Colorado should fund next-generation 911 (NG-911) with $1.6 million remaining from a 2022-retired enforcement mechanism called the Colorado Performance Assurance Plan (CPAP), commenters said Friday at the Colorado Public Utilities Commission. However, groups disagreed on which nonprofit should administer funds tagged for emergency services.

Industry continued to raise concerns on an FCC proposal on rules to speed a move to next-generation 911 and to call for flexibility, while public safety groups generally supported the agency’s proposed approach, per reply comments posted Monday in docket 21-479. The replies were consistent with initial comments last month (see 2308100025).

The District of Columbia Council Judiciary and Public Safety Committee plans a hearing Oct. 5 at 9:30 a.m. on the Office of Unified Communications. The committee will also hear testimony on a bill (B25-0344) meant to enhance transparency and accuracy at the 911 center (see 2306160024), said a hearing notice posted Thursday.

California’s inadequate enforcement of telecom service quality perpetuates inequity, said Small Business Utility Advocates regulatory attorney Itzel Hayward at a California Public Utilities Commission workshop Thursday. A public advocates panel asked the CPUC for stronger penalties against carriers and to apply plain old telephone service (POTS) quality rules to VoIP, broadband and wireless services. Commissioner Darcie Houck urged parties in docket R.22-03-016 to “think outside the box.”

Nebraska suffered back-to-back 911 outages, but services are now restored. Fiber cuts led to Lumen 911 outages statewide Thursday night to Friday morning (see 2309010021). Then, the Nebraska Public Service Commission said a fire at a Windstream data center in Lincoln disrupted 911 services at some southeast Nebraska public safety answering points (PSAPs) from Saturday night to Sunday morning. Four counties lost 911 service and others experienced other issues, said the PSC: The incident affected 911 centers that contract with Windstream for their local or regional networks. “Any investigation will look into what led to this disruption in 911 service and will focus on available backup systems and identifying solutions moving forward to mitigate future issues,” Nebraska 911 Director David Sankey said. Southeast PSAPs “are working with officials from the Public Service Commission and Windstream to prevent such an outage from occurring in the future,” the Southeast 911 Committee said Sunday. The Lumen and Windstream incidents were “entirely separate, just coincidental timing,” a Nebraska PSC spokesperson said Tuesday. A Windstream spokesperson said an electrical fire at its Lincoln switch location cut commercial power to the facility Friday. "An on-site generator took over supporting the three switches in the building, and we began efforts to restore commercial power. The generator operated until there was a fault, and we switched to batteries. After supporting the switches for an extended period of time, the batteries dropped to dangerously low voltage levels, and our technical team made the decision to shut down one of the three switches." That "caused a service interruption for a subset of our customers in Nebraska," the Windstream rep said. "When power was restored, we reactivated the switch, a process that took several hours and restored service to the impacted customers in phases." He said the "event was unrelated to anything occurring on any other carrier’s network." In Minnesota, the state’s public safety department said frequent and “increasingly prolonged CenturyLink phone outages” are affecting 911. The Lumen company’s “reporting is often incomplete and thus unactionable,” the department said in docket 20-432. “CenturyLink outages are increasingly on the rise,” with seven in 2017 increasing to 29 in 2022, it said. “Many of these outages lasted several days.” Lumen didn’t comment.

State senators chose not to advance a bill that would have limited California rules for the broadband equity, access and deployment (BEAD) program. The Senate Appropriations Committee on Friday held the Assembly-passed AB-662, which was opposed by local and consumer advocates (see 2308170044). Assembly Communications Committee Chair Tasha Boerner said earlier her bill’s purpose was to bring accountability to the California Public Utilities Commission. The Democrat didn’t comment Tuesday. The committee also held AB-296 on 911 public education and AB-1546, which would have extended the statute of limitations for privacy claims brought by the state attorney general. AB-1546 sponsor Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel (D) said, “We’re disappointed that the bill won’t be moving forward this year, but are committed to continuing our effort to protect Californians' privacy rights.” The panel voted 7-0 to advance AB-286 on adjusting state broadband map requirements to the Senate floor. It also unanimously cleared AB-1065, which would explicitly authorize wireless broadband providers to apply for CASF federal funding account grants. Also Friday, the Assembly Appropriations Committee voted 16-0 for SB-60, which would explicitly authorize wireless broadband providers to apply for CASF federal funding account grants. The panel also unanimously advanced to the floor SB-74 to prohibit high-risk social media apps that, like TikTok, are at least partly owned by an entity or “country of concern.”

Lumen restored Nebraska 911 service after fiber cuts led to outages statewide from Thursday night to Friday morning. “Our team worked throughout the night to fix the issue” and “the system is now fully functional,” a Lumen spokesperson said Friday. Nebraska experienced regional 911 system failures statewide Thursday evening, Republican Gov. Jim Pillen’s office said in a statement that night. The state's 911 system went down at about 7:30 p.m. CDT Thursday, Nebraska’s Douglas County said Thursday on Facebook. The state’s most populous county posted Friday at 8:10 a.m. CDT that services were restored. “Sarpy County’s 911 network provider experienced what they described as a network event that disrupted calls to 911 across Nebraska,” Sarpy County said Friday. “The network provider is investigating the source of the disruption.” Lumen said the outage began at 7:05 p.m. CDT Thursday and service was restored at 5:30 a.m. CDT Friday, said the Nebraska Public Service Commission: The PSC is working with the carrier to determine what caused the cut. The FCC didn’t comment.

Congress “should expedite passage” of the House Commerce Committee-cleared Spectrum Auction Reauthorization Act (HR-3565) and “support additional funding for” the FCC’s affordable connectivity program to make it permanent, NARUC officials said Friday in letters to top lawmakers. HR-3565 faced headwinds on Capitol Hill amid slow progress in negotiations on a spectrum legislative compromise (see 2308070001). The measure “not only extends the FCC’s auction authority, but it also funds two programs critical to your constituents and to national security,” said NARUC President Michael Caron and Telecommunications Committee Chair Tim Schram in a letter to House and Senate leaders and top lawmakers of both chambers’ Commerce panels. HR-3565 would allocate up to $14.8 billion in future auction proceeds for next-generation 911 tech upgrades and give the FCC an additional $3.08 billion to close the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program funding shortfall. The rip-and-replace program is “chronically underfunded” and “federal funding is needed to ensure that all parts of the country have access to advanced, secure, and reliable emergency response systems,” NARUC leaders said. ACP, meanwhile, “has helped more than 19 million households” in the U.S., including “at least 3 million low-income seniors, 400,000 veterans, and more than 3 million students remain online,” Caron and Schram said in a letter to House and Senate leaders and the heads of the chambers’ Commerce and Appropriations committees. “Currently, the program is expected to run out of funds no later than second quarter 2024 and very likely much earlier.” The NARUC leaders referenced a resolution the group passed during its July meeting in Austin backing ACP’s renewal (see 2307190028).

Reauthorization of the FirstNet Authority is a top priority in FY 2024, CEO Joe Wassel said at the authority board’s quarterly meeting Wednesday. The authority will sunset in 2027 without congressional action, Wassel said. The authority oversees the network, which AT&T is building. The board, which met in Tacoma, Washington, and virtually, also approved a budget for the year.

The FCC Public Safety Bureau said Tuesday its 911 reliability certification system is now open for filing annual reliability certifications. The certificates are due Oct. 16. “The Commission’s rules require covered 911 service providers to take reasonable measures to provide reliable 911 service with respect to: (i) 911 circuit diversity; (ii) central office backup power; and (iii) diverse network monitoring,” the bureau said: “Covered 911 service providers must certify as to their compliance with each of these three requirements or to their implementation of reasonable alternative measures.”