Legislative Update


There are two bills for 2016 that affect public safety communications. The first is AB 510 (Rodriguez D) Wireless 911 calls: emergency telephone user surcharge, and the second is AB 1564 – (Williams D)   Emergency services: wireless 911 calls: routing.

Continue reading below to see the text of the bills:

AB 510 (Rodriguez D) Wireless 911 calls: emergency telephone user surcharge. (Amended: 7/15/2015)
Summary: Would require the Public Safety Communications Division to require its California 911 Emergency Communications Branch to work with the Department of the California Highway Patrol to continue the work of the Routing on Empirical Data (RED) Project by using the technology and procedures employed in that project to assist in determining whether wireless 911 calls should be routed to a local public safety answering point or a California Highway Patrol call center. The bill would require that the project use historical empirical call data to determine the most efficient routing for wireless 911 calls.

AB 1564 – (Williams D)   Emergency services: wireless 911 calls: routing. (Introduced: 1/4/2016)
Summary: Would require that a provider of commercial mobile radio service, as defined, provide access for end users of that service to the local emergency telephone systems described in the Warren-911-Emergency Assistance Act, that “911” be the primary access number for those services, and that user validation not be required. The bill would prohibit a provider of commercial mobile radio service from charging any airtime, access, or similar usage charge for any “911” call placed from a commercial mobile radio service telecommunications device to a local emergency telephone system.

The California Public Safety 9-1-1 Coalition (NAPCO Representative Chuck Berdan) is working on both of these bills and trying to make changes. If you want more detail, contact Chuck.