Kari’s Law bill passes House; Senate vote date uncertain

The Kari’s Law Act of 2016 bill that would require direct 911 dialing on multi-line telephone systems (MLTSs) passed the House of Representatives this week, but officials aren’t sure when the Senate will vote on the proposal.

“It’s really up in the air,” Kimberly Willingham, the communications director for Kari’s Law Act of 2016 bill sponsor Rep. Louie Gohmert, told IWCE’s Urgent Communications in an e-mail interview. “That is something that needs to be discussed at a later date … in our conversations with Senate staffers—we have all reaffirmed our commitment to see it passed into law this year.”

Another version of the bill was introduced in the Senate as a provision in a larger bill that would reauthorize the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) reauthorization bill for fiscal years 2017 and 2018.

Senators Deb Fischer (D-Neb.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), John Cornyn (R-Texas), Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) introduced the Kari’s Law bill to the Senate Commerce Committee in February 2016. It, as well as the FCC reauthorization bill, passed to the Senate on April 27, according to a news release from Sen. Fischer’s office.

Willingham said that those provisions will likely be passed in the Senate soon.

“As of now, the Senate plans on passing Kari’s Law in a FCC Reauthorization provision—and that will likely be done in June,” she said.

Both bills require MLTS manufacturers, importers, sellers, leasers and installers to eliminate any prefixes and suffixes for 911 calls. The bills also require these entities to configure systems to notify a central location at the facility when a 911 call is being made. The bill would apply to all MLTS deployments that are manufactured, sold, leased or installed two years after its passage.

“All consumers should be able to dial three numbers, and only three numbers—911—to receive help in emergency situations regardless of where they are calling from,” Patrick Halley, executive director of the NG9-1-1 Institute, said in a prepared statement. “The NG9-1-1 Institute applauds the passage of Kari’s Law in the House and the recent approval of similar legislation by the Senate Commerce Committee. Ensuring direct access to 911 for all callers, including users of multi-line telephone systems, is a critical public-safety issue.”

The namesake of the bill is Kari Hunt, whose estranged husband murdered her in a Texas hotel room in December 2013. While the murder took place, Hunt’s 9-year-old daughter tried calling 911 four times. Because the youngster didn’t know that the hotel required a prefix to be dialed to get an outside line, none of the calls reached a 911 center.