Mutliline telephone systems (MLTS) providers and equipment vendors proposed changes in how the FCC implements new laws on better 911 access, in recent ex parte correspondence in docket 18-261. The commissioners are expected to vote Thursday on a draft report and order circulated in mid-July on implementing Ray Baum's Act (see 1902150036) and Kari's Law Act of 2017 (see 1907090047) to provide better location identification to emergency workers who take phone calls from apartment buildings, offices and other multi-unit spaces and to ensure callers who use MLTS phones can reach 911 quickly (see 1812110025).

Public Knowledge promotes Chris Lewis to president-CEO, from which Gene Kimmelman steps down, and Kimmelman moves to senior adviser; also promoted are Eboni Speight to chief operating officer, John Bergmayer to legal director and Phillip Berenbroick to policy director ... BMI promotes David Levin to senior vice president-licensing ... NAB's Zamir Ahmed rises to vice president-media relations ... A+E Networks moves Patrick Vien to group managing director-international; Edward Sabin, who was co-executive managing director with Vien, to move on from A+E.

A California Assembly panel supported revamping state LifeLine rules. The Communications and Conveyance Committee voted 9-1 Wednesday for the Senate-passed SB-704, which would require the California Public Utilities Commission by July 1 to decide if LifeLine phone subscribers should get an additional subscription for broadband. It would direct the CPUC by July 1, 2021, to allow online enrollments, simplify online recertification and allow recertification through an interactive voice system. The bill would require the CPUC to explore various ways to increase LifeLine participation. It's unopposed, said committee bill analysis. Also, the committee voted 12-0 for Senate-passed SB-603 to authorize a small independent phone corporation to initiate a rate case at the CPUC through either an advice letter or application (see 1905240027). Both bills head to the Appropriations Committee.

An apparently widespread AT&T outage Tuesday morning prevented some wireless users from being able to contact emergency services, according to AT&T and tweets from first responders in several states. “Earlier this morning some wireless customers may have been unable to connect to 911,” an AT&T spokesperson emailed. “This has been resolved and we apologize to anyone who was affected.” AT&T didn’t specify the precise locations and duration of the outage. Police departments in Minneapolis, Hot Springs, Arkansas, Dutchess County, New York and other far-flung localities tweeted about the outage and described it as “nationwide.” AT&T “is experiencing a nationwide network service outage impacting the ability to reach 9-1-1 on a cell phone if you have AT&T,” tweeted the Frisco, Texas, PD at 7:45 a.m CDT. Minneapolis PD reported service being restored in a matter of hours. The National Emergency Number Association didn’t comment.

Pillsbury Winthrop hires Shaalu Mehra, from Gibson Dunn, as partner-leader, global technology policy ... Senate confirms Keith Krach, ex-DocuSign, as undersecretary of state-economics and Privacy Shield spokesperson ... Senate Judiciary Committee OKs Edward Felten for member, Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board.

AT&T supports a 3-meter standard vertical location (z-axis) accuracy metric for indoor wireless calls to 911 but technological challenges remain. The FCC got varying advice in initial comments (see 1905210061) and replies show little movement toward consensus. Replies were due FCC Tuesday in docket 07-114 and most posted Wednesday.

Minnesota Public Utilities Commissioners voted 5-0 to require more 911 reporting by CenturyLink after a state probe into an Aug. 1 outage of the 911 system (see 1903270060). The outage lasted more than one hour, with nearly 700 calls failing to connect. “There was a gigantic failure here on the part of CenturyLink or their contractor for” the 911 outage, said Chairman Katie Sieben at the webcast meeting. “We are getting at a good solution so that there can be a reasonable expectation that this will not happen again, and if it does happen again, consumers and the appropriate agencies will be notified in a much more timely fashion.” The order requires meetings with the Department of Public Service and six monthly progress reports. The state Public Service and Commerce departments found the telco “did not provide safe and adequate service,” said a June 5 briefing paper in docket 18-542. “A redundant selective router failed to pass on 9-1-1 calls due to the ‘routine’ provisioning of a worker. The outage was due to human error, and there were no alarm and notification systems in place that would detect this outage.” The company agreed to meetings and reports but disagreed with providing reports on outages outside 911 that prevent customers from calling the number, the paper said. “CenturyLink places a high priority on public safety" and took "several steps to address this issue" of "software updates, instituting additional monitoring and alarms, taking steps to better isolate problems more quickly and implementing enhanced test calls," a spokesperson emailed us. It's meeting with the Emergency Communications Network and Metropolitan Emergency Services Board regularly "to ensure lines of communication stay open and that we are quickly addressing any concerns," she added.

CTIA representatives met aides to Commissioners Brendan Carr, Jessica Rosenworcel and Geoffrey Starks on dispatchable solutions for calls to 911. “Member companies are committed to enhancing the location accuracy of wireless 9-1-1 calls, particularly indoors, for Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs) through innovative solutions,” CTIA said, in a letter posted Wednesday in docket 07-114 . Since 2015, “wireless providers have met every location accuracy benchmark and requirement set forth” that was approved by the FCC that year (see 1501290066), the group said. The nationwide carriers have “tested and implemented solutions, such as device-based hybrid to meet the Commission’s increasing benchmarks for horizontal location accuracy, stood up the NEAD [National Emergency Address Database] and attained Commission approval for its privacy and security plan, and proposed a vertical metric for z-axis information,” CTIA said.

A Nevada Assembly panel cleared two bills that could divert 911 fee revenue for unrelated purposes. The Government Affairs Committee recommended passage Tuesday of SB-25, which would allow 911 fee revenue to be used to pay personnel and training costs related to portable event recording devices, and SB-12, which would use those fees to pay for an audit of surcharges collected by telecom providers. The Senate last month voted 21-0 for both bills. “Diverting funds that are paid by consumers toward 9-1-1 emergency services is not only deceptive and wrong, it puts emergency communications systems at risk," said FCC Commissioner Mike O'Rielly in a statement to us. "We heard support [Wednesday] from the Congress for even stronger enforcement mechanisms to be used against states that divert. Even under current law, diverters remain ineligible for federal NG911 grants.” Don’t use 911 fees, CTIA said in an April 17 letter on SB-25 to Senate Government Affairs Committee Chairman David Parks (D). “Use of 911 fees for purposes unrelated to 911 programs is misleading to wireless consumers and could crowd out funding for 911 enhancements that may be necessary in the future,” wrote CTIA Director-State Legislative Affairs Lisa McCabe. CTIA wrote a similar letter that day opposing SB-12. Parks didn’t comment Wednesday.

CTIA representatives met with an aide to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai on a recent report by the wireless industry’s National Emergency Address Database (see 1904290195). “Member companies are committed to enhancing the location accuracy of wireless 9-1-1 calls, particularly indoors, for Public Safety Answering Points,” the association filed in a document posted Wednesday in docket 07-114. “CTIA expressed support for a shared goal among the Commission and the public safety community to enhance 9-1-1 location accuracy, particularly for 9-1-1 calls placed from indoor locations, using the most technologically feasible and effective approach.”