Draft legislative text for the Next Generation 911 Act of 2017 began circulating in recent days. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., said Feb. 28 the draft would be forthcoming and described its provisions at length (see 1702280062). Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Bill Nelson, D-Fla., who announced efforts to work on such a bill in September, is listed as lead author. Both senators mentioned the initiative in the course of hearings last week. The 21-page draft bill still leaves some sections unfilled, such as the transition completion deadline for the NG-911 transition and the precise funding to be slated for the efforts: “There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section such sums as may be necessary,” it simply says in brackets in the appropriations section. The draft “makes the transition to NG 9-1-1 a national priority,” said a one-page summary. “The Act will further state and federal cooperation to build Next Generation 9-1-1 systems nationwide. It refocuses federal efforts to support NG 9-1-1 and provides necessary resources to use to help develop and implement NG 9-1-1 transition plans. But it keeps governance and control of the 9-1-1 system where it belongs -- with state and localities.” The text “closely tracks” with the efforts of the NG-911 Now Coalition, said the National Emergency Number Association, a member of the coalition. The draft “will ensure 9-1-1 authorities have access to the capital necessary to fully implement NG9-1-1,” the association said. APCO also lauded the draft, which “aligns with priorities APCO has long advocated, for accomplishing a full transition to NG9-1-1,” the group said. “APCO is especially supportive of provisions recognizing the need for standards and resources to support [public safety answering points]. 9-1-1 professionals deserve the benefits of accredited, consensus-based standards to ensure services and equipment match the level of innovation and cost efficiencies enjoyed in the consumer marketplace, akin to the path Congress set for FirstNet. Further, the draft recognizes the need to reserve governance and control to states and localities, and the imperative of cybersecurity.”

The National Association of State 911 Administrators worries that FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly's recommendations that the agency punish states that divert 911 fee revenue for unrelated purposes could have unintended consequences, NASNA Executive Director Evelyn Bailey told us. The group does agree with him that fee diversion should be stopped, she added. O’Rielly blogged Wednesday that the commission could discourage the practice by banning state 911 fee collection on interstate services, prohibiting collection and remittance of fees by providers or booting the offending states off commission advisory committees.

Senate Democrats are gearing up to unveil a draft of the Next Generation 911 Act of 2017 and are eyeing ways to include 911 as part of the year’s bigger infrastructure effort, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., said Tuesday during an NG-911 tech showcase in Rayburn hosted by the NG-911 Institute. Klobuchar, a co-chair of the NG-911 Caucus, is working on legislation long promised by Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Bill Nelson, D-Fla. He first mentioned working on a NG-911 transition bill in September and told us he had hoped to introduce it by January (see 1612290031).

The FCC Disability Advisory Committee scheduled the first meeting of its second term March 21, the agency said Tuesday. The meeting will be 9 a.m.-1:30 p.m. in the Commission Meeting Room. This is the first DAC meeting under new FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. DAC members will discuss “(i) the roles and responsibilities of the Committee and its members; (ii) issues that the Committee will address; (iii) meeting schedules; (iv) issues to be assigned to each subcommittee; and (iv) any other topics relevant to the DAC’s work,” said a public notice.

APCO encouraged the FCC to collect still more detailed information on when and how states divert 911 funds to other purposes. It said the FCC should “clearly define NG9-1-1 [next-generation 911] as part of the information collection on NG9-1-1 expenditures." The FCC should seek information on how states and their vendors are ensuring NG-911 components are fully interoperable, APCO said. The FCC also should provide guidance on what constitutes a “cybersecurity program” and additional information “about the types of cybersecurity programs states and [public safety answering points] are participating in and implementing,” APCO said. Also helpful would be data on the number of 911 texts received, “broken down by emergency and non-emergency, as well as the methods PSAPs use to receive texts,” APCO said. “The Commission’s fee diversion reports provide valuable insight into the 9-1-1 funding environment, as well as areas such as technology deployment and cybersecurity,” the filing said. “The reports will be even more useful advocacy and planning tools if the Commission collects more detailed information.” The group commented in docket 09-14 in response to an agency 911 fee diversion report (see 1701130065).

CTIA disagrees with states over how to split text-to-911 costs, it said in comments due Wednesday in docket 11-153 and posted there Thursday. To resolve a conflict holding up Maine's adoption of text-to-911 via message session relay protocol, and so the state may appropriately assess costs, the Maine Public Utilities Commission asked the FCC to clarify where the point of demarcation is between wireless providers and the state’s next-generation 911 network (see 1701090027). Wireless service providers should pay to connect from the text control center (TCC) to the state’s NG-911 system, the Maine PUC commented. “Placing the burden on a 911 authority, even on an interim basis, is fundamentally unfair when the requirement to provide the service lies with the carriers.” The point of demarcation should be at the ingress designated by the state’s session border controller, “which governs inputs to the statewide ESInet and routes calls using an Emergency Service Routing Proxy (ESRP),” it said. CTIA said the egress side of the wireless providers’ TCC is the appropriate demarcation point: “The Maine PUC offers no justification for upending the established cost allocation paradigm that public safety representatives and wireless providers have instituted and the FCC has recognized for interim text-to-911 solutions.” The National Association of State 911 Administrators supported the Maine PUC. The FCC should set a standard point of interconnection that could be applied to future multimedia communication in NG-911, NASNA commented. “This would aid states that are moving aggressively toward NG911 to better serve the evolving communication preferences of consumers and hopefully minimize the transition timeline.” APCO said the information provided by Maine seemed to support its suggested demarcation point. “To ensure comprehensive applicability across network designs and naming conventions, the Commission might benefit from considering the need for a functional definition of the demarcation point, rather than identifying a specific piece of equipment or network element,” the public safety group commented. The National Emergency Number Association urged the FCC to resolve the matter soon. "Unless and until critical demarcation questions, such as the one raised by Maine, are resolved, states like Maine and other local 9-1-1 authorities will face continued uncertainty and potentially conflicting service provider demands with respect to the structure of legacy voice, interim SMS, and end-stage Next Generation 9-1-1 service."

Major wireless carriers detailed their efforts to improve 911 indoor location accuracy pursuant to a FCC order in January 2015 (see 1501290066). AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon reported on their plans and actions to implement new regulatory obligations, including to meet certain indoor accuracy benchmarks for 911 calls, in filings (here, here, here and here) posted Monday and Friday in docket 07-114 that provided extensive technical information. Under the rules, "nationwide wireless carriers are required to generate either a Dispatchable Location ('DL') or X/Y location information within 50 meters for a certain percentage of wireless calls to 9-1-1 within specific timeframes," Sprint explained. "Dispatchable Location solutions provide the verified street address, plus additional location information from the planned National Emergency Address Database ('NEAD') that will help locate, with increased accuracy, a wireless device placing a call to 9-1-1. By developing Dispatchable Location solutions, wireless providers are leveraging evolving wireless technologies, such as WiFi and Bluetooth, to help improve the ability of first responders to efficiently and safely respond to wireless 9-1-1 callers that may be located indoors." The four carriers also "agreed to fund and implement a NEAD containing the locations of wireless access points to help provide a Dispatchable Location to public safety answering points," Sprint said.

CTIA invited vendors of location-accuracy technologies to participate in Stage 3 of its 911 location technologies test bed. The first two stages “focused on verifying the indoor performance of existing or commercially available 9-1-1 location technologies,” the group said in a Friday news release. “Stage 3 will now focus on location technologies in a variety of production-ready stages. The availability of Stage 3 demonstrates the wireless industry and public safety community’s commitment to considering how new technologies can continue to enhance the capabilities of our nation’s 9-1-1 system.” Stage 3 testing is to occur in the San Francisco and Atlanta areas later this year, the association said: “All test results are confidential to the test participants, but participants are encouraged to share summary results with wireless industry and public safety stakeholders who can evaluate the performance of various technologies.”

Emergency 911 apps for smartphones may not be safe, cautioned public safety, phone companies and others, in comments last week in FCC docket RM-11780 about a National Association of State 911 Administrators (NASNA) request for a proceeding on how smartphone 911 apps may interface with 911 systems (see 1612190055). Mobile apps are “not ready to replace traditional voice calls and SMS messages to 9-1-1, APCO commented. Apps could one day enhance 911, but critical issues must first be addressed, it said. The National Emergency Number Association supported an FCC proceeding, agreeing the apps are an opportunity but also a challenge for public safety. The apps must be held to the same standards as other parts of 911 systems, NENA said. AT&T said mobile 911 apps hold promise, but it has seen that certain apps can interfere with the normal operations of 911 calling provided by mobile service providers. “Wireless carriers cannot be the gate keepers for these third-party emergency services apps over which the carrier has no control,” AT&T commented. But it said there’s no legal basis for the FCC to assert authority over 911 apps, and it would be better to develop industry standards. NTCA also raised concerns about FCC legal authority, saying the FTC may be better positioned to act. ACT|The App Association agreed the FTC is a more appropriate venue. It commented that FCC actions could stunt growth of the app industry: “Emergency communications are no exception to the app revolution, and the Commission should ensure that its policies enhance, rather than disrupt, the benefits that this innovative ecosystem can bring to 911 communications.”

APCO and the National Emergency Number Association supported a petition by Onvoy Spectrum, which is seeking to directly obtain pseudo-automatic number identifications (p-ANI) for use in its 911 technology for data-only devices using over-the-top VoIP. The FCC Wireline Bureau issued a notice in December seeking comment (see 1612230019). Onvoy is developing a new capability for a VoIP app to contact 911 from devices not tied into a wireless carrier network, APCO said. “APCO is encouraged by Onvoy’s efforts, because there is presently no 9-1-1 solution for such OTT mobile applications, and Onvoy appears to be addressing a number of important 9-1-1-related considerations,” APCO commented in docket 13-97. “It is in the public interest for the Commission to grant appropriate waiver relief to enable Onvoy to continue to pursue further testing of its OTT VoIP 9-1-1 solution.” In separate comments, NENA said it "cannot fault Neustar for attempting to establish sensible criteria for the evaluation of requests for wireless p-ANI resources. Clearly some gating criteria must be established for this purpose. As a practical matter, however, there is little to no technical difference between wireless and VoIP p-ANI resources. [Wireless] and VoIP technologies are rapidly converging, and approaches such as Onvoy’s, which enables dynamic location capabilities for VoIP services, are a natural part of that convergence.” Neustar administers the p-ANI pool.