Any advancing legislation designed to help the transition to Next-Generation 911 perhaps should find ways to stop states that divert money from 911 fees to purposes other than paying for and improving 911, Steve Souder, who retired last year from leading Virginia’s Fairfax County 911 system, told the House Communications Subcommittee Wednesday. Lawmakers repeatedly peppered witnesses on fee diversion during the hearing, as they considered what help Congress should give NG-911.

Any advancing legislation designed to help the transition to Next-Generation 911 perhaps should find ways to stop states that divert money from 911 fees to purposes other than paying for and improving 911, Steve Souder, who retired last year from leading Virginia’s Fairfax County 911 system, told the House Communications Subcommittee Wednesday. Lawmakers repeatedly peppered witnesses on fee diversion during the hearing, as they considered what help Congress should give NG-911.

Telecom providers criticized a Nebraska proposal to change the state USF contribution formula from one based on revenue to a connections-based mechanism using phone numbers. In February, the Public Service Commission proposed a $1.29 surcharge for mobile voice, $1.24 for residential fixed voice and a five-tiered scheme for assessing charges to business lines. The current revenue-based contribution factor is 6.95 percent. But in testimony Friday released this week in docket NUSF-100, business line providers including Cox, Frontier and Windstream said the scheme for business lines isn't clear and may be tough to manage. For business lines, it’s not clear what revenue is to be considered in determining the surcharge -- only the business tariff rate or also extended-area-service fees and long-distance charges, Windstream said. Long-distance charges can fluctuate widely month to month, and business bundles could further complicate assessment, it said. Frontier said its billing system can't segregate or sort business customers into the five proposed tiers. Level 3 said assessing based on the number of phone numbers could hurt enterprise and government customers that have many phone numbers. CenturyLink said the business tiers are hazy and distinguishing between mobile and fixed lines for USF fees isn't equitable. CTIA said assessing different fees to mobile and fixed lines is “unreasonably discriminatory.” In other testimony, Communications Director Cullen Robbins proposed three alternative plans for contribution fees: (1) set mobile and residential voice surcharges equal at $1.29 and use two categories for businesses, single-line and multiline; (2) charge mobile and fixed the same fee and have one charge for business lines; and (3) use two categories for business -- single line and multitiered -- and treat residential fixed voice as a single-line business. "Continued declines in Nebraska Universal Service Fund (NUSF) remittances as a result of the erosion of the assessable base has led to a need to revise the contribution mechanism for the NUSF," Robbins said. A connections-based system is "more stable and predictable than the current mechanism,” he said. Some wireline companies supported the principle of assessing USF fees by connection as bringing more stability to USF. "A connection-based mechanism should be less volatile than a revenue-based mechanism, and … it should be less vulnerable to erosion of the contribution base," Windstream said. But Charter said it would be better to keep the status quo. "Moving away from this system will be complex, costly, confusing, and will likely need to be duplicated if the FCC ultimately changes the federal system,” it said. "Continuing with a revenue-based system is the most efficient, the most trusted, the most enforced and most enforceable, system yet devised. As [Winston] Churchill said: 'Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others.' The same can be said for revenue-based contribution systems -- at least at this time.”

Congress should consider hitching Next-Generation 911 legislation to the $1 trillion infrastructure package under discussion this session, West Safety Services Vice President Mary Boyd plans to testify Wednesday on behalf of the Industry Council for Emergency Response Technologies (iCert). Her advocacy echoes what key Senate Democrats have said this year, a growing push that goes beyond the telecom debate about including broadband funding (see 1702280062). Witnesses plan to tell the House Communications Subcommittee of the needs of NG-911 in funding and legislative tweaks, with significant attention on the i3 standard that the National Emergency Number Association worked on.

Congress should consider hitching Next-Generation 911 legislation to the $1 trillion infrastructure package under discussion this session, West Safety Services Vice President Mary Boyd plans to testify Wednesday on behalf of the Industry Council for Emergency Response Technologies (iCert). Her advocacy echoes what key Senate Democrats have said this year, a growing push that goes beyond the telecom debate about including broadband funding (see 1702280062). Witnesses plan to tell the House Communications Subcommittee of the needs of NG-911 in funding and legislative tweaks, with significant attention on the i3 standard that the National Emergency Number Association worked on.

CPB leadership received a largely warm welcome Tuesday in testifying before House appropriators. The Trump administration earlier proposed to slash funding for CPB for FY 2018. Earlier this month, House Appropriations Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies Subcommittee Chairman Tom Cole, R-Okla., told us he backed CPB and thought it had “decisive” support in the House (see 1703160060).

Witnesses testifying Wednesday on Next Generation-911 before the House Communications Subcommittee are National Emergency Number Association Director-Governmental Affairs Trey Forgety, Indiana Statewide 911 Board Executive Director Barry Ritter, Texas A&M University Internet2 Technology Evaluation Center Director Walt Magnussen, West Safety Services Vice President Mary Boyd and Steve Souder, who retired last year from leading Virginia’s Fairfax County 911 system. A GOP memo said that “several barriers remain to the realization of nationwide NG911,” citing funding concerns: “Costs of the transition to NG911 are significant, [but] an authoritative comprehensive cost study has not been produced to date. Congress directed the ICO [the E911 Implementation Coordination Office] to submit a cost study within one year of the passage of the NG911 Advancement Act in 2012, but no such study has been submitted, despite bipartisan concerns over the previous administration’s delay.” Consensus is that funding is “inadequate,” with proposals on the table to “include eliminating funding inconsistencies between states, within states, and between voice delivery networks -- landline, wireless, VoIP and prepaid,” the GOP memo said. It cites governance, network security and regulatory barriers as key issues. The Democratic memo noted funding issues with NG-911. The hearing follows a debate over the i3 standard between APCO and NENA last week (see 1703240052). “That operational and transitional NG911 systems based on i3 exist is a testament to the workability and permanence of the i3 standard,” said Evelyn Bailey, executive director of the National Association of State 911 Administrators, in a statement Monday. “We are well on the way toward achieving the vision of nationwide NG911 by the end of 2020. NASNA does not support anything that would slow down and disrupt that progress.”

Witnesses testifying Wednesday on Next Generation-911 before the House Communications Subcommittee are National Emergency Number Association Director-Governmental Affairs Trey Forgety, Indiana Statewide 911 Board Executive Director Barry Ritter, Texas A&M University Internet2 Technology Evaluation Center Director Walt Magnussen, West Safety Services Vice President Mary Boyd and Steve Souder, who retired last year from leading Virginia’s Fairfax County 911 system. A GOP memo said that “several barriers remain to the realization of nationwide NG911,” citing funding concerns: “Costs of the transition to NG911 are significant, [but] an authoritative comprehensive cost study has not been produced to date. Congress directed the ICO [the E911 Implementation Coordination Office] to submit a cost study within one year of the passage of the NG911 Advancement Act in 2012, but no such study has been submitted, despite bipartisan concerns over the previous administration’s delay.” Consensus is that funding is “inadequate,” with proposals on the table to “include eliminating funding inconsistencies between states, within states, and between voice delivery networks -- landline, wireless, VoIP and prepaid,” the GOP memo said. It cites governance, network security and regulatory barriers as key issues. The Democratic memo noted funding issues with NG-911. The hearing follows a debate over the i3 standard between APCO and NENA last week (see 1703240052). “That operational and transitional NG911 systems based on i3 exist is a testament to the workability and permanence of the i3 standard,” said Evelyn Bailey, executive director of the National Association of State 911 Administrators, in a statement Monday. “We are well on the way toward achieving the vision of nationwide NG911 by the end of 2020. NASNA does not support anything that would slow down and disrupt that progress.”

Net neutrality is one tech issue that Congress will still grapple with, the Congressional Research Service said in a report dated last week. “A consensus on the net neutrality issue remains elusive,” CRS said, listing several issues that lawmakers wrangle with in the telecom and tech space. It also addresses cybersecurity, broadband deployment and IoT issues. “The 115th Congress may address a range of broadband-related issues,” CRS said. “These may include the continued transition of the telephone-era Universal Service Fund from a voice to a broadband-based focus, infrastructure legislation that may include incentives for broadband buildout, reauthorization of the broadband loan program in the farm bill, the development of new wireless spectrum policies, and to what extent, if any, regulation is necessary to ensure an open Internet.” Lawmakers could take on examination of “the existing regulatory structure and consider possible revision of the 1996 Telecommunications Act and its underlying statute, the Communications Act of 1934,” CRS said, noting the IP transition’s influence in motivating discussion of these issues.

Net neutrality is one tech issue that Congress will still grapple with, the Congressional Research Service said in a report dated last week. “A consensus on the net neutrality issue remains elusive,” CRS said, listing several issues that lawmakers wrangle with in the telecom and tech space. It also addresses cybersecurity, broadband deployment and IoT issues. “The 115th Congress may address a range of broadband-related issues,” CRS said. “These may include the continued transition of the telephone-era Universal Service Fund from a voice to a broadband-based focus, infrastructure legislation that may include incentives for broadband buildout, reauthorization of the broadband loan program in the farm bill, the development of new wireless spectrum policies, and to what extent, if any, regulation is necessary to ensure an open Internet.” Lawmakers could take on examination of “the existing regulatory structure and consider possible revision of the 1996 Telecommunications Act and its underlying statute, the Communications Act of 1934,” CRS said, noting the IP transition’s influence in motivating discussion of these issues.