Assn. of Public Safety Communications Officials International (APCO) plans to solicit donations for Enhanced 911 Phase 2 readiness beyond $25 million contribution from Nextel. APCO created nonprofit foundation in Feb. to help public safety answering points (PSAPs) complete E911 upgrades. Foundation will accept “private, corporate and public donations on behalf of the public safety community” and distribute those funds to provide grants and technical support to PSAPs, APCO said in White Paper released Mon. “While $25 million is not nearly enough money to fund all PSAPs in the United States, it is a significant beginning and APCO is hopeful that other donations will come forward,” group said. In its original waiver request to FCC on Phase 2 E911 implementation, Nextel proposed contributing up to $25 million over 2 years to help public safety community finance upgrades. Outline of APCO plans to seek broader funding sources for new foundation came after National Emergency Number Assn. (NENA) in Feb. questioned whether Nextel donation would hamper independence of public safety groups. Grant of money directly to NENA or APCO would “call into question” independence of each group’s representation before FCC, NENA said at time. APCO said its directors would serve as board for new foundation and Foundation Advisory Committee would be created to oversee its operation. Committee will establish eligibility rules and procedures for grant program and will oversee technical support and education outreach, it said. APCO extended invitations to representatives of NENA, National Assn. of Counties, International Assn. of Chiefs of Police, International Assn. of Fire Chiefs, National League of Cities, National Governors’ Assn. and National Sheriffs’ Assn. to participate on committee. APCO said it planned to announce advisory committee membership by end of month.

FCC Comr. Martin stressed “critical importance” of Enhanced 911 rollout by wireless carriers, saying Wed. he wanted to see interim, measurable milestones backed up by automatic enforcement mechanisms such as fines. He spoke at regularly scheduled press breakfast in his office. His comments came one week after Deputy Wireless Bureau Chief James Schlichting said at CTIA Wireless 2002 that Commission conducting “serious examination” of information it had received from GSM carriers that they wouldn’t be able to meet all benchmark dates of E911 waiver requests granted by Commission. Martin emphasized that to extent carriers informed Commission they couldn’t meet milestones, they should provide specifics of what kinds of equipment could be delivered and when. Absent “extraordinary circumstances,” Martin said: “I'm not going to be inclined and I don’t think the Commission should be inclined to grant very many extensions, unless it is beyond their control, like the vendors’ not being able to deliver their products.”

Cal. Assembly Utilities & Commerce Committee set April hearings on 3 pending telecom bills. Panel plans April 15 session on AB-2490 to give Cal. PUC maximum 180 days to decide cases. Bill also would require final PUC decision within 90 days after proposed order is forwarded by PUC administrative law judges. PUC could extend those deadlines for up to 60 days for good cause, but would be required to file report with legislature and governor whenever it missed statutory deadlines. Current Cal. law sets no maximum time period for PUC action. Panel plans April 1 hearing on bill (AB-2754) to provide that absolute majority of PUC members, not just majority of quorum, must vote to impose any fines or penalties that exceed $1 million. Agency also would have to find that penalty was justified by “preponderance of evidence,” that there were no mitigating factors such as actions taken by utility to detect or rectify violation and that utility’s financial resources were sufficient to pay penalty. Bill also would require PUC to impose substantially similar penalties for substantially similar violations. Assembly panel also plans April 8 hearing on 911 bill (AB- 2569) to allow state’s landline 911 fund account to also be used for covering costs of implementing wireless E-911 service that can pinpoint location of wireless phone placing 911 call. Bill would specify that money in fund couldn’t be used by state for any purpose not directly related to 911 service.

Telecom bills advanced in Ind., N.Y., Utah. and Okla. Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt (R) signed a bill that clarified state telecom taxation policy. Measure (SB-59) specifies that state telecom taxes apply to municipally owned carriers as well as to privately owned companies. Ind. Gov. Frank O'Bannon (D) signed bill (SB-180) that allows state’s enhanced 911 advisory board to invest 911 fees collected from wireless carriers and use proceeds to reimburse carriers and local 911 boards for expenses incurred in meeting FCC’s Phase 2 requirements for pinpointing location of wireless phone making 911 call. New law also reduces state board’s size to 7 members from 11 and makes state treasurer voting member of board. Ind. legislature passed bill (SB-52) to conform state wireless taxation to federal law by making wireless services taxable at subscriber’s place of primary use, typically home or workplace, regardless of where call occurred. Bill hit snag in House when rider was attached to increase sales tax distributions supporting economic development zones in city of S. Bend but Senate leaders in conference committee succeeded in deleting amendment and returning bill to original form. N.Y. legislature passed bill (SB-6079) to require state agencies to develop formal privacy policies for their Web sites. Bill sent to Gov. George Pataki (R) would require that policies include what personal information was collected, how that information would be retained and how it would be used, how site users could access their own collected information and steps agency took to ensure confidentiality. Okla. Senate passed bill to require Attorney Gen. to establish and enforce state no-call telemarketing list. Measure (SB-950) is similar to bill passed by House (HB-1923). Bills differ in that House bill specifies maximum $1,500 fine for each offense, while Senate bill would authorize AG to set fines above that level for chronic offenders.

FCC Wireless Bureau seeks comment on petitions for temporary waiver of its deadline by which digital wireless systems must be capable of transmitting 911 calls from TTY devices. All of petitioners are small, rural carriers providing Commercial Mobile Radio Service (CMRS) using Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA). Petitioners said several major wireless carriers had indicated their intention to migrate their TDMA deployments to other, noncompatible digital technology, making June 30 deadline burdensome. Comments are due April 8, replies April 18.

ORLANDO -- FCC and NTIA officials at CTIA Wireless 2002 show here Sun. cautioned that tough spectrum policy choices lay ahead in light of new homeland security considerations, including re-evaluation of how well current priority access service (PAS) rules are working. Panelists on homeland security roundtable repeatedly stressed importance of making sure public safety community had adequate spectrum and that existing allocations were being used efficiently. Several officials also pointed to complicated govt. jurisdictional issues raised by factors such as PAS, particularly as some states contemplate legislation on their own version of wireless priority access. While Administration hasn’t formulated stance on what should be done with priority access service, “the concern that we would [do so] is against classification of network where you could have displacement of emergency calls from individuals because of priority access calls coming from government,” said NTIA Deputy Asst. Dir. Michael Gallagher.

Wash. legislature passed bill (HB-2031) that cuts taxes city govts. can levy on payphone providers. Bill sent to Gov. Gary Locke (D) limits local gross receipts taxes to 0.2%, same as for nonutility businesses such as retailers. Previously, cities could assess at utility business rate of up to 6%. Lower tax cap applies only to payphone operators that aren’t affiliated with incumbent telco providing payphone access lines. Legislature passed another telecom bill that would raise cap on local E-911 taxes to 50 cents monthly per line from 25 cents and adds new 20-cent state E- 911 tax. Bill would extend E-911 tax collection liability to include wireless carriers. Measure sent to Locke (HB-2592) also would allow E-911 account to be used for funding and operating wireless E-911 statewide. Companion bill that also passed (HB-2595) would give wireless carriers representation on state E-911 Advisory Council and prohibit state from imposing E-911 wireless location requirements beyond those set by FCC.

Triton PCS reached exclusive agreement to buy wireless Enhanced 911 location identification system from Grayson Wireless Div. of Allen Telecom, terms not disclosed.

Bills in Hawaii legislature to establish price cap regulation system for Verizon Hawaii died when they failed to pass out of committee by legislature’s “advance or die” procedural deadline. Measures (HB-2255, SB-2864, SB-2874) would have let Verizon switch from current rate-of-return regime to indexed price caps without any explicit prerequisites or trade-offs. There’s outside chance language could be attached as amendment to other legislation, but that’s seen as unlikely given lack of support from Hawaii PUC or leading state lawmakers. In Va., Gov. Mark Warner (D) signed bill to conform state’s wireless tax laws to federal law and to authorize collection of state E-911 surcharge on wireless services. New law (SB-122) makes mobile services taxable at subscriber’s place of primary use, typically home or workplace, regardless of where wireless call actually occurs. New wireless E-911 tax amount will be set once revenue need is determined. Surcharge will be distributed to state’s E-911 centers and qualifying wireless carriers to defray costs of providing pinpoint location of wireless phone placing 911 call.

Utah and Ind. legislatures passed competition and 911 bills, while Ill. advanced no-call measure. Utah legislature passed telecom competition bill much amended from original measure. Bill (HB-140) sent to Gov. Michael Leavitt (R) would establish 12-member legislative task force to determine whether telecom competition in state was meeting procompetition mandates of state and federal law. Five members would be from Senate and 7 from House. Task force would obtain input from incumbent telcos, CLECs, wireless, cable and fiber carriers, plus PSC, Utah. Div. of Public Utilities and Utah Consumer Services Committee, along with business and residential phone customers. Panel would meet at least monthly between April and Nov. and issue report to legislature by Dec. 1. Legislature deleted provisions in original bill that would have required PSC to conduct expedited proceedings on complaints alleging Qwest had engaged in anticompetitive conduct and expanding PSC’s punishment powers. Also dropped was original language that would have required PSC to initiate structural separation proceeding if Qwest were convicted 3 times of anticompetitive conduct. Meanwhile, Ind. legislature passed and sent to Gov. Frank O'Bannon (D) bill allowing state’s E-911 advisory board to invest 911 fees collected from wireless carriers and use earnings to reimburse wireless carriers and local 911 systems for costs of implementing FCC’s Phase II wireless location order that requires wireless systems to be able to pinpoint location within a cell of wireless phone that’s calling 911. Bill (SB-180) would limit wireless 911 fee to $1 monthly per number. It also would reduce board’s size to 7 members from 11, make state treasurer voting member, repeal term limits for board members seeking reelection. Ind. legislature also passed and sent O'Bannon another 911 bill (SB-214) that would make it misdemeanor to prevent another person from making 911 emergency call. In Ill., Senate Judiciary Committee passed bill (SB-1830) that would require Ill. Commerce Commission to maintain and enforce no-call telemarketing list. Consumers would pay $5 to register their number on list while telemarketers would pay $1,000 to obtain copy of list. Violations would be punished by $2,500 fine per offending call. Bill now goes to Senate floor.