The Indiana House voted 94-0 Monday for SB-316 to ask the statewide 911 board to study interoperability of computer-aided dispatch systems used by public safety answering points. The Senate passed it earlier. The bill needs gubernatorial approval.

Wireless industry commenters and public safety groups agreed on the need for some flexibility, in reply comments on an FCC proposal that carriers more precisely route wireless 911 calls and texts to public safety answering points through location-based routing (LBR). Disagreements remain on some implementation details (see 2302170044). Comments were posted Monday and Tuesday on an NPRM commissioners approved 4-0 in December (see 2212210047).

The FCC’s Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council unanimously approved reports by working groups on 911 services over Wi-Fi and the wireless emergency alert application programming interface. The Tuesday meeting was the first this year for CSRIC and the first with an in-person component in more than three years, though some participants were remote. The December meeting was supposed to be in person, but the FCC made it virtual because of an expected ice storm (see 2212150070).

A Minnesota 988 surcharge on telecom bills is a must, said state Sen. Melissa Wiklund (D) and a mental health advocate, at a Minnesota Senate Health and Human Services hearing livestreamed Thursday. Wiklund’s bill SF-2588 would allow a 988 surcharge of 12-25 cents monthly. Short-term federal funding is helping the mental health and suicide hotline, said the senator. "However, this is not ongoing funding, and there is a need to create a stable and sustainable funding model to support the 988 suicide and crisis lifeline in Minnesota long term.” Wiklund noted she's talking to telecom industry lobbyists about ensuring accountability for how 988 fee revenue is used, like there is for 911 fee revenue. Mental Health Minnesota Executive Director Shannah Mulvihill said federal funding is "temporary and still not enough,” and Minnesota “can’t depend” on the state’s current budget surplus. "The broad allowable use of these fees reflects reality," she said. "The 988 service fees in this bill will help establish an equitable system to address mental health emergencies and parallel services including 988 call centers." The fee will start at 12 cents if the bill becomes law, said Mulvihill, answering a question by Sen. Paul Utke (R). But Sen. Jim Abeler (R) said it seems like fees always seem to end up at the maximum allowed. And Abeler isn’t sure Minnesotans expect higher fees when the state has a $19 billion surplus, he said.

The West Virginia Public Service Commission should approve a 911 pact between Frontier Communications and the state’s Morgan County, the company and county said Thursday. To resolve the county’s complaint, Frontier agreed to “various acts regarding redundant or diverse 9-1-1 circuits or their alternatives between the Berkeley Springs and Paw Paw exchanges,” said the joint petition in docket 22-0686-T-C.

The District of Columbia’s 911 office will improve processes and be “transparent and accountable to the public,” said its possible next director, Heather McGaffin, at a D.C. Council committee roundtable livestreamed Wednesday. Judiciary and Public Safety Committee Chair Brooke Pinto (D) pressed McGaffin on how she will make the Office of Unified Communications (OUC) more open about errors responding to emergency calls. The committee mulled confirming McGaffin (PR25-0115) to lead OUC and Lindsey Appiah to be deputy mayor-public safety and justice.

Public safety bills advanced in state legislative committees Monday. The California Assembly Emergency Management Committee voted 7-0 for AB-415, which would task the state’s Office of Emergency Services with setting up a grant program by Jan. 1, 2025, to give fairgrounds the broadband infrastructure needed for emergency operations. AB-415 next needs approval from the Communications Committee. Meanwhile in Indiana, the House Public Safety Committee cleared the Senate-passed SB-316 to ask the statewide 911 board to study interoperability of computer-aided dispatch systems used by public safety answering points. In Oregon, the House Behavioral Health Committee cleared HB-2757 to require a 50-cent surcharge on telecom bills to fund the 988 mental health hotline. CTIA raised concerns with the bill in a Feb. 10 letter. “If the state cannot find the funds to support 988 through general revenue and federal funding, HB 2757 should be amended to ensure that any new tax on telecommunications consumers is limited,” it said. “Any 988 tax should be kept as low as possible and justified by data showing exactly what the tax will fund.”

A previously announced March 21 meeting of the FCC's Communications Security, Reliability, and Interoperability Council (see [Ref:2303020015) will include votes on two reports -- on 911 service over Wi-Fi and on the wireless emergency alert application programming interface, said a Thursday notice from the FCC. The hybrid meeting starts at 1 p.m. EDT, the FCC said.

The FCC's single network future NPRM on its March agenda (see 2302230059) is expected to get 4-0 commissioner support, we were told.

Dallas police, fire rescue and Information and Technology Services departments said Thursday the city’s 911 communications centers are now using AT&T’s next-generation 911 with emergency services IP network service. “We know in emergency response, every second counts, to get our officers where they are needed most,” said Police Chief Eddie Garcia.