The FCC is expected to issue an order this week on 911 fee diversion, officials told us Monday. Commissioners approved an NPRM in February that defines 911 fee usage and what constitutes diversion (see 2102170049). Acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel circulated the new draft order June 8. The commission is required to issue final rules on 911 fee diversion by June 25 under Section 902 of the Don't Break Up the T-Band Act of 2020. The order is in its final stages and largely adopts the NPRM's language, one official said. A agency spokesperson didn't comment.

Call centers struggle to move to next-generation 911 because of longstanding funding and other issues, but the FCC hopes many reconfigure their systems to take vertical location information on wireless calls. On June 3, the agency reached agreements with AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon to start transmitting the data -- where possible (see 2106030086).

House Communications Subcommittee member Rep. Marc Veasey, D-Texas, put the onus on congressional Republicans Wednesday to come “to the table and sit down with us” to reach a compromise on an infrastructure spending package, as talks continued after the collapse of negotiations between the White House and a Senate GOP group led by Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia (see 2106080060). Veasey told a USTelecom virtual event that he expects the House Commerce Committee to mark up its part of infrastructure legislation soon so it can “get onto the floor for a vote,” after which it will be up to “my colleagues … in the other chamber to make sure this important legislation moves to” President Joe Biden’s desk. Veasey touted his backing of panel Democrats’ Leading Infrastructure for Tomorrow’s America Act infrastructure bill. HR-1848 includes $80 billion for broadband and $15 billion for next-generation 911 (see 2103110060). Whether that measure or another infrastructure bill passes depends on whether lawmakers are “willing … to come together and pass legislation that will help everyone be connected,” Veasey said. “Rural constituents will be very much … helped by this, as well as the lower income, largely urban residents that I represent.” Veasey touted his Enhanced Emergency Broadband Act, which would provide additional emergency broadband benefit program money (see 2103040049). “Create a path forward,” he said, “to make this program both permanent and sustainable.”

Arizona Corporation Commission members criticized Frontier Communications' 911 reliability, at a hybrid livestream and in-person meeting Tuesday. Commissioners voted 5-0 to investigate the carrier on recent 911 service outages (see 2106020063). “This is an urgent situation,” said ACC Chairwoman Lea Marquez Peterson (R). Commissioner Sandra Kennedy (D) said she isn’t surprised by Frontier's problems. When the probe is done, the commission should act “very strongly and not just do something to be doing it,” she said. Frontier must acknowledge this is a “public relations problem of enormous proportion,” said Commissioner Jim O’Connor (R). “Your house is burning down.” Senior Vice President-Regulatory Affairs Allison Ellis apologized for the company’s recent service issues and said the company is reviewing its network and systems to better support 911, with one strategy to find ways to increase redundancy. Public safety officials calling in later appeared unsatisfied. “To hear that they're going to do something is, I guess, OK,” but the problems are a “severe public safety concern,” said Saint Johns Police Department Chief Lance Spivey. He cited eight 911 failures there since 2017. Rural Arizonans “shouldn't have to worry about [if] 911 is going to work,” he said. In the past three years, the Navajo County Sheriffs Office submitted about 150 service tickets to Frontier about problems, said Lt. Alden Whipple. Outages affecting all of northeastern Arizona lasted hours, he said: “It’s just unacceptable.”

Public safety communications leaders haven’t reached agreement with the House Commerce Committee on changes to next-generation 911 language in panel Democrats’ Leading Infrastructure for Tomorrow’s (Lift) America Act infrastructure bill (HR-1848), the advocates said. Infrastructure discussions between President Joe Biden and Senate Republicans were to extend into Monday. Friday's conversation between Biden and Senate Public Works Committee ranking member Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia didn’t yield a deal.

FCC acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel will circulate a draft decision with final results "soon" on 911 fee diversion, she told the 911 strike force Thursday (see 2105170042). "We are wasting no time." Commissioners unanimously approved an NPRM in February (see 2102170049).

AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon agreed to start providing vertical-location information where available on all calls to 911 nationwide within seven days, to implement compliance plans, and to each pay a $100,000 fine, the FCC said Thursday. Public safety groups applauded the action. The agency's two Republican members were upset over process and technological issues.

Arizona Corporation Commission Chairwoman Lea Marquez Peterson called for an investigation into Frontier regarding 911 service outages. Marquez Peterson said Frontier customers have faced 19 outages since April 2020, totaling more than 130 hours. “These outages are egregious and unacceptable,” Marquez Peterson said: “We must get to the bottom of this.” The telco didn't comment Wednesday. The request to investigate Frontier will be discussed at the commission’s June 8 meeting, Marquez Peterson said.

The FCC Public Safety Bureau updated its template for wireless carriers to use in filing location accuracy live 911 call data reports to include a field to report on their use of vertical location technology, said a notice in Wednesday’s Daily Digest. Major carriers were required to certify by Wednesday they're delivering z-axis data on calls in the top 25 cellular market areas (see 2104020056).

The FCC said Thursday AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon agreed to start providing vertical-location information on all calls to 911 nationwide within seven days, to implement compliance plans and each pay a $100,000 fine. The consent decrees settle investigations announced in April of whether the three met an April 3 deadline to provide the data in the 25 largest markets. The providers previously sought 18-month waivers. Compliance filings were due Wednesday.