Federal Communications Commission	FCC 23-47

		

STATEMENT OF
CHAIRWOMAN JESSICA ROSENWORCEL
Re:	Facilitating Implementation of Next Generation 911 Services (NG911), PS Docket No. 21-479, Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (June 8, 2023)
	It was 55 years ago that state Senator Rankin Fite sat down in the mayor’s office in Haleyville, Alabama and did something new.  He used the telephone to dial 9-1-1.  That call went straight to the local police station where it was answered with an uneventful “Hello.”  The start of 911 is a reminder that sometimes the biggest ideas come from the smallest places.  Sometimes the most important technologies evolve with little acts and simple steps.  
	Today if you go to Haleyville—and I did, for the 50th anniversary of this event—you can take a look at the bright red telephone with a rotary dial used for that first 911 call. 
	Of course, a lot has changed about 911 over the last half century.  But our Nation’s emergency number remains powerful because we take steps to ensure the technology to support it stays up to date.  Over time, we expanded this system from just wired calls to calls made from wireless phones and interconnected VoIP.  We added texting to the mix, creating another valuable way to reach out in crisis.  More recently, we explored how location-based routing could help ensure that every 911 wireless call goes to the right public safety answering point.  We also proposed that those same wireless providers deliver calls, texts, and routing information in IP-format for next-generation 911 calls.  
	Today we continue this ongoing effort to update 911.  Here we focus on making sure that this system, which was developed during the heyday of the analog phone and circuit-switched technology, can fully transition to IP-based next-generation 911.  That means that in addition to the work we have already begun on wireless, we propose that wired, interconnected VoIP, and Internet-based TRS providers translate and route 911 calls in an IP-based format when a state or local 911 system can accept next-generation 911 calls.
	This is a critical part of facilitating the transition of more than 6,000 public safety answering points nationwide to next-generation 911.  We do this because what comes next with 911 technology is big.  Next-generation 911 will provide better support for voice, text, data, and video communications.  It means more redundancy to protect against outages.  For those who call, it will mean the opportunity to provide real-time video of the emergency.  It will mean the ability to provide first responders with instantaneous pictures.  It will mean the ability to transmit a patient’s medical records right to 911 dispatchers.  And for those who take calls in an emergency, all of this data can expedite and inform public safety efforts and dramatically improve emergency response.    
	Like I said, this is critical.  But another vital element is funding.  Because first responders across the country need support for these changes to keep 911 up to date.  So as I proposed last year, when Congress reauthorizes this agency’s spectrum auction authority, it has a golden opportunity to direct revenues from our next set of auctions to a new, nationwide fund to support the transition to next-generation 911.  Let’s use public airwaves to support public safety.  Let’s build something bigger, bolder, and more comprehensive than what those behind that first call in Haleyville could ever imagine.  
Thank you to the staff who worked on this rulemaking, including Debra Jordan, David Furth, Nicole McGinnis, Austin Randazzo, John Evanoff, Erika Olsen, Brenda Boykin, Rasoul Safavian, and Rachel Wehr from the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau; Jeremy Marcus, Victoria Randazzo, Ashley Tyson, Elizabeth Mumaw, Shannon Lipp, and Ryan McDonald from the Enforcement Bureau; Joy Ragsdale and Chana Wilkerson from the Office of Communications Business Opportunities; Michelle Ellison, Bill Richardson, Douglas Klein, and Keith McCrickard from the Office of General Counsel; Emily Talaga, Kenneth Lynch, Eugene Kiselev, Aleks Yankelevich, and Cher Li from the Office of Economics and Analytics; Elizabeth Drogula, Jodie May, Gil Strobel, Heather Hendrickson, Christi Shewman, and Albert Lewis from the Wireline Competition Bureau; and William David Wallace and Michael Scott from the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau.