FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks said the FCC is making progress on emergency communications, but he favors going further to ensure a “transformation” to next-generation 911. An NG911 architecture with “broader support for all types of media and real-time communications -- text, audio, and video,” Starks said in remarks to an NG911 Institute dinner, posted Wednesday. NG911 should mean “better data and more sophisticated visualizations,” he said, and better integration with other systems, whether it’s the telematics in our cars and trucks or an intelligent transportation network. More accessible features for vulnerable communities, including the deaf and hard of hearing.” Starks said he’s aware of the challenges faced by 911 call centers, recalling a visit he made last year to a public safety answering point in his hometown of Kansas City. “When we talk about next-gen, we should be talking about a transition that doesn’t make life harder on the front lines, but rather equips our public safety professionals with the technology they need to do their jobs as effectively as possible,” he said.

Staffing is a growing problem at emergency call centers, with 36% of those surveyed having fewer positions filled in 2022 than in 2019, said the International Academies of Emergency Dispatch Monday. Citing a joint study it did with the National Association of State 911 Administrators, IAED said its survey found 13 centers with 70% or more positions unfilled, 92 with a vacancy rate of 50%-69% and 166 with vacancy rates of 30%-49%. It said nearly every respondent reported losing employees in 2022 -- a total of 3,952 staff departures across the 774 surveyed centers.

A Utah House bill to regulate social media cleared the chamber’s Public Utilities, Energy and Technology Committee by a 7-2 vote Monday. HB-524 would include requiring platforms to disclose content moderation practices and banning them from censoring users or banning or suspending accounts based on the user’s viewpoint. Platforms could still censor expression that they're “specifically authorized to censor under state or federal law” and certain kinds of unsavory content. Also on Monday, the Utah House Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Committee voted 8-0 to advance a public safety bill (SB-212) including a provision allowing agencies to create a public safety answering point to provide 911 service to noncontiguous areas (see 2302160026).

The District of Columbia Council will consider final action on a nomination for Office of Unified Communications director in “not less than 15 days,” said a notice in Friday’s D.C. Register. The D.C. Council will consider a resolution (PR25-0115) to nominate Heather McGaffin to lead the scrutinized 911 center. The Judiciary and Public Safety Committee plans a roundtable on the resolution March 15 at noon, said a revised notice. Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) on Feb. 17 nominated McGaffin, who is currently OUC’s deputy director and was the office’s chief of special operations and investigations from October 2020 to February 2022. From September 2015 to October 2020, she worked with Mission Critical Partners to help states with next-generation 911 transitions and other projects. From April 2006 to September 2015, McGaffin handled call taking, dispatching and supervising at the emergency communications center in Calvert County, Maryland. Bowser withdrew previous nominee Karima Holmes in December after D.C. Council members signaled they would reject the former OUC director’s confirmation (see 2212060042).

Another short-term extension of the FCC’s auction authority is the likeliest scenario amid a slow return to negotiations on a broader spectrum legislative package earlier this month and dwindling time left before the commission’s current mandate expires, lawmakers and other observers said in interviews. President Joe Biden signed off in December on a renewal of the FCC’s auction remit through March 9 that Congress enacted as part of the FY 2023 appropriations omnibus package after a deal to attach spectrum legislative language to the measure fell through at the last minute (see 2212300046).

Groups representing small carriers warned of timing problems and financial hardships for their members from proposed rules to more precisely route wireless 911 calls and texts to public safety answering points through location-based routing (LBR), in comments on an NPRM commissioners approved 4-0 in December (see 2212210047). But public safety groups urged the FCC to act as soon as possible. The commission proposed to require nationwide providers to deploy LBR within six months from the effective date of final rules, while smaller carriers would get 18 months.

A Utah Senate panel advanced a public safety bill including a provision allowing agencies to create a public safety answering point (PSAP) to provide 911 service to noncontiguous areas. The Transportation, Public Utilities, Energy and Technology Committee voted unanimously for SB-212 at a livestreamed meeting Thursday. Also, the bill would increase how much money may be distributed to qualifying PSAPs.

The Industry Council for Emergency Response Technologies (iCERT) endorsed proposals in an NPRM on more precisely routing wireless 911 calls and texts to public safety answering points (see 2212210047). Comments are due Thursday in docket 18-64. The group “broadly supports” the implementation and use of location-based routing tech and “a more rapid implementation of [next-generation] 911 capabilities that often occur concurrently,” iCERT said: “Implementation of such technologies will dramatically improve emergency response efforts, and we appreciate the efforts of the FCC to facilitate broader implementation of both.”

The NARUC board passed telecom resolutions Wednesday on the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) and extending FCC spectrum auction authority. The RDOF resolution recommends a referral to the Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service, but that body’s state members told us at NARUC’s meeting this week the joint board hasn’t met in several years. The FCC’s continuing lack of five commissioners could be a big reason, they said.

The Wyoming Senate Labor, Health and Social Services Committee voted 3-2 Monday to adopt House Bill 65, which sets a July 1 deadline for the state Department of Health to designate crisis centers to provide 24/7 988 crisis call center services. The bill also gives the Health Department flexibility in providing mobile crisis response teams, testified Andi Summerville, Wyoming Association of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Centers executive director. It also would provide immunity for telecom providers similar to what they have for 911, she said. Wyoming was the last state in the nation to set up in-state crisis call centers, Summerville said, noting the call centers that went live in August 2020 have to date handled more than 10,000 calls. State Health Department Director Stefan Johansson said the state has funded Lifeline operations through summer 2025. He said there was a proposal in the House for a trust fund, but that was stripped out and instead Health is to bring standard budget requests annually. A variety of supporters testified about the bill, including the Catholic Diocese of Cheyenne, the Wyoming Business Alliance and the Wyoming School Boards Association.