Most commenters emphasized the importance of flexibility and developing rules that will accommodate change in comments on a next-generation 911 Further NPRM that commissioners approved 4-0 in March (see 2503270042). Initial comments were due Monday in docket 21-479. The FNPRM proposes updates to the agency’s 911 reliability rules, extending those that cover legacy 911 networks to service providers that control or operate critical pathways and components in NG911 networks.

National Association of State 911 Administrators President Pokey Harris clarified Wednesday that her organization and the National Emergency Number Association are “absolutely not at odds” on pushing for Congress to address funding for next-generation 911 tech upgrades, despite statements in a Tuesday interview indicating some minor differences in the groups' preferred processes (see 2507080065). Republican lawmakers decided against allocating any future spectrum auction revenue for NG-911 in the budget reconciliation package that both chambers passed last week (see 2507030056).

Wireless carriers urged the FCC to move with caution in response to a Further NPRM on wireless location accuracy, which commissioners approved 4-0 in March (see 2503270042). The FNPRM probes ways to improve accuracy and whether providers should be required to deliver vertical location information to 911 call centers measured in height above ground level (AGL), instead of height above ellipsoid (HAE). The notice also asks about ways to ensure that more public safety answering points receive dispatchable location (DL) as part of calls to 911. Reply comments were due Monday and mostly posted Tuesday in docket 07-114.

Leaders of two 911 advocacy groups in Tuesday interviews offered slightly diverging plans for pushing Congress to address funding for next-generation 911 tech upgrades. Republican lawmakers decided against allocating any future spectrum auction revenue for that purpose in the budget reconciliation package both chambers passed last week (see 2507030056). President Donald Trump signed the measure Friday, authorizing an 800 MHz spectrum auction pipeline through Sept. 30, 2034 (see 2507070045). A Hill briefing Tuesday with the NG9-1-1 Institute and Intrado on emergency communications issues barely touched on the funding issue.

President Donald Trump signed off Friday on the revised budget reconciliation package, previously known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, restoring the FCC’s spectrum auction authority for the first time since it lapsed in March 2023. The measure, which ultimately mirrored the Senate’s version, mandates an 800 MHz spectrum auction pipeline but exempts the 3.1-3.45 GHz and 7.4-8.4 GHz bands from potential reallocation (see 2507030056). The National Emergency Number Association and WISPA separately aired grievances with Congress failing to act on the groups’ policy priorities via reconciliation.

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, insisted in a brief interview Thursday that a deal he reached Wednesday with top Armed Services Committee Republicans for spectrum language in the chamber’s budget reconciliation package (see 2506040078) remains in place, despite panel member Mike Rounds, R-S.D., indicating new wrinkles emerged. Senate Commerce planned to release its reconciliation language Thursday but hadn’t by our deadline. Meanwhile, the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials, National Emergency Number Association and other groups urged Senate Commerce to allocate some future auction proceeds in its reconciliation proposal for next-generation 911 tech upgrades.

The National Emergency Number Association urged that the FCC require carriers to continue to support time-division multiplexing (TDM) as they move to IP-based services. NENA said the transition is “occurring unevenly.” NENA “wants to ensure that all calls to 9-1-1 are completed” and there is a “need to support TDM delivery of 9-1-1 traffic to selective routers for the immediately foreseeable future,” said a filing posted Thursday in docket 21-17.

House Commerce Committee Chairman Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., told us Tuesday night that he doesn’t see it as a setback that several Senate Commerce Committee Republicans want to pursue alternatives to parts of the House panel’s budget reconciliation package spectrum proposal (see 2505120058), even as some congressional DOD supporters raised their own objections to the measure. House Commerce cleared its spectrum and AI reconciliation language early Wednesday on a party-line, 29-24 vote after Democrats unsuccessfully floated a handful of amendments that reflected their objection to using future FCC auction proceeds as an offset for extending the 2017 tax cuts and other GOP priorities.

Leaders of the National Association of State 911 Administrators and National Emergency Number Association are urging Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy to preserve “a strong role” for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s National 911 Program amid the Trump administration’s government-wide workforce cuts. The program “has been crucial in coordinating state and local 9-1-1 systems -- an area that no other federal entity addresses,” said NASNA Executive Director Harriet Rennie-Brown and NENA CEO Brian Fontes in a letter to Duffy. “This coordination is more essential than ever as over 5,000 local 9-1-1 centers transition to” next-generation 911 technology. “Without support from the National 9-1-1 Program Office, local jurisdictions will struggle with interoperability between and among agencies and jurisdictions -- a key public safety component,” they said. “This is particularly true on our nation’s highways, where an estimated one-third of all 9-1-1 calls originate and where effective coordination and interoperability can save lives.”

The FCC’s outage reporting rules and its history of assessing large penalties for violations are leading to public safety answering points (PSAPs) being heavily burdened by notifications, said attorneys, trade groups and public safety associations. New rules that go into effect April 15 are likely to exacerbate the issue, they said during an FCBA virtual panel discussion Monday.