An FCC record refresh on improving how wireless 911 calls are routed to the appropriate first responders is expected to be approved 4-0 by commissioners at their monthly meeting Wednesday. The final version is likely to incorporate some language sought by APCO (see 2206010027), said FCC and industry officials. The National Emergency Number Association doesn’t support those changes. APCO was the lone party to file comments in docket 18-62 after the FCC posted the draft.

AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon filed certifications at the FCC saying they're in compliance with a requirement they provide vertical-location information on wireless calls to 911, as required by a June 2021 consent decree (see 2106030086). The filings were due at the FCC Thursday and posted in docket 17-78 (see here, here and here). The National Emergency Number Association, meanwhile, applauded a CTIA report saying nationwide wireless carriers, working with Apple and Google, can provide accurate vertical location information on wireless calls to 911 (see 2206020068). “NENA is pleased that the 9-1-1 Location Technologies Test Bed … filing reported that device-based hybrid (DBH) z-axis location solutions were successful in improving location accuracy consistent with” FCC requirements, emailed President Brian Fontes: “NENA continues to support aligning commercial research and development for location services with the needs of improved location accuracy used for public safety purposes.”

Commenters disagreed on the FCC's role in oversight and implementation of next-generation 911, in comments posted Thursday in docket 21-479 on the National Association of State 911 Administrators' (NASNA) petition seeking a rulemaking or notice of inquiry to fully implement NG-911 (see 2110190066). Some public safety organizations backed a rulemaking clarifying demarcation points for cost allocations.

The omicron variant is the latest test for already stretched-thin 911 centers managing with the COVID-19 pandemic, emergency call officials told us last week. Public safety answering point (PSAP) professionals said staff taking sick leave is the main challenge. PSAPs are more prepared than they were at the beginning of the pandemic but are also experiencing higher-than-normal staffing issues amid a national trend of workers quitting jobs in the “Great Resignation,” said National Emergency Number Association (NENA) 911 and PSAP Operations Director April Heinze in an interview.

An FCC report showing a bump in 911 fee diversion in 2020 frustrated former Commissioner Mike O'Rielly and the National Emergency Number Association (NENA). The agency reported that some states diverted more than $207 million in 2020. Don’t adopt a safe harbor or grace period to comply with the fee diversion order, said CTIA in comments posted Friday in docket 20-291 (see 2112210037). CTIA opposed petitions for reconsideration from Colorado’s Boulder Regional Emergency Telephone Service Authority and City of Aurora 911 Authority, saying the requests would “undermine Congress’s intent.”

Shulman Rogers' Alan Tilles says he's leaving the law firm at year-end and beginning a solo law practice "in the telecom and entertainment law areas" ... Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro (D) nominates Patrick Cicero to be the state’s consumer advocate at the Office of Consumer Advocate, where he starts in an acting capacity pending Senate confirmation; Cicero was executive director, Pennsylvania Legal Aid Network ... National Emergency Number Association adds Colorado 911 expert Vicki Pickett as NENA’s education & training director.

The National Emergency Number Association issued a request for information Thursday seeking next-generation 911/public safety broadband network (PSBN) contract language. “No contract language currently exists for entities to include in a procurement to communicate specific interconnection requirements between PSBNs and NG9-1-1 to broadband network providers,” NENA said: The goal is language that "measures/demonstrates interoperability function(s) and performance." Responses are due Jan. 16.

National Emergency Number Association CEO Brian Fontes urged the Senate Monday to restore “full funding” for next-generation 911 tech upgrades when it takes up the House-passed Build Back Better Act budget reconciliation package. The HR-5376 version passed last week (see 2111190042) includes $490 million for NG-911. That’s less than 5% of the $10 billion the House Commerce Committee proposed in September (see 2109140063); $470 million would go to tech upgrades and $20 million for NTIA to administer the program. The measure also allocates $1 million for NTIA to set up a Public Safety NG-911 Advisory Board. That money would represent “the largest federal investment in 9-1-1 in history” and “we appreciate that,” Fontes said in a statement. “However, it is less than” what House Commerce sought and “less than 4% of the $12 billion” NTIA and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recommended in 2018.

The District of Columbia’s 911 center failed in many months to meet national standards for getting timely help to callers, reported the Office of D.C. Auditor Tuesday. ODCA said insufficient supervision of call-taking and dispatch, plus operators’ distrust in location technology, contributed to failures at the Office of Unified Communications, including inconsistent call handling and difficulty determining location of emergencies. Local officials want action.

An FCC draft Further NPRM on tightening rules for the public safety answering point Do Not Call registry may be unanimously OK'd during commissioners’ Sept. 30 meeting, said experts in recent interviews. The FCC established the PSAP registry in 2012 as mandated by 2012's Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act (see 1210180072). The new draft proposes to allow voice service providers access to the registry to block robocalls to registered numbers.