Midway through this year’s legislative session, many states have considered and passed bills to provide a cost-recovery mechanism for wireless carriers deploying enhanced 911 systems.
Phase I of the Federal Communications Commission’s E911 mandate requires carriers to be able to transmit to emergency dispatchers the 10-digit call-back number and the location of the cell site carrying the wireless 911 call. A provision of the mandate, however, says carriers are not required to provide the service until a cost-recovery method is in place and a public-safety answering point that can receive the information requests the service.
The deadline for Phase I was set for April 1, at which time only a handful of markets were live with the service. Centennial Cellular Corp.’s system was live in Fort Wayne, Ind., using Xypoint Corp.’s intelligent wireless network system, and AT&T Wireless Services Inc. launched E911 service in its Portland, Ore., market using software provided by SignalSoft Corp.
Nearly half of the nation’s states now have some form of cost recovery for wireless carriers.
“1998 is the year of wireless E911 service as states pass new laws and carriers begin to roll out their services,” said Reuven M. Carlyle, vice president of external affairs at Xypoint, a location enhanced services provider.
Some people wonder why more states haven’t enacted legislation, said Carlyle. He said he prefers to take the glass-is-half-full instead of empty attitude, especially considering the difficulties involved with getting legislation passed.
Ken Lowden, of the Steuben County (Ind.) Communications department, led the effort to get a cost-recovery bill passed in Indiana. That bill was enacted in March.
Lowden said the process was extremely collaborative and required each interested party to make compromises. A task force-formed in 1995 to examine the issue-began working with GTE Wireless and BellSouth Cellular Corp. to craft cost-recovery legislation for the state, said Lowden.
“We couldn’t negotiate with 20 different carriers, because we wouldn’t get anything done,” said Lowden, who represented the PSAPs and the state in negotiations with the carriers. “We went back and forth until we came to an agreement, but we never lost sight of our goal.”
When the bill finally was introduced early this year, Lowden said industry representatives and his task force “worked the halls of the state house” selling the bill to senators and representatives.
“We sold it as a public-safety issue,” said Lowden. “We sold it as something that would save lives.”
States that have passed legislation this session to provide cost recovery include Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Mississippi and Virginia, according to data compiled by Xypoint. Four other states passed legislation dealing with wireless E911, including Pennsylvania, which passed a bill dealing with immunity; Utah, which raised its surcharge to 53 cents; and South Dakota and Washington, which approved studies on the issue.
Those states that had previously passed legislation addressing cost recovery include Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, Oregon, Texas and West Virginia. Several other states are either considering legislation or are expected to introduce legislation this year.
Most of the legislation provides for a monthly surcharge on wireless subscribers ranging from a couple of cents to more than a dollar. Many bills also address the issue of immunity, which prevents a wireless carrier from being held liable if 911 calls are mishandled, except in the case of gross neglect.
