Responding to reports that carriers sold customers’ real-time data location, the California Senate Energy, Utilities and Communications Committee cleared AB-523 with no member voting nay at a hearing livestreamed Tuesday. Wireless carriers oppose the bill but want to keep working with author Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin (D) as the bill moves to the Judiciary Committee, testified CTIA Government Affairs Counsel Steve Carlson. In talks with Irwin, CTIA agreed to an opt-in for customer location information and proposed other tweaks, but the latest amendments “go well beyond what we had hoped and had been discussing with the author,” Carlson said. The Assembly passed AB-523 in May by a wide margin (see 1905290016). Committee members at the hearing also unanimously cleared AB-911 to establish a mechanism for Californians to voluntarily provide vital health and safety information for first responders if 911 is called. The information would be kept confidential. Chairman Ben Hueso (D) supports the concept but shares the American Civil Liberties Union’s concern that the data could be used for racial profiling, he said. Assemblymember Freddie Rodriguez (D) hopes to address that issue in the Judiciary Committee.

An apparently widespread AT&T outage Tuesday morning prevented some wireless users from being able to contact emergency services, according to AT&T and tweets from first responders in several states. “Earlier this morning some wireless customers may have been unable to connect to 911,” an AT&T spokesperson emailed. “This has been resolved and we apologize to anyone who was affected.” AT&T didn’t specify the precise locations and duration of the outage. Police departments in Minneapolis, Hot Springs, Arkansas, Dutchess County, New York and other far-flung localities tweeted about the outage and described it as “nationwide.” AT&T “is experiencing a nationwide network service outage impacting the ability to reach 9-1-1 on a cell phone if you have AT&T,” tweeted the Frisco, Texas, PD at 7:45 a.m CDT. Minneapolis PD reported service being restored in a matter of hours. The National Emergency Number Association didn’t comment.

Multiline telephone services (MLTS) and interconnected VoIP services aren't capable and not expected to become capable of providing location information down to the room or suite number for every single emergency call, Microsoft told the FCC in a filing posted Thursday in docket 18-261. Microsoft executives met with FCC officials to seek "clarification that MLTS providers are entitled to the same liability protections afforded wireless carriers, iVoIP services and text-to-911 services." The FCC is looking to adopt at a national level Kari's Law provisions that require building and campus MLTS systems to allow direct 911 calling (see 1902150036).

Industry is wrong in claims no technology now identifies wireless callers to 911 with more specificity (see 1906190011), Precision Broadband CEO Charles Simon told aides to Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel and Geoffrey Starks. “Precision Broadband has a solution, including a working prototype, that offers floor level and unit location data -- same as landline telephone service. We contend that the wireless carriers’ test beds have been designed to validate the [National Emergency Address Database] (for dispatchable location) and device sensor-based z-axis altitude technologies.,” the company said, posted Thursday in docket 07-114. “Such limited test plans, by design, exclude alternative dispatchable solutions like Precision Broadband’s Fixed Broadband 911 system.”

An interoperable video calling (IVC) advisory committee to the North American Numbering Council couldn't reach consensus between a plan to implement a telephone number database or to use a technology platform-based approach, said working group co-chair Matthew Gerst, vice president-regulatory affairs at CTIA. "We're asking for an extension of our charter." The group issued preliminary recommendations to the FCC in a report and a roundtable discussion at the agency's headquarters Thursday. The group was tasked with determining how to best facilitate point-to-point video calls using 10-digit phone numbers across video service boundaries.

AT&T supports a 3-meter standard vertical location (z-axis) accuracy metric for indoor wireless calls to 911 but technological challenges remain. The FCC got varying advice in initial comments (see 1905210061) and replies show little movement toward consensus. Replies were due FCC Tuesday in docket 07-114 and most posted Wednesday.

NextNav executives urged FCC Public Safety Bureau staff to act on a proposed rule requiring carriers meet a new vertical location (z-axis) accuracy metric for indoor wireless calls to 911. Commissioners approved a Further NPRM in March (see 1903150067). There was little consensus in comments last month (see 1905210061). NextNav executives "discussed some of the mechanics of implementing a 3 meter vertical location metric,” said a filing posted Monday in docket 07-114. “They expressed support for applying the requirement to all z-axis capable handsets, noting that barometric pressure sensors are already widely deployed in smartphones. Further, the software to calibrate these sensors can be uploaded to many smartphones as a part of an over-the-air update of the operating system.”

Minnesota Public Utilities Commissioners voted 5-0 to require more 911 reporting by CenturyLink after a state probe into an Aug. 1 outage of the 911 system (see 1903270060). The outage lasted more than one hour, with nearly 700 calls failing to connect. “There was a gigantic failure here on the part of CenturyLink or their contractor for” the 911 outage, said Chairman Katie Sieben at the webcast meeting. “We are getting at a good solution so that there can be a reasonable expectation that this will not happen again, and if it does happen again, consumers and the appropriate agencies will be notified in a much more timely fashion.” The order requires meetings with the Department of Public Service and six monthly progress reports. The state Public Service and Commerce departments found the telco “did not provide safe and adequate service,” said a June 5 briefing paper in docket 18-542. “A redundant selective router failed to pass on 9-1-1 calls due to the ‘routine’ provisioning of a worker. The outage was due to human error, and there were no alarm and notification systems in place that would detect this outage.” The company agreed to meetings and reports but disagreed with providing reports on outages outside 911 that prevent customers from calling the number, the paper said. “CenturyLink places a high priority on public safety" and took "several steps to address this issue" of "software updates, instituting additional monitoring and alarms, taking steps to better isolate problems more quickly and implementing enhanced test calls," a spokesperson emailed us. It's meeting with the Emergency Communications Network and Metropolitan Emergency Services Board regularly "to ensure lines of communication stay open and that we are quickly addressing any concerns," she added.

This publication's journalists were recognized with several journalism awards, including Tuesday at the National Press Club. It was announced there by the Society of Professional Journalists D.C. Pro Chapter that Communications Daily won in the breaking news category for covering the 2018 midterm elections, while copy editor Amy Fickling received the Distinguished Service Award for her longtime work as a journalist in Washington and as an SPJ volunteer. Communications Daily staffers also were recognized for covering 911 problems; the FCC's role in Puerto Rico after deadly hurricanes; mergers and acquisitions; and the partial government shutdown. Earlier this month, the Specialized Information Publishers Association recognized Comm Daily as a best daily publication and for investigating the FCC under Chairman Ajit Pai.

Expanded use of dialing code 211 for a national suicide prevention and mental health crisis hotline -- as recommended by the FCC's North American Numbering Council (see 1905080020) -- got both support and criticism in docket 18-336 comments this week. The proposal doesn't have consensus in the mental health community (see 1905160054). Using 611 isn't realistic, given the amount of calls it receives annually, and 211's dual use is technically feasible and compatible, said the Alliance of Information and Referral Systems. It suggested a "press one/press two" command putting callers into one of two independent systems, or an enhanced integration. It said the veterans service line should remain separately governed, and the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (NSPL) -- working with the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration -- should head the suicide prevention aspect of any joint use. It said 211 staffers today handle crisis calls for domestic abuse, child protection and homelessness on a daily basis. It said some believe there would be initial confusion about 211 as a suicide prevention number, and there were similar perceptions in the early days of 211 about possible confusion between it and 911. The 211 National Leadership Group backed a 211/NSPL collaboration, directing calls "to the best people to handle them as quickly as possible." It said expanded 211 use will necessitate more funding for operating the NSPL via 211. Some see expanded 211 as giving short shrift to suicide. The Trevor Project said expanded 211 use "would ... be inefficient and diminish the importance of the issue," and such operators aren't properly trained to handle emergency calls. It advocated a dedicated three-digit number. It suggested FCC recommendations include training of NSPL counselors in LGBTQ cultural competency and creating an integrated voice response to route calls to the group. Centerstone said expanded 211 use would likely result in insufficient coordination and delays "as people filter" through the system, and instead a sole-purpose number should be designated. It gave no recommendations. A collection of Utah United Way agencies said 211 doesn't work in some parts of the state and a suicide prevention hotline would dilute the core mission and purpose of 211.