to let users dial 911 directly, he said in remarks at a National Emergency Number Association event Friday. The FCC is working to meet a September deadline for implementing a Ray Baum's Act mandate to ensure "dispatchable location" information is conveyed with 911 calls, regardless of technology. He expects to move later this year on a "Z-axis accuracy" standard in a proceeding aimed at pinpointing wireless 911 callers' vertical location in multistory buildings. He said the FCC is reviewing how best to improve wireless 911 call routing -- plagued by "upwards of tens of thousands" misrouted calls -- to ensure it's based on the location of callers and not cell towers. Pai said wireless providers are "making meaningful progress" toward meeting "stringent" location accuracy standards on 70 percent of calls in 2020 and 80 percent in 2021 to help responders find the callers. Since some states continue to divert 911 fee funds to other purposes, he's ready to work with Congress and stakeholders to ensure all such fees strengthen public safety communications. Pai's "continued engagement will keep pressure on those states stealing critical 9-1-1 fees to change their awful ways & prevent new states/territories from joining," tweeted Commissioner Mike O'Rielly. "New Congressional action would be welcome for habitual states that divert (NY, NJ & RI)."