By naming a board to oversee the public safety licensee to be created in the 700 MHz band the FCC will “strengthen the link” between the public and first responders, the National Emergency Number Association said Monday. NENA is one of 11 members of the board announced by the FCC in a 321- page July 31 order outlining band plan and service rules for the 700 MHz spectrum becoming available in 2009 when broadcasters leave it. Nine board members will represent public safety and government groups: The Association of Public Safety Communications Officials, the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the International Association of Fire Chiefs, the National Sheriffs’ Association, the International City/County Management Association, the National Governor’s Association, the National Public Safety Telecommunications Council, the National Association of State Emergency Medical Services Officials and NENA. The other two will be chosen by the FCC’s Public Safety Bureau and the Wireless Bureau. The FCC order said makeup of the board, which will have voting power over the public safety licensee’s decisions, “ensures that local public safety agencies and governments will continue to have a voice in the use of the 700 MHz public safety broadband spectrum, as the overwhelming number of first responders are local government employees or volunteers.” The public safety licensee will operate in partnership with the licensee getting one of the commercial spectrum blocks to be auctioned next year. (See separate item in this issue.) - - EH

Wireless carriers warned the FCC it is pushing too hard for stricter standards for E-911 location accuracy. Carriers said they would not be able to meet identification requirements using current technology if measured by public safety answering point (PSAP), as requested by the Association of Public Safety Communications Officials (APCO). The CTIA, the Rural Cellular Association, and AT&T called for a special committee to examine the feasibility of stricter E-911 location standards, in responses to a rulemaking the agency approved at its May meeting (CD June 1 p2).

The FCC Thurs. approved a rulemaking proposing that wireless carriers be required to improve their systems so they can more accurately locate subscribers who make 911 calls. The FCC also began an examination of whether carriers should have to report by PSAP, rather than by statewide averaging, how they perform in reaching emergency callers rather than through statewide averaging. PSAP reporting is more lenient and is favored by carriers. The Commission is also examining requirements for VoIP providers.

House Homeland Security Committee Chmn. Thompson (D- Miss.) had a firm message Tues. for Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Undersecy. David Paulison: Finish a plan coordinating local, state and federal emergency response efforts and end bureaucratic turf skirmishes. Paulison irked Thompson when he said the plan, due June 1, won’t be ready until close to July 1. Ranking Member King (R-N.Y.) pressed Paulison about a current International Trade Commission case that could affect first responders’ access to cellphones.

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.

The National Emergency Number Assn. and the Assn. of Public-Safety Communications Officials will cooperate on next generation 911 (NG911) planning and deployment, they said Wed. The agreement covers how they will share information and their areas of overlap and expertise. Each will have a committee -- NENA’s Next Generation Transition Planning Committee and APCO’s Project 41 Committee -- with each body’s leadership also serving on the other panel. The arrangement is a “major step forward… on the critical issue of NG911,” said NENA Pres. Jason Barbour. “The results will be a firm foundation for the advancement of 911 and public safety,” APCO Pres. Wanda McCarley said.

Public safety groups said a VoIP E-911 bill (S-428) would help ensure full E-911 services for VoIP subscribers, according to testimony Tues. before the Senate Commerce Committee. S-428, introduced by Sens. Nelson (D-Fla.), Snowe (R-Me.) and Clinton (D-N.Y.) would require every VoIP provider to give customers the E-911 services mandated in FCC regulations. The service would have to be comparable to the 911 requirements of wireless providers. The Assn. of Public Safety Communications Officials (APCO) hasn’t taken a formal position on the bill, but it “strongly” supports the bill’s goal, said Pres. Wanda McCarley in her prepared testimony. APCO supports the provision extending liability protection for public safety answering points (PSAPs) for VoIP 911 calls and a provision that allows state and local govts. to collect 911 fees from VoIP service providers, McCarley said: “We believe that VoIP providers should not be able to offer new services to new customers in geographic areas where the provider is not able to comply with the FCC’s 911 and E-911 requirements contained in the FCC’s Order in WC Docket No. 04-36 and 05-196.” The National Emergency Number Assn. (NENA) also supports the bill, Pres. Jason Barbour told the committee. Barbour asked Congress to appropriate funds for 911 grants that were created under a 2004 law and urged expansion of the program to include IP-based solutions. Barbour said progress has been made in deploying E-911 service for landline and wireless service with 97% of U.S. counties having access to wireline E-911 service. Nearly 85% of the PSAPs can receive both call back and location information from cell phones, he said. However, there are still many areas that lack E-911 service for landline, wireless or VoIP, Barbour said.

Top officials with the National Emergency Number Assn. met separately last week with all 5 FCC commissioners, the group said in a filing with the Commission. Topics included the pace of E-911 rollout, difficulties resolving disputes in the states over surcharging of prepaid wireless service, and “what NENA believes to be the slow pace of the states in legislating requirements for locating 911 callers whose communications are processed through PBXs and other multi- line telephone systems,” NENA said.

The Dept. of Transportation hopes this year to run initial field tests of its Next Generation 911 project but needs a location, Laurie Flaherty, a leader of the program for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), said Tues. Key decisions on the program will be made the next few months, Flaherty told the National Emergency Number Assn.’s annual D.C. meeting.

NENA said its 3 highest priorities for this Congress are federal funding for 911 and emergency communications, getting E-911 solutions for all technologies, and homeland security provisions broad enough to encompass emergency response and 911. NENA endorses a 911 bill introduced by Sens. Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Stevens (R-Alaska).