FCC Chairman Ajit Pai's Monday decision to pursue a public auction of spectrum on the 3.7-4.2 GHz band (see 1911180026) has shifted some lawmakers' attention from forcing the commission's hand to ensuring proceeds from the sale are allocated for rural broadband deployments and other telecom priorities. Senate Appropriations Financial Services Subcommittee Chairman John Kennedy, R-La., and House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Mike Doyle, D-Pa., are aiming to continue advancing the Clearing Broad Airwaves for New Deployment (C-Band) Act (HR-4855/S-2921) as a potential proceeds allocation mechanism. Kennedy discussed potential pay-for options for C-band proceeds during a Thursday Senate Appropriations Financial Services hearing.

APCO said many 911 directors agree they need floor-level identification and not just height above ellipsoid (HAE) data to provide first responders with the information they need to respond to wireless emergency calls. APCO reported on a meeting with an aide to FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, posted Wednesday in docket 07-114. Commissioners will vote Friday on an order requiring carriers to provide vertical axis data, but not floor levels (see 1911140060). Officials from New York City; Washington, D.C.; New Orleans; Tarrant County, Texas; the Denver and Seattle areas; Richmond; and Raleigh are among those demanding floor-level data, APCO said. “Even the largest departments in the country do not have the resources to operationalize a raw vertical estimate in terms of HAE by creating and maintaining indoor maps for the buildings in their jurisdictions, nor should they be expected to do so,” APCO said: “They have also cautioned the Commission against assuming that first responders in the field will have devices capable of matching altitude measurements to those received from 9-1-1 callers.”

FCC commissioners are seeking various changes to the national security supply chain rules set for a vote Friday. FCC officials said the email chain has been active this week, with all the commissioners seeking edits from Chairman Ajit Pai and staff. Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel laid out in detail the changes she wants in the order in a Wednesday speech at the 5G Securing Rural Engagement Initiative in Flowood, Mississippi.

The Dec. 12 FCC agenda will include an NPRM on designating 988 as a national three-digit suicide prevention and mental health crisis hotline. A draft NPRM announced Tuesday tees up several issues, including network configurations, Chairman Ajit Pai said after a National Council for Behavioral Health event. Asked how soon the commissioners might have a draft order before them, he said he couldn't guess how long it might take to assess what comes up in the public comments, but 988 "is a special priority for me." An item on 5.9 GHz band sharing is also expected for December (see 1911190066).

Google said the FCC should consider allowing carriers to transmit information on the floor level of a wireless call to 911 as an alternative to providing height above ellipsoid (HAE) data. Commissioners are to vote on an order Friday (see 1911130030). “An HAE estimate may not provide actionable information in the short term, particularly with regard to identifying which floor to search,” Google said in a filing posted Monday in docket 07-114: Google understands that “not every person in public safety is (or is on a clear path to be) equipped with technology capable of interpreting HAE information.” The National Emergency Number Association disagreed. “A handset’s location, including z-axis, must be delivered to the 9-1-1 system in its original format,” NENA said. “Google’s proposal -- to the extent it removes z-axis HAE from the location payload -- would reduce overall vertical location accuracy and upend the marketplace for downstream mapping and location solutions, disrupting many of the benefits of a ubiquitous standard for vertical elevation measurement.” NENA said “the vast majority of organizations representing public safety” support the z-axis mandate. A Monday news release from the FCC chairman's office laid out public safety support for the z-axis mandate.

State and federal officials vote this week on policies to advance IP captioned telephone services that offer speech captioning through internet-based communications for use by the deaf or hard of hearing. NARUC members at their conference in San Antonio will consider a resolution that would ask the FCC to adopt service quality standards for all IP CTS providers before migrating to exclusively automated speech recognition (ASR) services (see 1911050040).

Lobbying continues for and against proposed rules requiring carriers to identify the vertical location of indoor wireless calls to 911. APCO questions whether the requirement will help first responders locate callers (see 1911130030). Officials in the office of FCC Chairman Ajit Pai say the preponderance of public safety groups support the order, set for a commissioner vote at the Nov. 22 meeting.

National Association of State 911 Administrators hired Harriet Rennie-Brown, from state of Michigan, as executive director, to be effective Monday, succeeding Evelyn Bailey, retiring ... CommScope promotes Chris Collura to vice president-federal sales ... Fox expands role of Executive Vice President-Associate General Counsel Elizabeth Casey as senior member-litigation and intellectual property groups.

The FCC's likely to approve a draft order Nov. 22 requiring carriers identify the vertical axis of wireless calls to 911. Many questions are expected when commissioners vote. The FCC's proposing to mandate 3-meter z-axis 911 location accuracy starting in April 2021. Public safety is divided. Carriers are concerned whether industry can meet the timetable. They have been relatively quiet, however, FCC officials said.

Giving 911 responders a caller’s estimated floor number isn’t “technically feasible with current technology and available building databases,” NextNav filed, posted Tuesday about meetings last week with FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly and aides to Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel and Geoffrey Starks. NextNav sympathizes with APCO and others seeking an “actionable” location like floor number (see 1911050032), but said “technological hurdles must first be overcome, including surveying and electronic mapping tall buildings in order to address variations in ceiling heights and floor numbering conventions (such as skipping the 13th floor).” Horizontal location also would need to be more accurate than the FCC requires -- within 50 meters for 80 percent of calls -- because a 50-meter radius in a city would cover multiple buildings, NextNav said. The FCC should move forward now with adopting a vertical metric within 3 meters, it said.