NARUC Clears Resolutions on Lifeline, Separations, IP CTS

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.

The Telecom Committee amended the Lifeline resolution Tuesday to remove emphasis on rural customers it claims could be confused by the eligibility process under the national verifier. People in urban areas would face the same problem without APIs, argued District of Columbia Public Service Commission Chair Betty Ann Kane. Q Link Wireless, which petitioned the FCC on the issue, supports the resolution, its lobbyist and former Florida PSC Commissioner Ronald Ronald Brisé told the committee. Comments on Q Link’s petition are due next month (see 1807120004).

The IP CTS resolution asks the FCC to tighten the fund for that telecommunications relay service (TRS) technology before expanding the contribution base to include intrastate fees. It claims carriers are pushing IP CTS services on people who could use less expensive services. "Rather than throw state dollars at the problem … this resolution asks the FCC to look at what's really going on with carriers," said its sponsor, Colorado Public Utilities Commissioner Wendy Moser. Kane asked to tweak IP CTS resolution to change references to “waste, fraud and abuse” to “inappropriate or inefficient use” because she said the original phrasing was a loaded term that sounded too accusatory. Moser and Nebraska PSC Commissioner Tim Schram -- a TRS Advisory Council member -- at first pushed back, saying there's evidence of waste, fraud and abuse, but later agreed to take Kane’s amendment.

The separations resolution asks the FCC to release a plan by state members of the Joint Board on Separations. The FCC should seek comment on the proposal and extend the freeze’s 2018 expiration by two years, not 15 as proposed by the joint board’s federal chair, FCC member Mike O’Rielly, the resolution said. Wednesday, after the committee vote, the FCC formally proposed the 15-year extension (see 1807180059). State members complain the federal side of the Joint Board isn’t engaging to update separations factors set more than 30 years ago and first temporarily frozen in 2001. O’Rielly said he put in “tremendous” effort (see 1807100023).

Another resolution asks Congress to support the Precision Agriculture Connectivity Act and ask the FCC to appoint state commissioners to the task force to be established by the bill. The bill shows momentum, with its text included in the farm bill that passed the House and Senate, said resolution sponsor and South Dakota PUC Commissioner Chris Nelson.

Appoint state commissioners to federal agencies, said an executive resolution passed by NARUC. That will ensure "the administration’s policies can benefit from state commissioners’ recognized practical experience, as well as seize opportunities for federal and state cooperation, and ensure that federal agency decisions consider the impact of federal decision-making all the way down to consumers in the states," the resolution said.

911 Funding

Not having enough money remains a big challenge for state 911 programs, said state 911 administrators on a panel Tuesday. Most states don’t have what they need to fully fund next-generation 911, said Budge Currier, California Office of Emergency Services (OES) 9-1-1 branch manager. “Funding needs to be sustainable and long-term and purposeful.”

California 911 has $80 million coming in yearly but spends $100 million to keep the existing system operational, Currier said. It will need to spend more, possibly $150 million, to get to NG-911, he said. OES is watching SB-870, which would add a flat 911 fee to phone bills, making it the second lowest in the nation after Arizona, he said. States could also spur NG-911 by defining in statute that 911 is a regulated service regardless of transport, he said.

Arizona’s 911 program is “so strapped” for cash, said Barbara Jaeger, Arizona state 911 administrator. “We have very few areas that are fully funded for providing any kind of 911.” Arizona has 911 centers it can no longer fund and there’s no money for enhancing location technology or additional personnel to handle call loads, she said: The 911 office knows “how to get from point A to point B but if we don’t have the funding, we can do so little.” It has no way to raise money and Jaeger’s agency can’t propose legislation itself, she said. The office has a staff of four handling 86 public safety answering points, she said: two staffers recently retired and another is retiring soon. Arizona, with the lowest 911 fee among states, saw lawmakers divert revenue for unrelated purposes in previous years, Jaeger told us. It hasn't occurred recently, but there's nothing to stop it from happening again, she said.

The application period for NG-911 grants should be announced this summer, said National 911 Program Coordinator Laurie Flaherty. No jurisdiction has fully implemented NG-911, which would include rolling out applications on top of infrastructure, but some portion of 28 states and territories can receive and process 911 voice calls using NG-911, said Flaherty, citing national 911 data. In 2017, 11 of 47 states and territories reporting had 100 percent of PSAPs connected to an ESInet for NG-911, and 11 of 46 reporting had converted all addressing to GIS, she said.

The 911 system's failure rate is often overblown, Flaherty said. “It works so well that the only time it makes the news is when it doesn’t work. … But we’re getting to the point where this 50-year-old system is like every other piece of infrastructure -- it’s not going to hold up unless … we work together to figure out how to move it forward.”

NARUC Notebook

State regulators should act quickly and neutrally toward technology to spur broadband, said Cox Communications General Manager-Southwest John Wolfe on a panel Wednesday. Companies need regulatory flexibility and nondiscriminatory access to rights of way so they can quickly build capacity, he said. Commissions should do periodic reviews of regulations that may not be appropriate for the latest technologies, he said. Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission Chairman Gladys Brown understands industry wanting rules to keep up with technology, but said regulators must balance that against regulatory constructs and possible cost and privacy impacts to consumers. Different regulators will take different positions on the appropriate balance, she said.