Jane Sanchez, law librarian of Congress, becomes also deputy librarian, Library Collections and Services, a post she held in acting capacity ... Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations promotes Steve Francis to assistant director, HSI-led Global Trade Investigations Division, and director, National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center ... Perkins Coie names Eric Greenberg, ex-Paul Hastings, partner-technology transactions and privacy and mergers and acquisitions ... Monument Advocacy hires Anderson Heiman, ex-Office of Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., as principal-technology, cybersecurity and trade.

Big telecom carriers urged the FCC to pre-empt state and local 911 laws “that, on their face or in application, discriminate against VoIP customers as compared to customers buying non-VoIP wireline services.” The FCC may pre-empt those policies using 47 U.S. Code Section 615a-1(f)(1), said AT&T, Verizon, CenturyLink, Frontier Communications, Windstream, Comcast, NCTA and USTelecom in meetings June 5 with the Wireline and Public Safety bureaus, per a filing posted Monday in docket 19-44. They said to pre-empt when state or local law “sets a higher per unit VoIP 911 charge than the per unit 911 charge for non-VoIP wireline services,” or if the state or locality “caps the total number of 911 charges due each month from customers buying non-VoIP wireline services, but sets a higher cap -- or sets no cap at all -- on the number of 911 charges due each month from customers buying VoIP services.” Pre-empt when the nonfederal government “calculates the number of 911 charges due from customers buying non-VoIP wireline services based on the number of simultaneous calls to the [public switched telephone network] PSTN (including 911) those customers can place, but calculates the number of 911 charges due from customers buying VoIP service based on their assigned or active telephone numbers, even if the customers cannot simultaneously place calls to the PSTN (including 911) using all those telephone numbers,” said the industry interests: Such findings would help resolve 911 fee lawsuits including in Alabama, Florida, Pennsylvania and South Carolina.

Two state bills about 911 testing cleared a California Senate panel at a Tuesday meeting. The Energy and Utilities Committee unanimously cleared AB-956 to clarify automatic dialing devices may be used once a year to test 911 for data accuracy and emergency alert capabilities, and AB-1079 to allow phone companies to share phone numbers without consent to public safety for testing 911 response and emergency alert systems. The Assembly-passed bills need a full Senate vote.

Focusing on a National Emergency Address Database (NEAD) system could hurt implementation of potentially more-innovative location technologies like device-based hybrid 911 solutions, Comcast and Charter Communications told FCC Chief of Staff Matthew Berry, according to a docket 07-114 ex parte posting Tuesday. They also repeated cable industry concerns about the NEAD possibly raising subscriber privacy issues.

A Nevada bill that could divert 911 fee revenue to unrelated purposes is nearing final passage. The Nevada Assembly voted 27-12 Friday for SB-12, allowing that revenue to be used to pay for an audit of surcharges collected by telecom providers. An amendment combined the bill with SB-25, which would allow 911 fee revenue to be used to pay personnel and training costs involving portable event recording devices. The legislature can't take any further action on SB-25, because it ran out of time under a legislative rule saying the second chamber must take final action by the 110th calendar day of session. The amended SB-12 returned Sunday to the Senate, which unanimously passed both bills last month. FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly and CTIA earlier raised concerns (see 1905150044).

The FCC should give VoIP providers at least two years to implement new 911 obligations, plus limitations on liability like other voice providers get, the Voice on the Net Coalition said. The VON Coalition and members Microsoft and RingCentral met May 22 with the Public Safety Bureau and an aide to Commissioner Geoffrey Starks, said an ex parte posting Tuesday in docket 18-261. Technical limitations restrict nomadic, interconnected VoIP providers ability to provide dispatchable location, the coalition said. The FCC needn’t require that of fixed VoIP providers, either, because “in most cases that information is already collected and provided,” it said. Don’t make 911 rules for one-way, outbound-only VoIP services “because it would impose costs on what is typically a free service and there is no evidence that users of these service expect they can be used for 911 calls,” the group said.

CTIA representatives met aides to Commissioners Brendan Carr, Jessica Rosenworcel and Geoffrey Starks on dispatchable solutions for calls to 911. “Member companies are committed to enhancing the location accuracy of wireless 9-1-1 calls, particularly indoors, for Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs) through innovative solutions,” CTIA said, in a letter posted Wednesday in docket 07-114 . Since 2015, “wireless providers have met every location accuracy benchmark and requirement set forth” that was approved by the FCC that year (see 1501290066), the group said. The nationwide carriers have “tested and implemented solutions, such as device-based hybrid to meet the Commission’s increasing benchmarks for horizontal location accuracy, stood up the NEAD [National Emergency Address Database] and attained Commission approval for its privacy and security plan, and proposed a vertical metric for z-axis information,” CTIA said.

The California Public Utilities Commission should ensure working communications during emergencies, the CPUC Public Advocates Office (PAO) said in a Tuesday motion in docket R.18-03-011. The commission should require communications providers to ensure that calls and data are transmitted without delay in emergencies, install backup generators or battery power at wireless facilities in areas with high fire risk, develop plans for alternative methods to support 911 centers, and enhance their emergency alert and warning systems, the office said. “Californians deserve access to reliable telephone services, especially during emergency situations,” said PAO Director Elizabeth Echols. “Given the danger posed by wildfires and other natural disasters in California, now is the time to establish essential public safety and consumer protection standards to ensure that communication systems are available and reliable in emergency situations.” The office participated Monday at a CPUC communications forum (see 1905200052).

The House Commerce Committee moved forward with a Wednesday hearing on the Leading Infrastructure for Tomorrow’s (Lift) America Act (HR-2741) despite the simultaneous torpedoing of talks between President Donald Trump and top Capitol Hill Democrats on a plan to pay for additional spending on broadband and other infrastructure projects. HR-2741 would allocate $40 billion for broadband projects, offer $12 billion in grants for implementing next generation-911 technologies and $5 billion for federal funding of a loan and credit program for broadband projects. Democrats first filed the bill in 2017 (see 1706020056).

From more promotion of text-to-911 to better credentialing and verification of contractors, interested parties had an array of suggestions related to the FCC wireless resiliency cooperative framework. That's especially in light of recent hurricanes, in docket 11-60 replies this week. Industry groups have said the agency shouldn't impose new mandates and should rely on the voluntary approach that's working (see 1904300140).