Tenn. emergency communications officials are expressing concern t...
Tenn. emergency communications officials are expressing concern that enhanced 911 (E911) legislation being considered in Congress could punish the state for E911 efforts. They said all but 8 of 95 Tenn. counties could receive E911 Phase 2 data, which…
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give dispatchers information on a wireless 911 caller’s location. In Nov., the House passed HR-2898, which would create $100 million in federal grants each year for 5 years for state E911 deployment (CD Nov 5 p1). However, there are wide gaps between the House bill, by Rep. Shimkus (R-Ill.), and the Senate measure (S-1250), by Senate Communications Subcommittee Chmn. Burns (R-Mont.). Most notably, the Senate proposal would provide $500 million in grants. But Tenn. officials told us they worried they could be victims of their own success. Anthony Haynes, Tenn. Emergency Communications Board exec. dir., told us there was concern states that had aggressively deployed E911 would get little or none of the federal funding. He said a recent General Accounting Office (GAO) report showed Tenn. was one of 6 states that had aggressively deployed E911 technology. Haynes said E911 deployment would cost the state $60 million and maintenance of the system would be $15-$20 million yearly. He said it cost Tenn. $150 million a year to keep 911 working throughout the state. “Some PSAPs [public service answering points] have trouble just keeping the lights on,” Haynes said. Buddy Shaffer, Tenn. Emergency Number Assn., said: “In Tennessee, we did the right thing. We put the technology to work and created a funding mechanism to support it. Other states did nothing, or spent their 911 money on things other than 911.”