NG-911 Needs Proposed US Gov't Funds, FCBA Hears

Funding for next-generation 911 is the “biggest challenge and would make the biggest difference,” said Public Safety Bureau Deputy Chief David Furth during an FCBA CLE webinar. “It’s not something the FCC can make happen.” Others agreed about the importance of funding. Congress is considering NG-911 money via the Build Back Better Act budget reconciliation package (HR-5376), but the measure's prospects remain unclear.

The next-gen system as it has evolved is complicated, Furth said. “Every diagram I’ve ever seen, basically it’s a Rube Goldberg cartoon on steroids,” he said. “To get the 911 call from the service provider to the right" public safety answering point "to get all of that information delivered in the right format” is “a really complicated technical exercise,” he said. Diagrams of how calls are made to 911 all start with an originating provider on one side and a PSAP on the other, he said. “In between them there’s just a whole lot of spaghetti and a whole lot of boxes.”

People assume the FCC has oversight of NG-911, but “there’s no single agency, there’s no single level of government, that regulates the entire system,” Furth said. FCC jurisdiction largely ends after a call is transmitted by a provider, he said. He cited as one example that the commission required carriers to be able to transmit text messages but doesn’t have jurisdiction over PSAPs.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California and other Democratic leaders pressed their caucus behind the scenes Thursday to commit to vote for the intertwined HR-5376 and Senate-passed Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (HR-3684) in hopes of passing both this week. HR-5376 includes $491 million for NG-911, along with other telecom spending (see 2110280074). Pelosi told reporters that “I’ll let you know" a timeline for passing the bills "as soon as I wish to.”

A revised HR-5376 released Wednesday retains the reduced amount of telecom money included in a previous iteration House leaders circulated last week. The House Commerce Committee advanced its part of the reconciliation package in September with $10 billion for NG-911 (see 2109140063). The only substantial change to the telecom money in the new HR-5376 version is lawmakers repurposed $15 million of the measure’s $295 million for NTIA broadband affordability grants to fund administration of the program through FY 2031. The revised text increases proposed funding for FTC antitrust work to $500 million from $100 million.

Funding is the big issue for NG-911, said Salt Point Strategies CEO David Redl, former NTIA administrator. “It has been 10 years since Congress last came back and said here’s a boatload of money” for 911, he told FCBA: “The technology is there. ... We have multiple competing technologies.” Congress “appears ready to start engaging in a real way” on broadband funding, Redl said. NG-911 “requires a person who’s in distress to have connectivity and not basic phone call connectivity." The $491 million in HR-5376 for NG-911 isn't enough, he warned.

Public safety agencies need funding and technical expertise from the federal government, said Mary Boyd, Intrado vice president-regulatory, policy and external affairs. “It’s time for Congress to step up." There’s "enough expertise that we can provide throughout the country to get us moving on" NG-911, she said.

Money has to come with “levels of obligation” and “tools for implementation,” said National Association of State 911 Administrators Executive Director Harriet Rennie-Brown. Obligations should include meeting “standard levels of service, standard levels of technology," she said. "So that it’s not just a whole bunch of money out there, but money with a purpose.”

The dollar figure proposed by the administration “is not nearly enough to get us past the finish line,” said Dan Henry, National Emergency Number Association regulatory counsel. “We are going to hurt as a country, both public safety and the public that we protect, until we get across the finish line.”

The U.S. is “years away” from widespread adoption, said NG9-1-1 Institute Executive Director Wes Wright. NG-911 will accommodate new and “even future ways” to seek emergency assistance, “whether that’s text, whether its videos … photos, voice, health alerts from a smart device,” he said. “Just think about all the new paths you’ll have into" a PSAP, he said. Wright agreed federal funding is the biggest need.

Terminology is changing and agencies are starting emergency communications centers (ECCs) rather than PSAPs, Wright said. NG-911 means more reliable, resilient communications, he said. Costs are also lower, he said. “Just trying to continue to upgrade and maintain the patchwork system we have now is more expensive than once we are able to cut over to an NG-911 network.”