APCO’s CEO is pleased with several signs from the National Emergency Number Association board, he told us. NENA took aim in a statement last week at the way APCO characterized language in a draft Senate NG-911 bill from Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Bill Nelson, D-Fla., and Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn. (see 1702280062 and 1703060020). Both groups said they back the draft legislation. NENA cited a message on the draft Senate bill that APCO sent to members March 17 that “attempts to cast doubt on NENA’s NG9-1-1 architecture standard, Detailed Functional and Interface Standards for the NENA i3 Solution,” known as i3. “APCO’s characterizations of the i3 standard are simply wrong," NENA said. "By sowing doubt about the best way forward, APCO has endangered the timely roll-out of NG9-1-1 systems for the American public whom we serve.” Now "that NENA has confirmed that i3 is incomplete and not an accredited standard, that helps to clear the record for 9-1-1 professionals and industry,” APCO CEO Derek Poarch said in a statement Friday. “I also appreciate NENA’s public commitment to finally put its i3 through the ANSI [American National Standards Institute] accreditation process to completion. It is our hope that at that point, i3 can become a build-to standard, and 9-1-1 professionals can rely upon it to ensure full interoperability.”

Non-service initialized (NSI) phone calls “are a growing burden and must be addressed if PSAPs [public safety answering points] are to provide acceptable service levels to the public,” said the Greater Harris County 9-1-1 Emergency Network. The Texas group met with the FCC Public Safety Bureau March 1, said a March 20 ex-parte letter in docket 8-51. NSI phones are retired wireless devices that can still make 911 calls because the FCC requires it. The commission asked comment last year on dropping the policy (see 1609140030). NSI calls are at least 10 percent of total call volume, but they are seldom emergencies, Harris County said. The county doesn’t seek to inhibit anyone from calling 911, “but with the growing numbers and the fact there is no subscriber information or ability to place a callback, the service to the public is not adequate,” it said. The county, which includes Houston, warned the FCC that 911 app developer claims that their apps provide better information to the public are often inaccurate or misleading. On the Next-Generation 911 transition, it said it's “imperative … that a competitive choice-driven market is fostered and maintained.”

Caller overload at the Dallas 911 center, coming soon after a widespread AT&T wireless 911 outage, shows that maintaining the emergency-number service must be a priority for industry and government, 911 officials said Friday. The FCC said it will provide an update on the AT&T outage at commissioners' Thursday meeting, and 911 officials said they look forward to learning more information. Meanwhile, a few state legislatures are moving bills that could direct funding to 911 systems. And at the Nebraska Public Service Commission, industry said "no" to state requirements for 911 reliability exceeding what the FCC requires.

CTIA and Verizon separately urged the FCC to reject a request by the Maine Public Utilities Commission to clarify where the point of demarcation is between carriers and the state’s Next-Generation 911 network for message session relay protocol (MSRP). CTIA also disagreed with several states in the initial comment round (see 1702090021), in docket 11-153. The PUC said the lack of clarity was delaying Maine's adoption of the technology and making it difficult to assess costs (see 1701090027). “The record assembled supports CTIA’s initial comments that the Bureau should not disturb the established cost allocation norm for the interim text-to-911 environment,” CTIA replied. The PUC insists wireless providers should bear the costs of connecting from the text-control center to Maine’s ESInet because the FCC “placed the obligation to provide interim text-to-911 on the service providers, not on the PSAP,” CTIA said. “This mischaracterizes the Commission’s framework for interim text-to-911 and ignores that [public safety answering points] have their own set of obligations once they choose to request text messages from wireless providers.” Verizon said the Maine state agency correctly called attention to the need for collaboration. “However, it would inappropriately alter the interim framework developed between industry and the public safety community that launched the successful and still-growing deployment of text-to-911 throughout the country,” Verizon replied. The Boulder Regional Emergency Telephone Service Authority supports the PUC’s plea for clarity. “This proceeding concerns the anomaly in which providers of telephony services are responsible for delivery, and the cost of delivery, of their customers’ calls; except the most important calls their customers make: calls for emergency assistance,” it said. “The Commission should not further excuse providers from responsibility for delivery of their customers calls and messages to 9-1-1, and thus not permit providers to transfer to PSAPs or 9-1-1 authorities the costs of transport and routing of intrastate 9-1-1 calls and messages to and from nationally or regionally consolidated MSCs [mobile switching centers] or NG9-1-1 Data Complexes.”

The FCC is investigating a widespread outage of 911 service affecting AT&T wireless customers for about 90 minutes Wednesday, the agency confirmed. Industry officials said Thursday they don’t necessarily expect the FCC to take enforcement action against the carrier or contemplate new rules unless the investigation uncovers major problems. The FCC usually doesn’t issue a fine as a result of 911 outages, former officials said.

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).