This week, news reports indicated that the Build Back Better Act, which passed the House of Representatives earlier this year, will not pass the Senate. As background, the Build Back Better Act included a $470 million grant program to support state and local deployments of NG9-1-1 and helpful provisions for ensuring interoperability and cybersecurity in NG9-1-1 deployments. As the Senate considers potential changes to the legislation, APCO will continue to advocate for inclusion of the NG9-1-1 provisions, which have bipartisan support. Additionally, APCO will continue to seek full federal funding for NG9-1-1 through any available vehicle.
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On December 21, APCO filed comments with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regarding proposals for Automated Frequency Coordination (AFC) systems in the 6 GHz band. The AFC proposals are a result of an FCC decision in 2020 to open the 6 GHz band, which is heavily used by public safety, to widespread use by unlicensed devices such as Wi-Fi routers. Under the FCC’s spectrum sharing framework, AFCs would be responsible for identifying parts of the spectrum that certain unlicensed devices could use without interfering with public safety systems and other licensed users. APCO has a pending federal lawsuit opposing the FCC’s decision and recently joined a request asking the FCC to revisit the rules. APCO’s new comments explained that, in addition to the concerns we’ve previously expressed, the AFC proposals demonstrated major gaps suggesting that these important mechanisms would not be effective for protecting public safety communications.
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WFXR
The county described the public safety telecommunicator as acting with “compassion and care” as she gave instructions for delivery to a couple who had to stop their car for the birth on the way to the hospital.
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Daily Times
Officials say the new system upgrade of buildings, towers and communications could eventually cost as much as $50 million.
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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
The task force is trying to build a strong foundation as part of a drive to rethink public safety in the city.
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Light Reading
The FCC fined AT&T, CenturyLink (now Lumen Technologies), Intrado and Verizon a total of $6 million over inability to support 9-1-1 calls and whether the FCC and emergency communications centers were alerted to the outages in a timely manner.
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Magnolia State Live
Lee County 911 Assistant Director Jason Nichols said the girl remained calm and gave her home address. In short, she was well trained for making effective 9-1-1 calls.
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