The Senate should pass an E-911 bill (S-428) before it adjourns, the National Emergency Number Association said in a letter to Senate leaders released Wednesday. The House Nov. 13 passed HR-3403, which has bipartisan support and would clarify the obligation of VoIP providers to give full 911 and E-911 services to subscribers. The Senate reported its bill with unanimous consent Aug. 3. The legislation would require VoIP providers have access to the 911 infrastructure and give them liability protection equal to what the wireless industry has under its E-911 obligations. Other funding changes would make certain that state and local 911 fee revenue be spent only on 911 services. “It is time for the Senate to pass this bill,” said Jason Barbour, president of the association.

A prefiled bill for the 2008 Georgia House session would revoke the state operating authority of telecom carriers that refused to collect and remit 911 taxes, fees or assessments. HB-911 also would impose a $1,000 fine on any company that knowingly did business with a corporation whose state certificate had been revoked for 911 fee violations. Offending telecom carriers would be given 20 days to cure their noncompliance by paying owed fees in full or submitting a payment plan. The secretary of state would be authorized to “promptly” revoke the state certificate of companies that failed to comply with a 911 payment order.

The FCC is expected to act soon on an order requiring 911 capability on video relay and IP relay services used by people with disabilities, industry and consumer sources said Tuesday. The item ran Monday on the FCC “circulation list,” meaning FCC Chairman Kevin Martin has sent a draft to other commissioners’ offices for a vote. The FCC is expected to require providers to accept 911 calls, arrange expedited handling and use a database, such as one provided by Intrado, to pass the call to the nearest Public Service Answering Point. Prioritizing calls matters especially with VRS, which takes longer to set up than other TRS services. The agency isn’t expected to require use of automatic number identification at the start. All telecommunications relay services long have been required to handle 911 calls, a requirement waived for video and IP relay services because providers weren’t immediately able to offer 911 capability. The waiver expires Dec. 31, demanding action soon, said a consumer representative. Most VRS and IP relay providers “have figured out ways to deal with 911,” but VRS providers face more challenges, said an industry source. Since video relay doesn’t use phone numbers, no ANI can be generated, and a translator is in the middle of the call, the industry official said. Industry and consumer representatives voiced frustration that the order didn’t appear until a month before the waiver expires. They expect the FCC to offer some leeway, perhaps issuing an order spelling out new requirements but giving providers more time to adopt them. The FCC has been talking about the order since at least June, an industry source said. “I don’t see how providers can do this overnight,” a consumer consultant said.

New provisions on broadband mapping and 911 services are among amendments likely to be adopted in a multi- titled farm bill (HR-2419) on which the Senate resumed work Friday after nearly a month of inactivity. Leadership limited amendments to 40, half Democrat and half Republican. That forestalled a reprise of the amendment clog that paralyzed the measure on the floor as November began. Prospects for passage remain dim, with the White House vowing a veto.

The CTIA gave the FCC a list of questions it said the agency can ask wireless carriers if it wants current data on the 911/E911 network elements that they control. Among them: “Describe the general steps your company has taken to address redundancy and/or resiliency of its 911/E911 network and/or system” and “describe your company’s 911/E911 network and/or system architecture, including the major platforms used in the provision of 911 services and the manner in which these platforms interconnect with public safety answering points.”

The Michigan Association of Counties urged the state House to pass stalled 911 funding legislation, saying inaction may jeopardize 911 operations statewide and could force local 911 centers to close early in 2008. The bills (SB-410 and SB-411) would renew a law authorizing localities to collect 911 surcharges on phone bills. The group said the bills stalled on provisions that would reach beyond landline phone service to include wireless and Internet-based phone services with the capability to access 911 to fund the service. The Senate passed the bills 34-3. The cleared House committees but now are stuck on the House floor, with no schedule for action. The municipal group said counties, public safety agencies and major telecom providers worked for two years on a balanced measure, “but now it appears some of the larger [telecom] providers are walking away from the table” rather than keep trying to work out an equitable formula for 911 funding.

The California PUC, in a report to be filed with the state legislature Jan. 1, said a major problem with telecom systems in emergencies is lack of standards for backup power supplies to cordless phones and other devices in homes and offices that are not powered from phone lines, and a lack of standards for emergency notification systems used by emergency responders, and the reverse E-911 systems. “Without common communications standards and protocols, individual people and emergency notification systems may be unable to communicate with other systems or with the public outside the targeted area,” the report said.

The West Virginia Public Service Commission approved a 65 percent rate increase for Verizon’s statewide bundled E- 911 service, to $182 per 1,000 lines from $110. The PSC dismissed Kanawha County objections that the increase had no basis in cost, saying Verizon no longer uses rate-of-return costing principles (Case 04-0102-T-GI). The PSC dealt with counties’ affordability concerns by phasing the rate increase over four years and accepting a Verizon proposal to reclassify its E-911 service as workably competitive and offer selective routing, automatic number ID and automatic line ID components on an unbundled tariffed basis, so counties can seek other providers of E-911 database- management services.

AT&T has hired former Rep. Michael Forbes, D-N.Y., to lobby on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and other telecom issues, according to registration documents filed with the Secretary of the Senate. Forbes, who quit the GOP while in office to become a Democrat in 1999, spent three terms in Congress and was among the first members to develop a website accepting campaign donations. AT&T’s signing of Forbes stands out by publicly identifying work on FISA legislation. Phone companies have hesitated to discuss their alleged involvement in a secret warrantless surveillance program ordered by the president after Sept. 11.

Cabell County officials urged the West Virginia Public Service Commission to revisit an October decision to study county use of 911 fees to cover general administration costs. Neighboring Kanahwa County and regional 911 officials asked the PSC to investigate Cabell’s decision to transfer $194,000 from the 911 account to the general county payroll account to cover most of a 7 percent pay raise for courthouse workers. Cabell objected, but the PSC concluded it had jurisdiction (Case 07-1329-T-GI). Seeking reconsideration, Cabell said that Kanahwa County and regional officials had no standing to file a complaint because Cabell’s decision on use of its 911 money didn’t affect how other local governments used theirs. Cabell said state law allows 911 funds to be used for system administration, and that the 911 system relies on county staff for maintenance, personnel, legal, purchasing, accounting and payroll services, so the transfer should be legal.