Opponents of states using 911 fees for unrelated purposes support an FCC notice of inquiry proposed for vote at Wednesday’s meeting. Some want earlier action and wonder what the future holds, since the item’s main FCC champion, Commissioner Mike O’Rielly, is likely leaving. The agency would ask how to dissuade states from diverting 911 fees and the impact of the practice (see 2009090048).

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai announces changes in his office (see also this section, Aug. 7 issue): Sean Spivey joins from Wireless Bureau as wireless and international adviser, replacing Aaron Goldberger, returning to the bureau; Allison Baker named economic adviser, comes from Wireline Bureau; chairman’s Rural Broadband Adviser Preston Wise expands role to wireline adviser, replacing Nirali Patel, going back to Wireline Bureau; and Melissa Kirkel, who has been on detail as special counsel-wireline, returns to the bureau ... Arnold & Porter hires Jessica Monahan from National Association of Counties as policy adviser; she has worked on transportation and technology ... Scanlon Rabinowitz adds Roy Shulman, ex-Prudential Financial, as special counsel focusing on technology, contract and intellectual property law.

Two public safety associations canceled in-person conferences Tuesday. APCO canceled its Aug. 2-5 conference (see 2006230039) less than one week after saying it was moving forward with the Florida event, and after some public health experts raised concerns (see 2006190035). Since Thursday's statement, “several developments occurred,” including Orange County’s mayor requiring face masks, Florida reporting a record-high 4,049 new COVID-19 cases Saturday and the state health department recommending Saturday people don’t attend events with more than 50 people, wrote APCO CEO Derek Poarch in an email to members and on the event’s webpage. Full refunds will be issued, and the group is planning for APCO 2021, Aug. 15-18, in San Antonio. The National Emergency Number Association, which earlier postponed its June 13-18 conference to Sept. 24-29 in California, said the event will now be held virtually the week of Sept. 21. “Given the still-uncertain trajectory of the pandemic, and considering that conference participants would be coming from all over the country and around the world, NENA concluded that canceling the in-person meeting was the only safe and responsible action,” it said. NENA was in touch at least weekly with Long Beach "ever since the first date-change announcement was made," and Tuesday's announcement "reflects weeks of discussions and planning," a spokesperson added. APCO didn’t comment beyond the announcement. Florida’s health department didn’t comment.

While most associations have dropped plans for in-person summer conferences due to COVID-19, APCO is forging ahead with plans to meet Aug. 2-5 in Orlando. It's even offering a $100 credit to attendees, to be used at next year's conference. Infection rates are on the rise in Florida, and experts warned against holding the conference live.

National 911 groups will explore how operators could field calls from home, heads of the National Emergency Number Association (NENA) and National Association of State 911 Administrators (NASNA) said in interviews last week. Operators began working remotely in Alexandria, Virginia, when the coronavirus struck the U.S. Most public safety answering points (PSAPs) don’t allow that, despite widespread safety concerns of having call takers working near each other indoors (see 2003180033).

Domestic violence calls to 911 continue to rise amid the coronavirus even though more public safety answering points report lower call volume overall, the National Emergency Number Association reported Monday. NENA polled about 500 emergency number professionals. Nearly half said dispatches increased for domestic violence incidents; more than 40% said dispatches about disturbed persons rose. About 75% reported decreasing 911 call volume over the past three weeks, compared with half in a NENA report last month (see 2004130032). About 39% said their PSAP had quarantined or sent home employees due to either COVID-19 symptoms or a positive test.

The FCC is seeking to better assess emergency communications reliability by adding data fields to the network outage reporting and 911 reliability certification systems, the Public Safety Bureau said. On an FCBA CLE webinar, also Monday, T-Mobile officials raised some related cautions. North Carolina, meanwhile, hasn’t faced major challenges with emergency-call delivery amid the coronavirus but can't “let our guard down,” the state’s 911 Board Executive Director Pokey Harris said in a Thursday interview.

National Emergency Number Association officials discussed “methods used to derive confidence and uncertainty figures in location estimation,” meeting with Public Safety Bureau staff on the FCC vertical location accuracy mandate, said a filing posted Friday in docket 07-114. “Such methods are a well-explored and always developing academic topic.” Also discussed: “Specifics of how a particular platform determines location are largely proprietary" and the interfaces "are well-standardized for interoperability purposes.”

Public safety answering points are adapting to call-volume changes from the coronavirus and adjusting internal procedures to keep call takers healthy, 911 officials said in interviews this month. The New York City Fire Department Bureau of Emergency Medical Services (FDNY EMS) is having “record call volume,” Deputy Commissioner Frank Dwyer emailed.

Among other personnel moves (see this section, April 3), Public Knowledge promotes Meredith Whipple to digital outreach director ... Patrick Lin, California Polytechnic State University, joins Center for a New American Security Task Force on Artificial Intelligence and National Security ... Code Dx announces Martin Weber, ex-Cisco, as senior vice president-worldwide sales; promotes Curtis Bragdon to vice president-business development and public sector ... Seaborn Networks appoints Michel Marcelino, from Vogel Telecom, senior vice president, head-Latin America ... President Donald Trump nominating judge for the Western District of Kentucky Justin Walker to U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.