STATEMENT OF 
COMMISSIONER BRENDAN CARR

Re:	Implementing Kari’s Law and Section 506 of RAY BAUM’S Act, PS Docket No. 18-261; Inquiry Concerning 911 Access, Routing, and Location in Enterprise Communications Systems, PS Docket No. 17-239.

	First, Hank, I want to thank you for your presentation this morning, for your courage, and for your uncommon resolve in the face of tragedy.  I also want to recognize the strength of your wife, D.J., who has been a steadfast partner in this effort.  With Mark Fletcher, you all worked tirelessly to educate the public about the need for direct 911 access.  What’s more—you made it happen, traveling the country and advocating for the enactment of Kari’s Law in states including Tennessee, Illinois, Maryland, Oklahoma, and your own home state of Texas.  

	In this item, one theme that stands out to me is that of new technologies helping to bring old ones into the modern era.  For example, if I recall correctly, then-Commissioner Pai first learned of Hank and D.J.’s family and their story from a tweet.  After looking into the issue, Commissioner Pai discovered that the phone systems in use in many hotels, schools, and other large buildings (even the FCC’s own headquarters) required callers to press 9 before dialing 911.  Recognizing the magnitude of the issue, Commissioner Pai followed your lead and worked tirelessly in search of a solution.  He worked with hotels around the country and multi-line telephone system manufacturers to assess the scope of the problem, and he also encouraged these entities to take voluntary steps to ensure direct 911 access on all MLTS.  He also advocated for a default configuration to enable direct 911 dialing on all MLTS, pushed successfully to change the FCC’s own phone system, and championed legislation at both the state and federal level to change the status quo.  

	Speaking of legislation, thanks to the efforts of several members of Congress, including Senator Fischer and Senator Klobuchar and Congressman Goehmert, Kari’s Law became the law of the land nationwide this past February.  I want to recognize Jamie Susskind of my staff who had the chance to work on that legislation during her time working for Senator Fischer in the Senate.  And now we are here today to begin the final steps of implementing it.  So I am glad to support this Notice, which will take much needed steps to ensure that, when any child does exactly what their parents teach them to do in an emergency—dial 911—the call goes through.  I am grateful, Hank, to you and your family for your courage and leadership and glad to cast a vote in favor of today’s action.  Finally, thank you to Chief Fowlkes and her team for their hard work on this item.