By Donny Jackson, Editor
Legislation that would reclassify 911 personnel and require greater FCC reporting on 911 disruptions was introduced last week by Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Martha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), which already has bipartisan support from nine other co-sponsors, including Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.).
Text of the bill—S.725, the “Enhancing First Response Act”—was not available on www.congress.gov at the time of this posting, but a press release posted on Klobuchar’s website states the bill would update the Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) of 911 dispatchers from “clerical workers” to “protective service workers.” In addition, it would require the FCC to take the following actions:
“Issue a report after major natural disasters on the extent to which people were unable to reach 9-1-1 during the disaster and subsequent recovery efforts, and make recommendations to improve the resiliency of 9-1-1 systems to prevent future service disruptions;
“Study the unreported 9-1-1 outages and develop recommendations to improve outage reporting and communication between mobile carriers experiencing network outages and 9-1-1 centers; and
“Report on the extent to which multi-line telephone system manufacturers and vendors have complied with Kari’s Law, which Senator Klobuchar worked to pass into law in 2018 and requires the manufacturers of multi-line telephone systems to create systems that allow callers to reach 9-1-1 without dialing a prefix or postfix.”
Klobuchar explained the need for such legislation to be enacted.
“During natural disasters, Americans need reliable communications networks, especially 911,” Klobuchar said in a prepared statement. “Our bipartisan legislation will save lives by ensuring Americans are able to connect to 911 during major disasters and improving the resiliency of our 911 system against outages and disruptions.
“This legislation also recognizes 911 dispatchers for their critical roles during times of crisis by ensuring they are classified as the first responders that they are.”
Blackburn agreed.
“Ensuring Americans can reach help when they dial 911 during natural disasters is paramount,” Blackburn said in a prepared statement. “The ‘Emergency Reporting Act’ takes necessary steps to prevent 911 service disruptions, properly recognize dispatchers for their life-saving work, and further study how we can make improvements to the 911 emergency-response system.”
In addition to Klobuchar and Blackburn, the Senate bill is co-sponsored by Sens. Thune, Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Dan Sullivan (R-Ark.), Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.V.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Ted Budd (R-N.C.), Angus King (I-Maine), and Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.)
Both the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO) and the National Emergency Number Association (NENA) endorsed the proposed Senate legislation.
“The Enhancing First Response Act represents a comprehensive effort to enhance public-safety communications and support the dedicated professionals who operate our nation’s 911 systems,” APCO International CEO & Executive Director Mel Maier said in a prepared statement.
“Addressing the federal classification of 9-1-1 professionals, strengthening resilience and situational awareness during outages, and advancing MLTS 9-1-1 call capabilities are all critical steps forward. APCO appreciates the leadership of Senators Klobuchar and Blackburn in championing these issues.”
NENA CEO Brian Fontes echoed this sentiment.
“Recognizing the essential, life-saving work of 911 professionals is long overdue,” Fontes said in a prepared statement. “Since the first 911 call was placed in 1968, the job of 911 telecommunicators has substantially become more technical, specialized, and important to the immediate health, safety, and security of our communities. They are the first first responders, and they deserve to be classified in the same category as their law enforcement, fire, and emergency medical counterparts.
“We deeply appreciate Senators Klobuchar and Blackburn for their steadfast, bipartisan commitment to 911 and public safety.”
In the US House of Representatives, two pieces of legislation have been introduced to achieve the same goals as the Senate bill, according to the press release from Klobuchar’s office. The “911 SAVES Act” (H.R. 540), which would reclassify 911 telecommunicators, was reintroduced in January by Rep. Norma Torres (D-Calif.) and co-sponsored by Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.). The other companion bill in the House, is the “Emergency Reporting Act” proposed by Rep. Doris Matsui (D-Calif.), according to the press release.
