California 9-1-1 Advisory Board Update


Chuck Berdan’s Notes from the September 1, 2016 Meeting

New Board Members:

  • Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea representing California State Sheriff’s Association
  • Santa Monica Dispatch Manager Chris Herren representing the California Fire Chiefs Association
  • Fire Chief Michael Miller representing the California Fire Chiefs Association
  • Placer County Dispatch Manager Paul Troxel representing CALNENA

Legislative Update:

  • AB 1769 (Rodriguez) – Emergency Systems – Nuisance Communications

Chaptered (put into law) on July 25th.

  • AB 1564 (Williams) – Emergency services: wireless 911 calls: routing

Chaptered on August 30th.

9-1-1 for Kids
Elise Kim gave a brief presentation on the 9-1-1 for Kids program.

Request for Information
The US Dept. of Transportation has sent out a request for information (RFI) looking for data from PSAPs on a Nationally Uniform 911 Data System. It is recorded in the Federal Register Vol. 81, No. 128/Thursday June 30, 2016, Docket No. NHTSA-2016-0069. There are basically 15 questions they would like to hear from PSAPs on.

FCC’s Task Force on Optimal PSAP Architecture
The Task Force’s Working Group 2 Report on Optimal 9-1-1 Service Architecture was included in the board packet. It can be downloaded from the FCC’s website.

Expanding New PSAPs
There was discussion at the board level that, based on the SETNA’s declining revenues, if a suspension of approving any new PSAPs should be implemented. There are two requests in the process right now – Truckee PD and Brentwood PD. The general feeling was that any requests that are in process should not be stopped, and while it would not be desired to add more new PSAPs at this time, any new requests will have to be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. See additional discussion below on the minimum call volume threshold for new PSAPs.

Call Answer Time Compliance
Bill Anderson reported that based on the current Call Answer Time requirements in the Operations Manual, less than 10% of the PSAPs in California are in compliance. That is because the requirement is 100% of calls are to be answered in 10 seconds or less during the busiest hour. The NENA standard is 90% of calls within 10 seconds, and the NFPA standard is 95% of calls within 15 seconds. In conversations Bill had with NENA at the APCO conference, NENA is considering changing to the NFPA standard. After discussion, the Advisory Board recommended that the Operations Manual be changed to the NFPA standard.

9-1-1 Branch Report
Bill Anderson reported on the following:

  • SETNA Fund Status
    • The SETNA Fund continues to decline despite the increase in the surcharge last year. It is anticipated that expenditures will exceed revenues in FY 17/18.
  • Wireless Deployment
    • There are only 3 PSAPs that are not in the process of taking wireless 9-1-1 calls directly:
      • Atherton PD
      • Oakland PD
      • CSU Poly Pomona
        • The 9-1-1 Branch is in discussions with Oakland PD to have them accept more cell sectors.
  • Text to 9-1-1
    • 47 PSAPs now accept text to 9-1-1
    • 114 PSAPs are in discussion/design stages
  • Wireless Routing
    • New sectors approved for rerouting since last report – 24
    • Sectors remaining to approve for rerouting – 191
    • Sector changes completed by wireless carriers since last report – 752
  • NG9-1-1 Transition
    • L.R. Kimball has submitted a draft technical report to the 9-1-1 Branch which is being reviewed.

Long Range Planning Committee

  • Call Volume Thresholds
    • The LRPC met yesterday and discussed changing the Operations Manual from a minimum of 300 calls per month to 800 or 1200 calls minimum FOR NEW PSAPS ONLY. The 1200 number was approved and recommended to the 9-1-1 Branch for changes to the Operations Manual.
  • Regionalization/Consolidation
    • The 9-1-1 Workgroup was tasked to begin research on the facts and issues related to Regionalization/Consolidation. The Workgroup presented a draft outline of the report, asking for LRPC/Advisory Board input to ensure that they are headed in the correct direction. Scott Howland asked that they also consider the effects of call answering performance in consolidations. The Workgroup will have a final draft of their report ready for the November Advisory Board meeting.
  • County Coordinator Task Force
    • Members of the Task Force are working with the 9-1-1 Workgroup on their project. Monthly support calls are on-going.