Rep. Anna Eshoo asked FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski to “promptly consider” Progeny’s request to begin using unlicensed spectrum in the 902-928 MHz band for first responder location services. The commission is reviewing the results of field tests completed in 2011 and 2012 to ensure that Progeny’s services don’t cause unacceptable levels of interference to other users in the band. “With more than 396,000 9-1-1 calls made through wireless devices each day, the need for accurate and reliable location services is increasingly clear,” Eshoo, the California Democrat who is ranking member on the House Communications Subcommittee, wrote in a letter last month posted Tuesday to docket 11-49. “It is important that the 902-928 MHz band remain available for unlicensed devices, while ensuring that Progeny’s location service does not cause unacceptable levels of interference to unlicensed services.”

Georgia needs new 911 rules and a new 911 authority geared toward next-generation 911, Georgia Senate Bill 144 proposes. It was introduced last month and a substitute text was passed favorably out of committee this week. It’s designed to change Georgia rules “so as to create the Georgia Emergency 9-1-1 Support Authority as a body corporate and politic, an instrumentality of the state, and a public corporation; to require the authority to establish an Emergency Information Program for emergency first responders; to provide for the purposes of the authority, which purposes shall include, but not be limited to, ensuring that effective 9-1-1 service is provided to all Georgians,” according to the latest 17-page text (http://1.usa.gov/Yur1u0). The bill proposes to streamline and better coordinate many elements of a changing 911 system which is facing new concerns of funding and technology. It endeavors to help in “assisting the implementation of updated technological resources and enhanced 9-1-1 services throughout the State of Georgia, facilitating the adoption of information services for the provision of lifesaving information to first responders, auditing the payment of certain 9-1-1 fees by prepaid wireless telephone service providers to increase compliance in collection of revenues and provide fairness to those service providers already paying such fees, supporting the public interest in providing cost-efficient collection of revenues, and disbursing funds to local governments for the operation and improvement of emergency telephone 9-1-1 services; to provide for duties of the authority; to make available on a state-wide basis services and resources to local governments for improvement in emergency 9-1-1 systems,” it said. The 911 support authority would have 13 members, including one director, it said. Six of the members “shall be a mayor, a chief of police, a fire chief, a county commissioner, a sheriff, and an emergency medical services director and who shall be appointed by the Governor” and another six “experienced in and currently involved in public safety, local government, or management of emergency services, three of whom shall be appointed by the President of the Senate, and three of whom shall be appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives,” it said. The law, if passed, would take effect Jan. 1.

CenturyLink still isn’t happy with the telecom reform and subsequent clarifications by the Colorado Public Utilities Commission in recent months. The PUC adopted its new rules, affecting high-cost support and rulings of effective competition, in December and clarified them in February after appeals from multiple stakeholders. But on Monday, CenturyLink filed a second appeal before the PUC (http://bit.ly/14pFKr1), focusing on regulatory obligations surrounding white pages listings. “It remains appropriate to require providers to furnish name, address, and telephone number information for the Automatic Location Identification database providers for the provision of 9-1-1 services and emergency notification services, because of public safety reasons, but white pages listings should not be required of one provider among many” in areas deemed effectively competitive (ECA), CenturyLink told the PUC. “Given the competitive landscape, however, in ECAs, the Commission should no longer regulate white pages directory listings, consistent with the deregulatory policies of Part 3 regulation. Certainly, the Commission should not saddle one competitor with a unique regulatory obligation that does not apply to other market participants.” White page listings shouldn’t be considered an essential part of local telephone service but rather a competitive distinguishing feature and outside the PUC’s regulations, at least in these effectively competitive areas, the telco said.

NARUC appoints commissioners Larry Landis of the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission and Nikki Hall of the South Carolina Public Service Commission co-chairs of Washington Action program, replacing NARUC President Philip Jones and Commissioner Kevin Gunn of the Missouri Public Service Commission … Among new members of FirstNet Public Safety Advisory Committee are: Terry Hall, Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials-International; Jimmy Gianato, Governor’s Homeland Security Advisors Council; Timothy Loewenstein, National Association of Counties; Darryl Ackley, National Association of State Chief Information Officers; Richard Taylor, National Association of State 9-1-1 Administrators; Charlie Sasser, National Association of State Technology Directors; Andrew Afflerbach, NATOA; Fuzzy Fletcher, National Congress of American Indians; Michael Varney, National Council of Statewide Interoperability Coordinators; Scott Somers, National League of Cities; Douglas Aiken, National Public Safety Telecommunications Council … Xand Northeast U.S. data center company promotes Yatish Mishra to president and CEO and adds him to board.

Motorola Solutions is providing its PremierOne next-gen command and control platform to Prince William County, Va., it said Wednesday (http://xrl.us/bogq57). The technology will offer a “future ready, enterprise-wide incident management system that streamlines 9-1-1 workflows and intelligently correlates voice, data and multimedia information so operators can speed decision making, enhance resource tracking and management while improving citizen and officer safety” and will help agencies share information more easily, the company said. It has worked with the county since 1999. Motorola will maintain the service for five years as part of a contract with the county, it said.

Don’t require carriers to provide bounce-back messages until six months after any order mandating it, the Competitive Carriers Association told the FCC in text-to-911 replies posted Monday. “The Commission should not require carriers to send error notifications in all instances, but at this time should only require bounce-back messages when a carrier has not yet deployed text-to-911 capability on its home network in the area where the subscriber is attempting to text 911,” the CCA said (http://bit.ly/VbKsrm). Education will need to start local, and the FCC’s move to text-to-911 will need to be aware of “limitations faced by rural and regional carriers in implementing this regime (including error notifications) and do not require more of carriers than what is technically feasible,” it said. Yet speed is vital, said the Boulder Regional Emergency Telephone Service Authority. The FCC “should not brook the delays and game-playing by service providers that marked the transition to Wireless E9-1-1,” it said (http://bit.ly/VPRx3j). “The Commission must require that service providers implement text-to-9-1-1 without exception.” The authority supports a standard bounce-back message: “Providing a standard message when text messaging-to-9-1-1 is not available or a text message to 9-1-1 is not received will limit consumer confusion.”

Preparation for Superstorm Sandy’s landfall was key to New York-area broadcasters’ efforts to disseminate news and information to the public, said executives from Clear Channel Media and WABC during the FCC’s second hearing Tuesday on the storm’s communications impact. Others testified how Google and Twitter helped to fill the void left by outages in the area’s wireless and wireline communications networks.

NARUC will tackle spectrum sharing, emergency communications coordination and the FCC’s “repeated abuses of informal rulemaking,” according to draft resolutions released this week (http://xrl.us/bob6pm). State regulators will consider the resolutions at their winter meeting in Washington in February. The proposed resolutions delve into past controversial territory, such as addressing FCC referral to the Federal-State Joint Boards on Separations and Universal Service. USTelecom objected to joint board referral provisions at the past two NARUC meetings, in Baltimore in November (CD Nov 14 p5) and Portland, Ore., last July (CD July 25 p8), although both of the resolutions passed.

Atlantic Broadband and Western Pacific Broadcast continued trying to resolve the broadcaster’s must-carry complaint against the operator, and believe they can do it without FCC “intervention,” Atlantic said. It sought another one-week delay to reply to Western Pacific, which has filed several complaints seeking pay-TV carriage on systems in the Philadelphia area for WACP Atlantic City, N.J. The broadcaster didn’t object to the extra time, which would come after the agency had given the operator a one-week extension (CD Jan 9 p15), Atlantic Broadband said in a filing posted Monday to docket 12-1 (http://xrl.us/boasyo).

A broadcaster that has made several FCC must-carry complaints clarified one to ask that the Media Bureau recognize an additional pay-TV provider to face a complaint. Western Pacific Broadcast asked that its complaint, which seeks guaranteed carriage for WACP Atlantic City, N.J., on Service Electric Cablevision, add Service Electric Cable Television. Those cable operators are “related yet separate legal entities,” Western Pacific said in a clarification posted Thursday in docket 12-1 (http://xrl.us/bn985o). The broadcaster has been seeking carriage for WACP on Philadelphia-area systems (CD Jan 9 p15).