APCO said that without "significant changes," it can't support the FCC's push for final rules requiring that carriers be able to identify within 3 meters the vertical location, or z-axis, of calls to 911. APCO had earlier voiced concerns, though the draft order asserts the group is now onboard. “APCO’s revised position aligns with the views of all other public safety commenters that adopting a z-axis metric remains an essential measure to ensure that first responders receive important location information when providing dispatchable location is not feasible,” the draft said (see 1910290054). But "the proposal does not ensure that first responders will know a 9-1-1 caller’s vertical position within 3 meters for 80 percent of calls, as the metric seemingly requires,” APCO said in a filing posted Tuesday in docket 07-114: “Worse, absent a more comprehensive approach to the z-axis metric and the location accuracy rules, carriers could comply with the rules without ensuring that public safety professionals receive actionable information.” APCO shared its concerns with staff for Chairman Ajit Pai, and Commissioners Mike O’Rielly and Jessica Rosenworcel.

Industry groups representing telcos, cable companies and telecom service bundlers endorsed an FCC draft declaratory ruling to ensure 911 regulatory fee parity between VoIP and functionally equivalent traditional phone services, in interviews last week. Commissioners will vote on the draft at Friday's meeting (see 1910040053). The ruling, on docket 19-44, is an attempt to answer a referral from the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama on litigation between AT&T's BellSouth and some 911 districts (see 1909110027).

The National Emergency Number Association said the FCC should require carriers to be able to locate the vertical location of wireless callers. NENA opposes CTIA’s “phased in” approach (see 1910100030), it told an aide to Commissioner Geoffrey Starks, said a filing in docket 07-114, posted Friday. “Emphasizing public safety’s sensitivity to timeline slip, we noted that the proposed benchmarks have been in place since the Commission’s 2015 Roadmap,” NENA said. But NENA agrees with CTIA that the national emergency address database faces challenges. “We remain concerned that the NEAD could generate dangerously inaccurate location results for public safety, and that its compliance regime creates the potential for vast swaths of unserved 9-1-1 callers,” the group said. Top officials at NextNav met with Public Safety Bureau staff on the proposed requirement. “A major point of discussion during the meeting was the manner in which the Commission should determine compliance with its vertical location requirements in terms of handset penetration,” the company said: “The discussion included the definition of ‘z-axis capable devices’ and whether this could be defined as handsets manufactured after a certain date that include appropriate hardware components, such as a barometric pressure sensor or other capable component necessary to calculate altitude.”

Executive Vice President Brad Gillen and others from CTIA met FCC Chief of Staff Matthew Berry and Aaron Goldberger, an aide to Chairman Ajit Pai, on the agency’s regulatory framework for giving public safety answering points vertical location information for wireless calls to 911. Carriers' June comments supported a 3-meter standard for indoor wireless 911 calls but warned technological challenges remain (see 1906190011). “CTIA reiterated the wireless industry’s on-going commitment to enhancing wireless 9-1-1 location accuracy, particularly indoors, and provided a status update on the nationwide wireless providers’ efforts to meet the Fourth Report and Order’s vertical location requirements,” said a filing posted Thursday in docket 07-114. “CTIA reviewed the nationwide wireless providers’ significant efforts to work across the wireless ecosystem to deliver actionable vertical location information to PSAPs [public safety answering points] during a wireless 9-1-1 call. However, CTIA noted that third-party adoption and scalability issues remain substantial challenges to National Emergency Address Database (NEAD)-based dispatchable location solutions.”

Crosscut Strategies hires Charlie Meisch, ex-SKDKnickerbocker and ex-FCC, as senior vice president; Simon Brown, from Small Business Majority, as director; and Caitlin Krutsick, Bipartisan Policy Center, as account specialist; promotes Courtney Lamie to chief operating officer ... In closing buy of Tribune (see 1909200048), Nexstar appoints from there as executive vice presidents Sean Compton, for WGN America and WGN Radio, also director-content acquisition; Dana Zimmer, also chief distribution and strategy officer; and Gary Weitman, chief communications officer.

CTIA told an aide to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai that work remains before carriers can consistently transmit vertical location data on 911 calls to public safety answering points. "Consider a phased-in approach that reflects the nascent and evolving state of commercially available vertical location technologies that will be demonstrated in the upcoming 9-1-1 Location Accuracy Test Bed LLC’s Stage Za,” it recommended, posted Thursday in docket 07-114. Carriers' June comments supported a 3-meter standard for indoor wireless 911 calls, saying technological challenges need solving (see 1906190011).

FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly wants a U.S. unified nonemergency wireless number. Keep 911 for emergencies, yet "streamline the myriad of existing wireless numbers that are used in many parts of the country to report critical situations that do not rise to the level of true emergencies,” he told the Pennsylvania Chapter of the National Emergency Number Association Thursday. “These calls offload routine incidents and other non-emergencies, usually to the state police or highway patrol, while preserving 9-1-1 for more serious purposes.” Many states have a number, including #77 in Virginia, Maryland and New Jersey for dangerous driving, he said. “If you live close to state lines, jurisdictional boundaries, or travel extensively, good luck remembering all of the different short codes,” he said. O’Rielly also highlighted the work he did to fight 911 fee diversion and that colleagues of both parties are against such fee shifting. ATSC 3.0 offers “super-advanced emergency alerting” beyond what's available on most platforms, he said. “No one is quite sure how ATSC 3.0 will develop, if at all, or whether it will be a smashing success,” he said: “While a number of the larger broadcast station groups have embraced the technology and see the benefits that it can bring, the technology remains in the testing phase.”

FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly blasted Montana 911 fee diversion. “Initiate a process to reverse this blatant misappropriation of funds and provide a firm commitment that such a practice will not occur again,” the GOP commissioner wrote Gov. Steve Bullock (D), released Tuesday. Citing 2018 filings, O’Rielly said the state diverted $2 million in 2017 (see 1812190059) and the governor’s office sought to divert more. Montana officials reportedly “intended to use the 9-1-1 fee diversion to help right-size the number of college professors in the Montana University System, including by pursuing buy-outs,” O’Rielly wrote Monday, saying it would be very "egregious." He called “completely inaccurate” the state’s claims that diversion “would not jeopardize Montana’s eligibility for federal grants to modernize its 9-1-1 systems.” The state already “lost out on a portion” of a $109 million grant program, he said. Bullock’s office didn’t comment.

FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly walked back accusations that the U.S. Virgin Islands diverted 911 fees in 2017, in a letter to U.S. Virgin Islands legislator Donna Frett-Gregory Wednesday. O’Rielly said in a July letter (see 1907180030) to the governor that because over $1.2 million in 911 fees were diverted in the U.S. Virgin Islands in 2017 he wouldn’t back additional USF funds for USVI without changes to how 911 fees were handled there. “[T]aking all the facts into consideration, it does not appear that 9-1-1 fees collected by the USVI were diverted for calendar year 2017,” O’Rielly conceded, praising Frett-Gregory’s willingness to consider legislative changes to 911 fee collection. He said additional staff review showed the Virgin Islands’ 2018 filings didn’t provide a complete picture of how the fees were collected and allocated. “I appreciate the opportunity to clear-up this situation,” O’Rielly said. “I expect that the USVI will remain in compliance with the non-diversionary provisions contained in U.S. federal law,” he said.

Puerto Rico told FCC Commissioner Mike O'Rielly it enacted a law June 21 prohibiting transfer of 9-1-1 Emergency System Bureau and other telecom funds for purposes other than ensuring the rendering and stability of the 911 and telecom services, the territory's Telecom Bureau said, posted Tuesday in docket 09-14. O'Rielly says the territory was ending such fee diversion (see 1811290047).