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Florida County Selects Datamark for GIS Prep for NG 9-1-1 Transition

“As a small rural county, we don’t have the time or staff for labor-intensive processes like driving the entire county to tag addresses that were missing for whatever reason in our dataset,” said Clint Erickson, Washington County Board of County Commissioners, E9-1-1 mapping and addressing and E9-1-1 coordinator. “We needed a public-safety and GIS expert to come in and quickly help us meet the fairly strict GIS data standards for NG 9-1-1. From applying for a state grant to training the staff, Datamark provided Washington County with alternative and cost-effective methods to collect and validate missing address data and get it into a software solution that benefits the entire county.”
With a total population of 24,880, Washington County faces limited manpower and financial resources. In the early stages of the relationship, Datamark assisted Washington County in its state of Florida grant application process, helping the county successfully secure funding for the GIS and NG 9-1-1 project. The project is being implemented and includes three elements phased over six months.
Datamark’s staff will also provide on-site and/or virtual training for Washington County, allowing users to acquire critical knowledge to support. The county will also have access to ongoing technical support.
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NENA Announces New Enhanced PSAP Registry with Mapping

The NENA EPRC, made possible through a sponsorship from Uber, will replace and improve on NENA’s PSAP Registry, which is a basic database of the contact information for every 9-1-1 center in the nation.
“NENA is excited to expand and improve upon its current PSAP registry, and we’re pleased to partner with GeoComm and Uber in this effort,” said Brian Fontes, CEO of NENA. “This improved database will help dispatchers serve the public better by providing fast, convenient, reliable access to important 9-1-1 information.”
More than 20 years ago, NENA built the original PSAP Registry to ensure that PSAPs and commercial call centers can deliver requests for service to the proper 9-1-1 center in cases when a 9-1-1 call does not arrive at the appropriate PSAP, such as when an out-of-state family member dials 9-1-1 on behalf of a relative. In cases like these, the PSAP registry provides the priority answer ten-digit phone number of the agency that needs to be notified. However, the legacy PSAP registry uses a text search based on various data items, such as community name, and does not support modern mapping or context awareness.
In addition to fulfilling its purpose of providing a single authoritative registry of PSAP contact information, the new EPRC is also an interactive mapping and search tool with expanded data such as backup phone numbers, PSAP capability information, PSAP service areas and more. Using a mapping interface, users can search for PSAP information using a landmark, community name or address, or simply by clicking on the map viewer. Additionally, the platform provides a robust application programming interface (API) to make EPRC data available to approved third-party public-safety applications.
Like the legacy PSAP registry, the EPRC is free to access for verified government public-safety personnel. Other parties, such as public-safety application providers, can access the EPRC with special approval for valid public-safety purposes.
“At Uber, we believe technology can make travel safer than ever before,” said Mike Sullivan, Uber head of global law enforcement operations. “That is why we have been working with 9-1-1 centers across the country to make Uber trip data available to dispatchers electronically and support the modernization of the PSAP directory. We are proud to partner with NENA on this effort because we know in an emergency, when every second counts, accurate location information is crucial.”
The EPRC will be available to PSAPs nationwide in summer 2019.
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3 Companies Integrate 9-1-1 Technologies for Better MLTS Location Data

Avaya IX Workplace unified communications solutions for the enterprise can now deliver emergency data to public-safety agencies through an integration with 911 Secure SENTRY and RapidSOS.
In a multiline telephone system (MLTS) environment, SENTRY already provides location for IP devices as well as on-site notification for Kari’s Law compliance. Using multimedia content available when a 9-1-1 call event occurs, in-office security has the situational awareness they need to manage the incident. Now that identical information can be directly sent to 9-1-1 and first responders as well. This enables dispatchers and first responders in the field to more accurately locate a caller’s precise location and gain access to critical situational awareness when calls are made from an Avaya communications system.
The integration with RapidSOS provides precise, real-time location, floor plans and other critical information that could save lives.
“In situations where every second counts, seamless communications and sharing of high-fidelity data can make the difference between life and death,” said Mark Fletcher, Avaya chief architect of worldwide public safety solutions. “Everyone across the continuum of public safety needs real-time access to information and to each other to make certain each individual in distress receives optimal care. As the company that provides innovative ways for people to work and communicate from anywhere on any device, we are excited to partner with an innovator in emergency technology like RapidSOS to deliver a solution with advanced emergency calling capabilities to help ensure user safety wherever and however they are connected.”
Avaya IX Workplace with 911 Secure SENTRY uses new emergency data capabilities made available by the RapidSOS Clearinghouse, in use by more than 3,000 public-safety agencies nationwide. This new solution is the first to connect user-specific location information from a commercial network with 9-1-1 through the RapidSOS platform.
The RapidSOS Clearinghouse is a secure source of emergency data for public-safety agencies, which can retrieve data in an emergency through RapidSOS Portal or integrations with existing 9-1-1 center software systems. This allows them to add sophisticated information in real-time that the existing 9-1-1 infrastructure is not capable of providing.
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Polaris Wireless Partners with Mark43 for 3D Location Integrated into CAD

This level of granularity in location tracking delivers enhanced situational awareness and improved operational efficiency, which in turn helps save lives and additional costs. Mark43 CAD powers field response with a mobile unit view optimized for laptop or tablet use in vehicle. Mark43 works with police and fire departments to make sure web-connected units stay mobile in the cloud.
“Our 3D location is enabling new use cases in public-safety applications with our partnership and integration into Mark43 CAD systems,” said Amir Sattar, senior vice president of operations for Polaris Wireless. “Dispatching police and firefighters to the precise location, including the correct floor number, represents a major advancement for public safety and a significant benefit for the communities they serve.”
By operating independently, or over the top, of wireless carrier networks, the platform enables applications to locate any device on any network, an important consideration when police and fire departments operate devices across several networks, a Polaris statement said.
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GeoComm Selected for North Carolina NG 9-1-1 GIS Data Project

As part of the project, GeoComm will complete a statewide GIS educational campaign aimed at helping the local agencies understand the goals of the statewide NG 9-1-1 project, the processes that will be completed throughout the project, and the overall importance of the GIS data assessment phase.
In addition, GeoComm will complete a GIS data assessment of each individual county’s GIS data to determine its readiness for an NG 9-1-1 system. All participating North Carolina counties will be onboarded to GeoComm GIS Data Hub NG 9-1-1 GIS data validation and aggregation of the data into a statewide dataset. Quality control check processing will also be completed providing data quality reports to each of the participating counties.
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Carbyne Partners with SOMA Global on Cloud-Based Dispatch Software

The integrated solution allows a public-safety answering point (PSAP) to be established anywhere where there is a secure, high-speed internet connection. Public locations such as libraries, municipal buildings or schools can become fully functioning PSAPs in seconds. Call-takers and dispatchers can log in to the platform to be back online.
The SOMA Global partnership with Carbyne expands upon Carbyne’s strategy of partnering with cloud-based technology companies. Carbyne’s next-generation 9-1-1 (NG 9-1-1) platform is powered by Cisco technology, making it powerful and adaptable for advanced partner capabilities.
The partnership also opens a great deal of opportunity for improved public-safety response. The cloud-native approach taken by the two companies drives enhanced resiliency through an array of diverse routing paths, easier integration with advanced applications, and a cost-effective approach to call-handling and dispatch due to the elimination of on-premise servers.
“There is a great deal of untapped potential in public safety at this time,” said Peter Quintas, CEO and co-founder of SOMA Global. “The technologies being used in most emergency communications centers are 20-plus years old, the enterprise space and the federal government have moved on to more efficient, more flexible and more effective technologies, it is time for public safety to take a huge leap forward. Working together with Carbyne, we see enormous opportunity to provide best-of-breed solutions for public safety.”
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Industry Disagrees on Best 9-1-1 Indoor Location Data Delivery Option

In March, the FCC sided with public safety and proposed a vertical (Z axis) location accuracy metric of ±3 meters relative to the handset for 80 percent of indoor wireless 9-1-1 calls. The new rules would help first responders more accurately locate people who make wireless 9-1-1 calls from multistory buildings, said the commission, which requested comment on the proposal.
The majority of those who submitted comments agreed that a location accuracy metric of ±3 meters relative to the handset for 80 percent of indoor wireless 9-1-1 calls is attainable, but the disagreement surrounds how to deliver that information to public-safety answering points (PSAP).
The Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO) comments suggested a dispatchable location including the room number, floor, street and city where a 9-1-1 call originated is the best option for location accuracy.
“The benefit of the dispatchable location is that it provides location information that would be easy for first responders to react to,” said Walt Magnussen, PhD, Texas A&M Internet2 Technology Evaluation Center (ITEC) director. “It would include the z-axis in the form of a floor level, which if accurate and coupled with a room number, would allow the first responder to quickly get to the scene. The problem with this format is that there are no standards in a dispatchable location for the floor number or level. In a multistory building such as a hotel that has a sublevel or basement, then a ground floor or lobby, then is the first floor the second floor, the second level or the fourth level? Then we add complications like the 80% of the buildings that do not have a 13th floor.”
In its comments, the National Emergency Number Association (NENA) requested a geodetic location, which is latitude, longitude and elevation. A geodetic location is based on the industry-approved Presence Information Data Format Location Object (PIDF-LO) standard defined in Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) RFC 4119, which was initially drafted in December of 2005 and has been updated three times since.
NENA made four points in its comments. Dispatchable location, as defined, is not the most accurate, useful or efficient means to locate an individual. Geodetic location information provides the best information for 9-1-1 to locate a caller. The location of a caller must be delivered to the 9-1-1 system as a standards-based, interoperable LO, carried over IP and expressed as a geodetic LO, which includes the FCC’s proposed z-axis measurement. CTIA’s most recent report calls into question the future viability of the National Emergency Address Database (NEAD), NENA said.
The May 20 deadline for comments followed a CTIA report that found only 38.7% of valid test calls conducted during recent dispatchable location testing for 9-1-1 calls produced a result that meets the requirements for actionable dispatchable location as defined by Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS) standards.
For Eddie Reyes, director of the Office of Public Safety Communications in Prince William County, Virginia, knowing the door to knock down during an emergency is critical. “To me, the dispatchable location — the civic address generated through the NEAD — is what we’re looking for,” Reyes said.
In its comments, ATIS said that to ensure that PSAPs can convert location information to the format that best suits their needs, a baseline requirement would be to deliver the information as height above ellipsoid per World Geodetic System 1984 (WGS-84) datum. T-Mobile also advocated for the FCC to adopt WGS-84 as the reference system for altitude estimates instead of floor identifiers.
AT&T said carriers should be required to provide z-axis location information only as height above mean sea level (MSL) rather than height above ground level (AGL) or a specific floor level. MSL provides the most reliable method for measuring compliance as it does not vary by building characteristics or unique geography like AGL, AT&T said.
“Indeed, converting MSL data to AGL data requires familiarity with variations in terrain and specific structure characteristics,” the AT&T comments said. “First responders are more familiar with the terrain and structures in their jurisdictions and are in the best position to use the z-axis data to identify emergency caller location in a given structure. Thus, to minimize the risk of error, it is appropriate that carriers provide MSL data that first responders can use to precisely locate emergency callers.”
The Boulder Regional Emergency Telephone Service Authority (BRETSA) said it prefers vertical location information be presented as a height AGL and MSL, with accuracy and confidence data.
Location technology vendor NextNav said to ensure technical neutrality, the commission should refrain from adopting any measurement standard to report vertical location information. If a standard is adopted, however, it should be height above ellipsoid (HAE), which NextNav said is the most accurate and reliable means available and is also the standard used for the GPS. “Other options, such as height above MSL, height AGL or the floor number assigned by the building owner, would introduce additional variables in the calculation process, some of which would be impossible to achieve using existing technology and would inevitably reduce reliability and cause confusion for public safety,” the company said in its comments.
The International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC), National Association of EMS Officials (NASEMSO) and the National Sheriffs’ Association (NSA) submitted joint comments noting the FCC should direct wireless carriers to focus additional efforts on achieving compliance with the dispatchable location requirement and on developing the NEAD database further to ensure that a dispatchable location is achieved, with significant yield.
Magnussen said using the power of smartphones’ current and future location acquisition mechanisms to calculate the most accurate x, y and z location makes sense. “It is uncertain how either the device or a service provider supporting the device would use this information to generate the floor and room number for mobile callers,” he said. “Any such system would further tie us to static databases such as the current ALI (automatic location identification) databases, which is counter to all next-generation 9-1-1 (NG 9-1-1) initiatives.”
A link to all the comments is here. Reply comments are due June 18.
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Two California Agencies Contract Datamark for GIS Data for NG 9-1-1

San Mateo County commissioned Datamark to complete an estimated $400,000 data implementation project to ensure the accuracy and completeness of its address databases. The project, scheduled for completion in 2019, includes creating road centerlines, performing an address comparison evaluation, and aggregating geographic information system (GIS) data from existing sources into one database to meet the specific provisioning needs of the CAD system and NG9-1-1 requirements.
San Mateo County first engaged with Michael Baker International in 2017 on an enterprise technical architecture project to provide technical architecture recommendations. As part of that project, Datamark assessed the county’s public-safety communications department’s use of GIS data and process workflows. San Mateo County contracted Datamark in early 2018 to develop a quality assurance plan to implement the technical recommendations. The plan offered a road map of data sources, efforts and costs to address the dynamic goals of the project.
In addition, the Merced County (California) GIS Department awarded Datamark the nearly $109,000 contract to develop a master road and address database for use by public-safety agencies and enterprise planning committees. The project, which goes through December 2019, aims to increase both the completeness and accuracy of Merced County’s road and address database for address management and NG 9-1-1 GIS data preparation purposes.
Datamark will work with county professionals to assess and create the master road and address database from existing sources of address data. In addition to assisting the public-safety groups with the 9-1-1 and CAD systems, the newly created database advances Merced County’s readiness for the transition to NG 9-1-1. Enterprise planning groups will also leverage the complete and accurate address database to better serve roads, assessors, election and planning committees.
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Massachusetts Selects Consulting Firm for Final P25 Design

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts Interoperable Radio System (CoMIRS) serves as the statewide communications backbone and is used by municipal, regional and state public-safety entities for operable and interoperable communications and to dispatch emergency services in response to 9-1-1 calls.
CoMIRS provides operable and interoperable communications for 245 public-safety, transportation and environmental agencies throughout the Commonwealth. Of the nearly 30,000 radios active on the network, about 60 percent are used for daily mission-critical communications.
The project will build on CoMIRS’ initial P25 network design plans completed in 2017 by the commonwealth’s Executive Office of Public Safety and Security (EOPSS). MCP will be responsible for confirming and revising the initial design plans, initiating site acquisition activities and developing a procurement plan for the network, which is intended to improve coverage, expand capacity, enhance 9-1-1 coordination and provide a sustainable funding model.
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Public-Safety Leaders Endorse New National Emergency Communications Plan
By Ken Bradley, CISA External Affairs

“There have been numerous advances in the world of communications and interoperability that have been created or advanced by SAFECOM,” said SAFECOM Chair Gerald Reardon. “The NECP has been, in my opinion, one of the most significant events, as it was responsible for several major changes across the country that are a direct result of its implementation. The NECP, coupled with the Public Safety Interoperable Communications (PSIC) grant program assisted in promoting permanent changes to the governance and the interoperability structure for the states and territories. The NECP was responsible for the SWIC (statewide interoperability coordinators) program, mandating official state governance, creation of the SEICs (statewide interoperable executive committees) tactical communications plans, as well as the validation and verification of the plans through required exercises.”
The NECP is in its third iteration — the first was in 2008, and the second was in 2014. The revised NECP includes a new emergency communications ecosystem graphic, which includes an expanded concept of the public-safety communications community to include supporting organizations, decision makers and citizens. Feedback was collected and incorporated into the revised NECP by members of public safety, including SAFECOM and NCSWIC, a public comment period, and stakeholder adjudication in early April. The plan is set to be publicly available later this year.
CISA is required to update the NECP periodically and the nationwide baseline assessment every five years. The newest update incorporates feedback and data from the 2018 SAFECOM nationwide survey and addresses the benefits and challenges of integrating new technologies into legacy systems, such as expanded capabilities as a result of broadband and next-generation 9-1-1 (NG 9-1-1), as well as cybersecurity threats and vulnerabilities.
“NCSWIC drives innovation by unifying efforts for all 56 statewide interoperability coordinators in a singular organization,” said Joe Galvin, NCSWIC chair and Illinois SWIC. “Through NCSWIC leadership, structure and collaboration the nation strengthens its coordinated interoperability effort through the individualized yet connected statewide interoperability coordinators all unified under a common set of goals aligned with the NECP. The NECP is a whole community culmination from NCSWIC and SAFECOM members representing all states, public-safety groups, associations and interested parties to advance and improve public-safety communications for our nation’s first responders.”  
The plan was endorsed during a joint meeting of the NCSWIC and SAFECOM in Pittsburgh April 23 – 25. During the meeting, Ron Hewitt, assistant director for emergency communications, briefed the group on the depth of CISA’s expanded services to assist public safety with cyber and critical infrastructure in addition to emergency communications.
“As our public safety and SWIC stakeholders respond to increasingly complex hazards, including cybersecurity threats, every minute matters to save lives and protect property,” Hewitt said. “CISA is committed to continue delivering products and services that respond to the rapidly changing technology landscape including LMR; broadband; 9-1-1/NG 9-1-1; and alerts, warnings and notifications.”
CISA was joined by federal partners from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the DHS Science and Technology Directorate (S&T), National 911 Program and the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet), as well as local academic partners from Carnegie Mellon University and University of Pittsburgh. The three-day event covered interactive panels; working sessions; and committee, working group and executive committee meetings. The agendas covered topics such as NG 9-1-1, broadband, cybersecurity, drones, encryption and smart cities.
Dusty Rhoads, CISA, opened up a cybersecurity session by discussing the importance of cybersecurity in the public-safety community and the inclusion of cybersecurity initiatives in the NECP. Michael Ogata, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Public Safety Communications Research Program, discussed how to leverage the NIST Cybersecurity Framework for improving critical infrastructure and cybersecurity. The goal of the framework is to provide a common language for cybersecurity policies and initiatives and guidance on how an organization can create their own cybersecurity initiatives. 
Mark Hogan, director of asset management, city of Tulsa, Oklahoma; Richard Jackson, information security manager, asset management, city of Tulsa; and Capt. George Perera, Miami-Dade (Florida) Police Department, provided real-world examples of cybersecurity attacks on local systems and their large-scale effects on surrounding organizations and response. Speakers emphasized using the NIST Cybersecurity Framework as a first step and tool when developing cybersecurity policies and plans.
Chief Jonathan Lewin, Chicago Police Department; Rob Dew, CISA; and John Contestabile, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory proposed engaging members of the two groups to establish a working group to further develop and implement an interoperability framework that addresses the need for users to access standardized, interoperable and consumable information at the scene. Lewin provided examples of data and information technology the city of Chicago has integrated to assist law enforcement in responding to incidents. Lewin’s examples showed a need for public safety to address this issue. 
Several SWICs provided updates on the NCSWIC State Interoperability Markers Program. The 25 interoperability markers, aligned to the SAFECOM Interoperability Continuum, are designed to collect key data about a state’s interoperability capabilities, in an effort to enable states to use data to drive strategic planning and funding and technical assistance requests. Thirteen states and the District of Columbia attended workshops in February and March to provide feedback and further refine the markers. All 14 workshop states/territories have now completed a pilot process to develop their baseline data collection, and their input is being aggregated and analyzed. CISA will begin collecting marker data from all states and territories during a set of regional meetings scheduled to begin this summer. It is anticipated that all marker data will be collected, aggregated and reported back to states by the end of the year.
“The public-safety strategic collaboration meeting with SAFECOM and NCSWIC was an invaluable opportunity for us to convene public-safety response and officials from across the nation to share best practices and resources around current technologies, discuss approaches for managing emerging technologies, and evaluate continued progress toward the seamless flow of voice, video and data communications,” said Chris Lombard, SAFECOM vice chair with Seattle Fire. “By working collaboratively to drive critical emergency communications interoperability goals, while addressing risks to implementation, the SAFECOM, NCSWIC and CISA partnership has the potential to vastly improve emergency responder capabilities both now and in the future.”
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FCC Approves 10 Temporary Waivers of 9-1-1 Location Accuracy Rules

The FCC approved waivers of its wireless E9-1-1 location accuracy standards and reporting requirements for 10 rural wireless providers.
Each waiver will terminate six months after the provider receives a request for Phase 2 location data from a public-safety answering point (PSAP). Each waiver is conditioned on the carrier notifying the commission within 30 days of receipt of a valid request for Phase 2 location information from a PSAP.
Under the rules, commercial mobile radio service (CMRS) providers must meet increasingly stringent wireless 9-1-1 location accuracy metrics at periodic benchmarks. Providers must also periodically report aggregated data on the location technologies used in their networks for live 9-1-1 calls, both indoor and outdoor.
Nationwide CMRS providers must file quarterly reports aggregating live 9-1-1 call data from six representative cities, known as test cities. Every six months, non-nationwide CMRS providers must report live 9-1-1 call data, either for one or more of the test cities or for the largest county in their footprint, depending on the area served by the provider. Within 60 days after each location accuracy benchmark date, all CMRS providers must certify their compliance with the location accuracy requirements as of the benchmark date.
The carriers who requested the waivers are small, rural wireless providers and said that the PSAPs in their service areas are either not capable of receiving E9-1-1 Phase 2 location data or have not requested that the carriers provide Phase 2 location data. The carriers said they will provide the location data required by the rules upon request from a capable PSAP, but until then, they requested a waiver of the indoor location accuracy benchmarks and reporting requirements.
The FCC determined that the public interest would not be served by requiring the carriers to supply the enhanced location information to PSAPs that are incapable of receiving it and therefore, approved the petitions.
The carriers receiving the waivers are AST Telecom, Bristol Bay Cellular Partnership, Choice Wireless, Copper Valley Wireless, Docomo Pacific, Manti Tele Communications, PTI Pacifica, TelAlaska Cellular, Windy City Cellular and WUE.
Find the full order here.
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CentralSquare Acquires Tellus

CentralSquare, a provider of public-safety and administration software in North America, already works with 5,000 public-safety agencies. To accelerate the building of a single, virtual 9-1-1 dispatch system, current CentralSquare clients will immediately receive complimentary access to real-time situational awareness across jurisdictions.
An estimated 240 million calls are made to 9-1-1 across America each year. The calls come in to more than 8,900 different primary and secondary dispatch centers. These dispatch centers use multiple types of software systems, preventing dispatchers from easily identifying, deploying and coordinating emergency response across jurisdictions. This results in longer responses to life-threatening emergencies. This also leads to coordination challenges during natural disasters where dozens of police, fire and EMS services need to work collectively to prevent damage to life and property.
“CentralSquare already provides the broadest, smartest and most unified technology platform for nearly 5,000 public-safety agencies across North America,” said Steve Seoane, executive vice president and general manager of public safety at CentralSquare. “Going forward, seamless two-way integration between CAD systems will come standard out of the box on the CentralSquare Public Safety platform. As soon as a community deploys the CentralSquare Public Safety Platform, it will be able to seamlessly integrate law enforcement, fire and EMS resources with all neighboring communities. Our solution preserves the autonomy of each dispatch center as it integrates into existing CAD workstations. This eliminates the need for retraining dispatchers and builds on the unique local requirements at each center.”
With the acquisition, CentralSquare is promoting “public safety without borders” by building a single, virtual dispatch system across North America, where multiple agencies on disparate 9-1-1 software solutions can operate and communicate with each other as if they are on a single system, thereby reducing response time and saving lives. The FCC estimates that speeding up emergency response by one minute could save 253,032 nationally.
“For over 10 years, Tellus has been providing ‘safety without borders,’ erasing the lines between cities, towns and counties so that critical emergency response information can flow effortlessly to the closest first responder, expediting emergency response and saving lives,” said Tellus President Jonathan Mitchell. “Hundreds of agencies have using the Tellus solution to cut down emergency response time. … It’s exciting to join CentralSquare in bringing this powerful technology to the largest community of public-safety agencies in North America.”
CentralSquare will continue to support and upgrade all Tellus products for current customers, irrespective of the CAD system the agency uses, ensuring that citizens can benefit from faster response to emergencies.
“Seamless CAD-to-CAD connectivity is just one step in our vision to ensure that all agencies nationally can easily access each other’s data and resources,” said CentralSquare CEO Simon Angove. “We are making record-breaking investments in R&D to ensure that, in using artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning and other technologies, we are building a network where all agencies can quickly respond to emergencies, investigate crimes, pre-detect terror threats and mitigate casualties in natural disasters. Our mission is to make North America safer by making every community smarter and stronger.”
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Congressman Proposes Tying T-Band Delay to Ending 9-1-1 Fee Diversion

The Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act, which created the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet), mandates that by 2021, Congress begin a process to auction the T-band spectrum. Within two years of the auction’s completion, public-safety licensees in the band must vacate the spectrum.
During a May 15 FCC oversight hearing by the House Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, Rep. Greg Walden, Republican leader for the House Energy and Commerce Committee, proposed delaying the start of that process to 2024.
“To be eligible for this delay, states and localities would simply need to comply with a very common-sense policy that bipartisan bills have already called for, which is to put an end to 9-1-1 fee diversion,” Walden said.
Walden said he would soon release a draft of the proposal and encouraged committee feedback.
The FCC’s most recent report on 9-1-1 fee diversion, released in December, found that nearly 10 percent of funds collected in 2017 were diverted to uses other than 9-1-1. According to that report, Montana, New Jersey, Nevada, Rhode Island, West Virginia and the U.S. Virgin Islands all diverted 9-1-1 fees during 2017.
“This ought to be mail fraud, frankly, because some communities and states are telling their consumers on their phone bill, ‘You’re paying for 9-1-1,’ when in fact they take the money and spend it elsewhere,” Walden said. “We need to take care of our 9-1-1 system, and consumers have the right to know that they’re being defrauded by their own governments in some cases.”
In his opening testimony to the subcommittee, FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly, who has repeatedly reprimanded states for diverting fees and pushed them to end the practice, said more legislation for the issue is necessary. Some states are working to end the practice, but a few are not, he said.
“The ‘name and shame’ process generated by our annual report has only been so helpful,” O’Rielly said. “The state leaders of certain recalcitrant states — New York, New Jersey and Rhode Island — don’t seem to care about the shaming part.”
O’Rielly said he found Walden’s proposal intriguing and was interested in learning more.
According to an FCC fact sheet on the T-band, there are 925 public-safety entities that hold licenses in the T-band. Those licenses cover 11 metropolitan areas across the country including Boston, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, San Francisco/Oakland and Washington, D.C.
The Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act does not specifically address business/industrial (B/I) incumbents in the T-band. In April, the Enterprise Wireless Alliance (EWA) asked the FCC to designate the Part 90 800 MHz guard band spectrum as “green space” for relocating incumbents from the T-band.
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House Committee Infrastructure Bill Includes $12B in NG 9-1-1 Funding

The Leading Infrastructure for Tomorrow’s (LIFT) America Act includes $12 billion in grants for the implementation of NG 9-1-1 services. According to the draft bill released by the committee, grant funds could be used for implementing NG 9-1-1, establishing and maintaining NG 9-1-1, performing public outreach and education on how best to use NG 9-1-1 and its capabilities and usefulness, and covering administrative costs associated with the planning and implementation of NG 9-1-1.
Under the proposed bill, the grant funds could cover up to 80 percent of the cost of any eligible project. The rest of the project would need to come from matching funds.
The $12 billion in grant funding would be appropriated from 2020 to 2024.
The bill would also appropriate $40 billion for the deployment of secure and high-speed broadband service to move toward a goal of making broadband available to 98 percent of the U.S. Additionally, the bill would create a program, with funding of $5 billion, that would offer secured loans, lines of credit or loan guarantees to finance broadband infrastructure buildout projects.
The committee will hold a hearing on the bill May 22.
Find the full text of the bill here.
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