The National Emergency Number Assn. (NENA) praised the Senate for adopting a provision in the agriculture appropriations bill that would improve low interest loans for rural 911 services. The Senate adopted the agriculture bill Nov. 9 and the bill awaits a conference with the House (CD Nov 10 p11).

Supporters of Enhanced 911 (E911) legislation hailed a General Accounting Office (GAO) report released Wed. that said E911 implementation was hindered by a lack of funding and coordination. The report said wireless carriers, states and localities would need to devote as much as $8 billion over the next 5 years to deploy E911. It said the FCC and Transportation Dept. (DoT) were involved in promoting E911, “but their authority in overseeing its deployment is limited because public service answering points (PSAPs) traditionally fall under state and local jurisdiction.” The report found weaknesses in a DoT database that tracked E911 implementation, saying the database didn’t differentiate between PSAPs that needed upgrades and those that didn’t, which limited its usefulness in accessing progress toward full implementation. The database shows that 65% of PSAPs had deployed Phase 1 E911, but only 18% had Phase 2 E911, the report said. A GAO survey showed 24 states said they would have Phase 2 implemented by 2005, while others said it would be beyond 2005 or they were unable to estimate when Phase 2 would be completed. Senate Communications Subcommittee Chmn. Burns (R-Mont.), who requested the report, praised its finding that more coordination was needed between DoT, PSAPs and the National Emergency Number Assn. (NENA). Burns introduced E911 legislation (S-1250) that would devote $500 million per year toward E911 Phase 2 implementation. NENA also praised the report, Pres. Richard Taylor saying it “should put to rest any doubts about the need for this legislation.” The House passed the E911 bill (HR-2898) on Nov. 4 (CD Nov 5 p1) that allocated $100 million per year for 5 years to E911 deployment.

The House passed Enhanced 911 (HR-2898) legislation Tues. afternoon as supporters turned their attention toward moving an E911 bill through the Senate. The House bill was passed on the suspension calender on voice vote. Sponsor Rep. Shimkus (R-Ill.) told us there would be challenges in getting a bill to President Bush’s desk since there were significant differences in the Senate companion bill, but said getting the House bill passed might streamline the process. “Clearly, we have a wide gap to bridge,” House Commerce Committee spokesman Ken Johnson said: “But considering people’s lives are at stake, Americans want us to get this bill done now.”

When contemplating the wireless Enhanced 911 (E911) issue, it’s critical not to ignore the fact that “wireless E911 is at its core a consumer issue,” said Dane Snowden, FCC’s Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau (CGB) chief. Speaking at the 2nd-day of a 2-day meeting of the FCC’s E911 Coordination Initiative, he said since 1995, the number of 911 calls placed by people using wireless phones had more than doubled to over 50 million per year: “Public safety personnel estimate that about 30% of the many millions of 911 calls they receive daily are placed from wireless phones and that percentage is only growing.”

FCC Chmn. Powell said Wed. that Enhanced 911 Phase 2 deployment had jumped 300% in the last 7 months, but he warned: “There is a real risk that this progress could stall.” At the start of a 2-day meeting of the FCC’s E911 Coordination Initiative, he said 19 states and Washington, D.C., hadn’t yet deployed Phase 2 to a single public safety answering point (PSAP), with the rollout rate below 10% in 15 other states. Meanwhile, House Telecom Subcommittee Chmn. Upton (R-Mich.) said he had hoped a pending E911 bill would be up for a floor vote Wed. morning, but there now was an agreement with leadership clearing the way for a vote as early as Tues.

Enhanced 911 legislation (HR-2898)could come to the House floor as early as today (Wed.), the National Emergency Number Assn. (NENA) said. The bill isn’t listed on the House Whip Notice, but a House source said discussions were going on late Tues. to determine whether the bill would get on the suspension calendar for Wed. If it were placed on the suspension calendar, it would have to get 2/3 of the House votes and no amendments could be offered. The bill, by Rep. Shimkus (R-Ill.), would allocate $100 million for 5 years toward deployment of E911 services. It also would prevent state legislatures that had raided E911 funds for other purposes from receiving federal help. The Administration has raised some concerns with the spending and has suggested that E911 funding come from other grants that already had been established (CD Oct 2 p1).

The House Commerce Committee passed the Enhanced 911 (E911) Implementation Act (HR-2898) Wed., but not before some concerns from the Administration surfaced. The bill passed with no objection after House Commerce Committee Chmn. Tauzin (R-La.) introduced an amendment that would strengthen the grant program so no state -- or entity within a state, including Public Service Answering Points (PSAPs) -- that diverted E911 funds could get federal funding.

Wireless carriers, privacy advocates and public safety groups differed over details of when federal law requires a mobile operator to divulge caller location information sent to a 911 center receiving an emergency call. The FCC sought feedback on a public safety petition on how provisions on customer privacy in the Communications Act intersected with newer language in the Patriot Act and other laws. One issue raised was the privacy protections when a 911 caller was dialing on behalf of someone else.

The Council on Foreign Relations said in a report that $10.4 billion was needed for 911 service and funding of federal, state and local emergency responders should be tripled over the next 5 years. The report said the National Emergency Number Assn. (NENA) described 911 system as beset with longstanding policy, technical and operational problems. State and local budget problems are contributing to 911 problems, NENA said, as many states and localities are siphoning away funds to pay for other govt. programs. “Improving 911 will require more than just money,” NENA Pres. Richard Taylor said. “Establishing a secure, reliable and adequate funding mechanism for 911 and other emergency responders is an essential step for protecting our families, communities and homeland security.”

A week after the U.S. Appeals Court, D.C., rejected a challenge to an FCC decision to retain wireless local number portability (LNP), both sides argued the technical details of implementation in comments to the FCC. AT&T Wireless said if the Commission couldn’t resolve issues “immediately” on porting obligations and roles, the FCC should again extend a Nov. 24 deadline to ensure operators could make changes in both wireless-to-wireless and wireline-to-wireless porting. Echoing concerns of other wireline carriers, Verizon opposed the CTIA petition, saying it marked an effort to blame LECS for the “supposed difficulties” faced by wireless operators on LNP. Some state regulators charged CTIA was undertaking a last-min. effort to delay LNP.