House Commerce Committee Chairman Greg Walden, Ore., and other committee GOP leaders sought an FCC update Monday on states’ 911 fee diversions and their impact. This follows months of FCC pressure on New Jersey, Rhode Island and other jurisdictions (see 1802200055, 1802230012, 1804230042, 1805070050 and 1806210026). Rep. Chris Collins, R-N.Y., led last week's filing of the 911 Fee Integrity Act (HR-6424), which would bar states from doing 911 fee diversion and give the FCC the power to decide on such “acceptable” uses (see 1807190038). “The amount of 9-1-1 funds that have been diverted for nearly a decade is troubling,” Walden and the other House Commerce Republicans said in a letter to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai: “Diverting 9-1-1 fees may result in understaffed calling centers, training issues, longer wait times during an emergency, and inhibit the transition to Next Generation 9-1-1 systems" so emergency call centers can pinpoint the location of mobile device users. House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and House Commerce Oversight Subcommittee Chairman Gregg Harper, R-Miss., also signed the letter asking the FCC to schedule a briefing for committee staff. The agency didn’t comment.

Rep. Chris Collins, R-N.Y., led filing of the 911 Fee Integrity Act (HR-6424), which would bar states from engaging in 911 fee diversion and give the FCC the power to decide on “acceptable” uses for the money. House Communications Subcommittee Vice Chairman Leonard Lance, R-N.J., and Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., co-sponsor the measure. HR-6424's introduction follows months of FCC pressure on New Jersey, Rhode Island and other jurisdictions to end their fee diversion activities (see 1802200055, 1802230012, 1804230042, 1805070050 and 1806210026). “It is completely unacceptable that we have seen states diverting fees meant to make important and necessary improvements to emergency response systems,” Collins said. “Diverting these important fees puts lives in danger, especially in rural areas.” FCC Commissioner Mike O'Rielly, who has agitated against fee diversion, lauded HR-6424: “States like Rhode Island, New York, and New Jersey, and territories like Puerto Rico and Guam, have passed statutes over the years actually requiring the diversion of 9-1-1 funds for non-public safety related purposes. In the case of New Jersey, lawmakers have claimed it will take a constitutional amendment to end the practice. This is absurd and highlights the importance of further Congressional action to bring consistency and clarity to this matter.”

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Application programming interfaces must be included in the Lifeline national verifier so carriers can help low-income fund recipients with enrollment, said a NARUC resolution passed Wednesday. NARUC cleared that and other resolutions on separations, IP captioned telephone service (IP CTS) and precision agriculture (see 1807030052). NARUC is following the national verifier closely, with the API resolution setting up a big push planned for Lifeline Awareness Week this September, a spokesperson said.

APCO and the National Emergency Numbering Association urged the FCC to impose new 911 reliability rules. Industry commenters said rules would do nothing to make emergency calling more reliable. The Public Safety Bureau sought comment in June on reliability of 911 networks and whether current rules should be “modified to adapt to advancements in technology or other changes, including notification to Public Safety Answering Points of network outages affecting 911 service." Initial comments were due Monday in docket 13-75.

FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly sought to clarify Guam’s diverting of state 911 fee revenue for unrelated purposes, in a Friday letter to Mikel Schwab, DOJ civil chief for Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands. O’Rielly asked Guam twice for information after the territory didn’t respond to FCC staff for the agency’s latest report on 911 fee diversion (see 1806200052), then last month faced a flurry of conflicting takes from Guam representatives about scope, legality and impact of fee shifts there. Gov. Eddie Calvo (R) wrote June 21 to O’Rielly, saying that a September bill authorized such tactics, though a previous law set up a 911 fund from which money couldn’t be transferred. The actions complied with federal and local laws and didn’t disrupt emergency response, Calvo said. Guam’s acting fire chief confirmed the territory diverted $448,799 in 2016, failing to tell the FCC due to “internal personnel assignments.” Also June 22, Guam Legislature Speaker Benjamin Cruz (D) wrote O’Rielly to clarify “false” statements by Calvo that the territory’s diversion was legal. The legislator said the law authorizing diversion allowed it only from FY 2018, not retroactively, so it wouldn’t cover the 2016 shifting. Later that day, in another letter to O’Rielly, Calvo called Cruz’s letter a “political ploy” and restated that Guam is complying with federal E-911 policy. O’Rielly attached the letters to his asking Schwab to clarify if Guam appropriately allocated the 911 funds. “Regardless of whether Guam can divert 9-1-1 funds, there is no question as to whether it should divert such funds,” O’Rielly wrote. “I am not interested in engaging in local politics in Guam or anywhere else. What I am interested in is ending the disgraceful practice of 9-1-1 fee diversion throughout the country.”

The National Emergency Number Association said the FCC should address misrouting of 911 calls to public safety answering points. “Occurrence of 9-1-1 ‘misroutes’ is significant enough to merit action,” NENA said. Most industry players with replies in docket 18-64 urged caution and suggested the FCC wait for an industry-supported solution to emerge. In March, the agency released a notice of inquiry on ways to ensure wireless 911 calls are routed directly to the appropriate call center (see 1803230023). Initial comments were posted in May (see 1805080040).

The Fairfax County, Virginia, 9-1-1 System urged the FCC to allow third-party applications and providers to deliver supplementary location information for wireless 911 calls directly to public safety answering points without going through carrier’s routing elements. “To stifle the ability of third-party providers and applications by mandating they only work through the carrier interconnect routing elements is against the public interest,” the county said in docket 18-64. “Several recent cases in the news have demonstrated that lives of emergency callers have been lost due to the inability to locate a caller because of the inadequacy of the current wireless location technologies in use in the 9-1-1 industry.”

FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly urged Guam to end alleged 911 fee diversion, asking for a second time why the territory didn’t respond to the FCC seeking information for its state 911 fees report. In a Wednesday letter to Gov. Eddie Calvo (R), O’Rielly said he never received an official response to his first letter four months ago, but a Guam fire chief told a local newspaper the territory diverted $488,000 in 2016 and $840,000 last year to purposes unrelated to 911. “It appears that from 2014 to 2017, almost $4 million was transferred out of Guam’s 9-1-1 fund,” O’Rielly said. “Such a shortfall is incredibly concerning.” O’Rielly, who reported progress ending the practice in New Mexico in another letter this week (see 1806190017), plans to speak about New Jersey 911 fee diversion Thursday in Trenton.

Rhode Island lawmakers might consider ending 911 fee diversion next year, Rhode Island House Finance Vice Chairman Kenneth Marshall (D) told us Friday. Seeking a more immediate fix, FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly and state Rep. Robert Lancia (R) slammed a proposed Rhode Island budget that renames rather than restricts the state 911 fund. “The citizens of your state deserve more than just a name change,” said O’Rielly in a Friday letter to Gov. Gina Raimondo (D) and Rhode Island House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello (D). Raimondo earlier supported legislators ending diversion (see 1803200052).

The fight against state 911 fee diversion "has had mixed results," FCC Commissioner Mike O'Rielly blogged Friday. "Of the five self-reported diverting states and seven states and territories that did not respond to the Commission’s inquiry ... two states remedied filing errors to clarify that they are not diverters, one state and one territory are in the process (one with firm commitments) of ending diversion within their borders, one state started exploring ways to stop the practice, and seven states and territories have not yet made progress on either providing the Commission with their state data or ending the despicable practice of stealing 9-1-1 fees for their own personal spending." O'Rielly included a table with updates. O'Rielly is to speak June 21 in Trenton about New Jersey 911 fee diversion at a news conference event hosted by the New Jersey Association of Counties and the New Jersey Wireless Association. Some New Jersey lawmakers at an April legislative hearing backed a constitutional amendment to guarantee revenue collected for the emergency system goes to that purpose (see 1804050042). O'Rielly suggested to us "creative options" to increase pressure on diverting states (see 1805220034).