https://urgentcomm.com/wp-content/themes/ucm_child/assets/images/logo/footer-new-logo.png
  • Home
  • News
  • Multimedia
    • Back
    • Multimedia
    • Video
    • Podcasts
    • Galleries
    • IWCE’s Video Showcase
    • IWCE 2022 Winter Showcase
    • IWCE 2023 Pre-event Guide
  • Commentary
    • Back
    • Commentary
    • Urgent Matters
    • View From The Top
    • All Things IWCE
    • Legal Matters
  • Resources
    • Back
    • Resources
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
    • Reprints & Reuse
  • IWCE
    • Back
    • IWCE
    • Conference
    • Special Events
    • Exhibitor Listings
    • Premier Partners
    • Floor Plan
    • Exhibiting Information
    • Register for IWCE
  • About Us
    • Back
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
    • Terms of Service
    • Privacy Statement
    • Cookie Policy
  • Related Sites
    • Back
    • American City & County
    • IWCE
    • Light Reading
    • IOT World Today
    • Mission Critical Technologies
    • TU-Auto
  • In the field
    • Back
    • In the field
    • Broadband Push-to-X
    • Internet of Things
    • Project 25
    • Public-Safety Broadband/FirstNet
    • Virtual/Augmented Reality
    • Land Mobile Radio
    • Long Term Evolution (LTE)
    • Applications
    • Drones/Robots
    • IoT/Smart X
    • Software
    • Subscriber Devices
    • Video
  • Call Center/Command
    • Back
    • Call Center/Command
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • NG911
    • Alerting Systems
    • Analytics
    • Dispatch/Call-taking
    • Incident Command/Situational Awareness
    • Tracking, Monitoring & Control
  • Network Tech
    • Back
    • Network Tech
    • Interoperability
    • LMR 100
    • LMR 200
    • Backhaul
    • Deployables
    • Power
    • Tower & Site
    • Wireless Networks
    • Coverage/Interference
    • Security
    • System Design
    • System Installation
    • System Operation
    • Test & Measurement
  • Operations
    • Back
    • Operations
    • Critical Infrastructure
    • Enterprise
    • Federal Government/Military
    • Public Safety
    • State & Local Government
    • Training
  • Regulations
    • Back
    • Regulations
    • Narrowbanding
    • T-Band
    • Rebanding
    • TV White Spaces
    • None
    • Funding
    • Policy
    • Regional Coordination
    • Standards
  • Organizations
    • Back
    • Organizations
    • AASHTO
    • APCO
    • DHS
    • DMR Association
    • ETA
    • EWA
    • FCC
    • IWCE
    • NASEMSO
    • NATE
    • NXDN Forum
    • NENA
    • NIST/PSCR
    • NPSTC
    • NTIA/FirstNet
    • P25 TIG
    • TETRA + CCA
    • UTC
Urgent Communications
  • NEWSLETTER
  • Home
  • News
  • Multimedia
    • Back
    • Video
    • Podcasts
    • Omdia Crit Comms Circle Podcast
    • Galleries
    • IWCE’s Video Showcase
    • IWCE 2023 Pre-event Guide
    • IWCE 2022 Winter Showcase
  • Commentary
    • Back
    • All Things IWCE
    • Urgent Matters
    • View From The Top
    • Legal Matters
  • Resources
    • Back
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
    • Reprints & Reuse
    • UC eZines
    • Sponsored content
  • IWCE
    • Back
    • Conference
    • Why Attend
    • Exhibitor Listing
    • Floor Plan
    • Exhibiting Information
    • Join the Event Mailing List
  • About Us
    • Back
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
    • Cookie Policy
    • Terms of Service
    • Privacy Statement
  • Related Sites
    • Back
    • American City & County
    • IWCE
    • Light Reading
    • IOT World Today
    • TU-Auto
  • newsletter
  • In the field
    • Back
    • Internet of Things
    • Broadband Push-to-X
    • Project 25
    • Public-Safety Broadband/FirstNet
    • Virtual/Augmented Reality
    • Land Mobile Radio
    • Long Term Evolution (LTE)
    • Applications
    • Drones/Robots
    • IoT/Smart X
    • Software
    • Subscriber Devices
    • Video
  • Call Center/Command
    • Back
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • NG911
    • Alerting Systems
    • Analytics
    • Dispatch/Call-taking
    • Incident Command/Situational Awareness
    • Tracking, Monitoring & Control
  • Network Tech
    • Back
    • Cybersecurity
    • Interoperability
    • LMR 100
    • LMR 200
    • Backhaul
    • Deployables
    • Power
    • Tower & Site
    • Wireless Networks
    • Coverage/Interference
    • Security
    • System Design
    • System Installation
    • System Operation
    • Test & Measurement
  • Operations
    • Back
    • Critical Infrastructure
    • Enterprise
    • Federal Government/Military
    • Public Safety
    • State & Local Government
    • Training
  • Regulations
    • Back
    • Narrowbanding
    • T-Band
    • Rebanding
    • TV White Spaces
    • None
    • Funding
    • Policy
    • Regional Coordination
    • Standards
  • Organizations
    • Back
    • AASHTO
    • APCO
    • DHS
    • DMR Association
    • ETA
    • EWA
    • FCC
    • IWCE
    • NASEMSO
    • NATE
    • NXDN Forum
    • NENA
    • NIST/PSCR
    • NPSTC
    • NTIA/FirstNet
    • P25 TIG
    • TETRA + CCA
    • UTC
acc.com

Urgent Matters


Commentary

Funding for 911 should reflect today’s technological realities

Funding for 911 should reflect today’s technological realities

The predicament that a Missouri county finds itself in--the potential elimination of 911 service if a sales-tax hike doesn't pass--is symptomatic of a bigger problem: 911 funding models need to be updated nationwide.
  • Written by
  • 1st November 2013

Yesterday, I wrote a column about the fact that residents of Taney County, Mo., soon will vote on a proposed sales-tax hike that is designed to address a financial shortfall in the local 911 system. While I believe that getting rid of 911 should not be an option, the fact that the county is in this predicament is just another symptom of a bigger problem: 911 funding models need to be updated nationwide.

A big factor in Taney County’s situation is that Missouri doesn’t impose a statewide 911 fee on wireless subscribers. According to the National Emergency Number Association (NENA), Wisconsin is the only other state without such a fee. That’s a big problem, because roughly half of all 911 calls originate from wireless phones.

But even in states that have such fees, the level of funding varies wildly from state to state, which creates all sorts of inequities regarding 911 resources.

Another big problem is that 38% of American homes today are wireless-only, according to NENA CEO Brian Fontes, who described the funding woes that are afflicting the 911 sector as a “very critical issue.”

“When we were 90% wireline households, with the tariffs that were imposed on the landline industries for 911 service, there was a revenue stream coming in,” Fontes said. “Now that 38% of those households are wireless-only, that revenue stream has taken a huge hit.”

Fontes agreed with me that the time has come for Congress to do something about this. I’d like to see federal legislation that funds 911 on a nationwide basis, and takes it out of the hands of state and local governments. So would Fontes. But that could take some time. A near-term solution that would be comparatively easy to execute would be for Congress to redefine public safety as including the 911 sector.

“It’s something that Congress could do immediately,” Fontes said.

He added that 911 never has been included in the definition of public safety at the federal level.

“So, when Congress bestows money on [Homeland Security] or the Justice Department, and says to them, ‘You can spend this money on public safety,’ 911 isn’t part of that. So, perhaps it’s time to change the definition of what public safety means at the federal level to include 911.”

If that happened, the 911 sector would be eligible to receive grants from federal agencies, Fontes said. He added that changing the definition would be as simple as adding the words “including 911” to any public-safety appropriations bill.

It seems crazy that the 911 sector wouldn’t be included in the definition of public safety—where do federal lawmakers think emergency response begins? It seems even crazier that federal grant money would be made available to police, fire and EMS but not to 911. But that’s the way it’s always been, according to Fontes.

“Historically, the federal government has not funded 911 at all, with the exception of $43 million in grants to study what they were going to need to move to next-generation 911,” he said.

I remember that. Congress authorized $1.25 billion in funding for public-safety answering point (PSAP) improvements when it enacted the Enhance 911 Act of 2004. Other than the money referenced by Fontes, none of the funding ever was appropriated.

The National 911 Program Office convened a blue-ribbon committee to study the 911 sector’s funding problems, and its report is expected to be published by the end of the year. I hope they can make sense of this. Someone needs to.

Tags: PSAP Commentary Funding NENA Policy Public Safety Urgent Matters Commentary

Most Recent


  • Ransomware, data breaches inundate OT & industrial sector
    Three-quarters of industrial firms suffered a ransomware attack in the past year, with far more compromises affecting operational technology (OT) than ever before — representing a surge in attacks driven by both the industrial sector’s vulnerability and propensity to pay ransoms in order to remain operational. In the past 12 months, more than half of […]
  • How and why AT&T selected Fujitsu radios for 5G
    Lost in AT&T’s big $14 billion announcement with Ericsson for open RAN was the fact that it also plans to purchase 5G radios from Fujitsu. The move represents a major win for the Japanese wireless network equipment vendor, which is relatively unknown outside its home market. “In order to support the acceleration of open RAN in AT&T’s […]
  • PSSA asks FCC for FirstNet Authority license at 4.9 GHz, opposes CERCI proposal
    A Public Safety Spectrum Alliance (PSSA) filing this week reiterates its call for the FCC to award a nationwide license of 4.9 GHz  spectrum to the FirstNet Authority, ignoring a recent coalition filing that asks the commission to approve rules that would let local jurisdictions largely determine how the airwaves are used. Jeff Johnson, executive […]
  • Critical Bluetooth flaw exposes Android, Apple & Linux devices to takeover
    Attackers can exploit a critical Bluetooth security vulnerability that’s been lurking largely unnoticed for years on macOS, iOS, Android, and Linux device platforms. The keystroke injection vulnerability allows an attacker to control the targeted device as if they were attached by a Bluetooth keyboard, performing various functions remotely depending on the endpoint. Tracked as CVE-2023-45866, the flaw exists […]

Related Content

Commentary


Things to know about IWCE 2024: The basics 

5th December 2023

Land mobile radio (LMR) systems are just as vulnerable to cyberattacks as any other networks used in the public-safety sector. Here’s what to do about it.

  • 2
7th November 2023

September 3GPP Plenary meetings feature Release 18 progress, Release 19 beginnings

13th October 2023
view all

Events


UC Ezines


IWCE 2019 Wrap Up

13th May 2019
view all

Twitter


Newsletter

Sign up for UrgentComm’s newsletters to receive regular news and information updates about Communications and Technology.

Expert Commentary

Learn from experts about the latest technology in automation, machine-learning, big data and cybersecurity.

Business Media

Find the latest videos and media from the market leaders.

Media Kit and Advertising

Want to reach our digital and print audiences? Learn more here.

DISCOVER MORE FROM INFORMA TECH

  • American City & County
  • IWCE
  • Light Reading
  • IOT World Today
  • Mission Critical Technologies
  • TU-Auto

WORKING WITH US

  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Events
  • Careers

FOLLOW Urgent Comms ON SOCIAL

  • Privacy
  • CCPA: “Do Not Sell My Data”
  • Cookie Policy
  • Terms
Copyright © 2023 Informa PLC. Informa PLC is registered in England and Wales with company number 8860726 whose registered and Head office is 5 Howick Place, London, SW1P 1WG.