When contemplating the wireless Enhanced 911 (E911) issue, it’s critical not to ignore the fact that “wireless E911 is at its core a consumer issue,” said Dane Snowden, FCC’s Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau (CGB) chief. Speaking at the 2nd-day of a 2-day meeting of the FCC’s E911 Coordination Initiative, he said since 1995, the number of 911 calls placed by people using wireless phones had more than doubled to over 50 million per year: “Public safety personnel estimate that about 30% of the many millions of 911 calls they receive daily are placed from wireless phones and that percentage is only growing.”

FCC Chmn. Powell said Wed. that Enhanced 911 Phase 2 deployment had jumped 300% in the last 7 months, but he warned: “There is a real risk that this progress could stall.” At the start of a 2-day meeting of the FCC’s E911 Coordination Initiative, he said 19 states and Washington, D.C., hadn’t yet deployed Phase 2 to a single public safety answering point (PSAP), with the rollout rate below 10% in 15 other states. Meanwhile, House Telecom Subcommittee Chmn. Upton (R-Mich.) said he had hoped a pending E911 bill would be up for a floor vote Wed. morning, but there now was an agreement with leadership clearing the way for a vote as early as Tues.

Enhanced 911 legislation (HR-2898)could come to the House floor as early as today (Wed.), the National Emergency Number Assn. (NENA) said. The bill isn’t listed on the House Whip Notice, but a House source said discussions were going on late Tues. to determine whether the bill would get on the suspension calendar for Wed. If it were placed on the suspension calendar, it would have to get 2/3 of the House votes and no amendments could be offered. The bill, by Rep. Shimkus (R-Ill.), would allocate $100 million for 5 years toward deployment of E911 services. It also would prevent state legislatures that had raided E911 funds for other purposes from receiving federal help. The Administration has raised some concerns with the spending and has suggested that E911 funding come from other grants that already had been established (CD Oct 2 p1).

The House Commerce Committee passed the Enhanced 911 (E911) Implementation Act (HR-2898) Wed., but not before some concerns from the Administration surfaced. The bill passed with no objection after House Commerce Committee Chmn. Tauzin (R-La.) introduced an amendment that would strengthen the grant program so no state -- or entity within a state, including Public Service Answering Points (PSAPs) -- that diverted E911 funds could get federal funding.

Wireless carriers, privacy advocates and public safety groups differed over details of when federal law requires a mobile operator to divulge caller location information sent to a 911 center receiving an emergency call. The FCC sought feedback on a public safety petition on how provisions on customer privacy in the Communications Act intersected with newer language in the Patriot Act and other laws. One issue raised was the privacy protections when a 911 caller was dialing on behalf of someone else.

The Council on Foreign Relations said in a report that $10.4 billion was needed for 911 service and funding of federal, state and local emergency responders should be tripled over the next 5 years. The report said the National Emergency Number Assn. (NENA) described 911 system as beset with longstanding policy, technical and operational problems. State and local budget problems are contributing to 911 problems, NENA said, as many states and localities are siphoning away funds to pay for other govt. programs. “Improving 911 will require more than just money,” NENA Pres. Richard Taylor said. “Establishing a secure, reliable and adequate funding mechanism for 911 and other emergency responders is an essential step for protecting our families, communities and homeland security.”

A week after the U.S. Appeals Court, D.C., rejected a challenge to an FCC decision to retain wireless local number portability (LNP), both sides argued the technical details of implementation in comments to the FCC. AT&T Wireless said if the Commission couldn’t resolve issues “immediately” on porting obligations and roles, the FCC should again extend a Nov. 24 deadline to ensure operators could make changes in both wireless-to-wireless and wireline-to-wireless porting. Echoing concerns of other wireline carriers, Verizon opposed the CTIA petition, saying it marked an effort to blame LECS for the “supposed difficulties” faced by wireless operators on LNP. Some state regulators charged CTIA was undertaking a last-min. effort to delay LNP.

The federal govt. would devote $500 million to E-911 deployment, under legislation introduced Thurs. by Sens. Burns (R-Mont.) and Clinton (D-N.Y.). The bill would also create an NTIA task force to help coordinate E-911 deployment and require the FCC to monitor how states are spending E-911 funds.

House Telecom Subcommittee Chmn. Upton (R-Mich.) outlined plans Wed. for a bill that would create a “major” block grant program for Enhanced 911 funding for public safety agencies, but would condition the money on states’ not “raiding” 911 funds. At a hearing, he said the “comprehensive” bill also would create a national E911 program office in an existing agency such as the Dept. of Homeland Security (DHS) or NTIA. Upton expressed optimism after the hearing that a bill could move before the Aug. recess: “It’s ambitious. We don’t have a lot of weeks left. But it is important to everybody.”

Stakeholders who are deploying Enhanced 911, including state regulators, wireless carriers and public safety officials, told the FCC Tues. that coordination efforts were improving, in part due to a culture shift toward more cooperation. But at the first meeting of the agency’s E911 Coordination Initiative, they cited remaining challenges, including the raiding of state E911 funds for other purposes and the extent to which new wireless devices should be built with E911 in mind. National Emergency Number Assn. Pres. John Melcher said a new estimate forecast that it would cost public safety agencies $8.4 billion over the next 5 years to implement wireless E911 in every county.