BILL ANALYSIS
AB 914
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 28, 2003
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON UTILITIES AND COMMERCE
Sarah Reyes, Chair
AB 914 (Reyes) - As Amended: April 22, 2003
SUBJECT : Public safety communications.
SUMMARY : Makes clarifying changes to existing law pertaining to
the 911 system and requires the development of a client server
system to access geo-reference maps. Specifically, this bill :
1)Makes clarifying changes to the Warren 911 Emergency Services
Act and the Emergency Telephone Users Surcharge Act to reflect
the technological changes in telecommunication systems.
2)Requires the Department of General Services to develop a
client server network for the purpose of accessing a
geo-reference mapping system for all the public safety
answering points in the state.
3)Specifies that the National Emergency Number Association
(NENA) standards for recommended formats and protocols for
data exchange and NENA recommended standards for local
exchange carriers, Automatic Location Identification (ALI)
service providers, and 911 service jurisdictions shall be
adopted by reference and required for all agencies, venders,
and telecommunications service providers having any
connectivity to the telecommunications emergency response
system.
4)Establishes the 911 Committee to be comprised of public safety
user groups and requires that all reporting systems (i.e.,
equipment or reimbursement necessary for PSAPs or venders)
must have prior approval of the committee before plans for
funding are to be approved.
5)Specifies that the 911 Committee evaluate the impact and make
recommendations on the implementation of the
telecommunications emergency response system by a single
public safety agency within its jurisdiction that may
adversely affect the implementation of the system by a
neighboring public agency or agencies.
6)Requires the 911 Committee to report annually to the
AB 914
Page 2
Legislature on the progress of implementation of
telecommunications emergency response systems and recommended
changes in legislation and funding.
7)Specifies that the range of the surcharge be changed from
being no more than .75 percent of 1 percent or no less than .5
percent of 1 percent to no more than 2 percent or no less than
1 percent for the purpose of implementing this act.
8)Specifies that a telecommunications emergency response system
include:
a) Reporting system
b) Approved incremental costs
c) A geographically referenced statewide base mapping
system
d) A regionalized master street address guide
e) An Automatic location identification database client
server system
9)Defines a reporting system as a telecommunication system that
automatically connects a person who uses another
telecommunications service, including 911 circuits, to an
established public safety answering point through
telecommunications service facilities and is capable of
automatically identifying the caller's number, automatically
locating the caller, holding the incoming call, reconnecting
on the same telephone line, clearing a telephone line, or
automatically call routing, or any combination of these
capabilities.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Establishes the Warren 911 Emergency Services Act to be
administered by the Department of General Services for the
purpose of developing a network of public safety answering
points to respond to 911 emergency assistance calls.
2)Establishes the Emergency Telephone Users Surcharge Act to
fund the development and maintenance of the public safety
answering points through a surcharge on all intrastate phone
numbers issued by the California Public Utilities Commission.
3)Specifies that the Department of General Services has
administrative responsibility over the range of the surcharge,
AB 914
Page 3
subject to the approval by the Board of Equalization, as well
as reimbursements for expenditures submitted by PSAPs and
telephone carriers. DGS is required to annually report to the
Board of Equalization on what the surcharge should be set at
to fund future year obligations.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown.
COMMENTS :
Background : The first California commercial telephone exchange
opened in San Francisco in 1878. The system continued to expand
from business to private line telephones in homes across the
State. As the only means of reporting an emergency and
requesting a Public Safety response, thousands of emergency
numbers existed throughout California.
94 years later, in 1972, the Legislature passed the Warren 911
Emergency Assistance Act. This provided a single, primary
three-digit emergency telephone number through which emergency
services could be obtained, regardless of jurisdictional
boundaries. In time, the system was improved to "Enhanced 911",
in which the caller's address would be displayed to the Public
Safety Answering Point. This act also provided the funding to
all agencies for the necessary hardware to handle these calls,
and to the telephone service providers for building and
maintaining the network.
While this system was a tremendous improvement to the Public
Safety response to an emergency at that time - the legislation
has been virtually unchanged for the past 31 years. No one
could have foreseen the technological advances of the last three
decades. The explosive rise in cellular telephone use,
satellite and radio transmission capabilities were unfathomable
in 1972.
In the Public Safety Answering Point today, reports of emergency
requests for services are received from many telecommunications
technologies. With today's cellular, satellite and personal
radio communications devices, requests for emergency services
extend to the wilderness areas and open waters throughout
California. Automatic Crash Notification, (ACN), systems are
being installed in increasing numbers of vehicles each year. To
this day, the public still relies on the single most utilized
emergency telephone number, 911.
AB 914
Page 4
But, the perception that a Public Safety Answering Point knows
your location when you request emergency services doesn't match
the reality of the current situation. While the technology in
the hands of the consumer has advanced exponentially, the 911
system has remained at the 1972 level. The problem is further
compounded by the fact that while the emergency can move rapidly
throughout multiple jurisdictions, the Public Safety Answering
Points have no common communications capability.
Legislation must recognize the broad spectrum of
telecommunications emergency notification methods currently in
use, in addition to 911. It must also recognize the need for
all agencies within California to have interoperable
communications available during those emergency responses. The
current Emergency Telecommunications Surcharge must be enhanced
to fund the necessary hardware and network infrastructure for
such a system.
The purpose of this bill : AB 914 updates the Warren 911
Emergency Services Act and the Emergency Telephone Users
Surcharge Act by clarifying that the existing 911 system, based
on calls being directed to public safety answering points (PSAP)
by the public switch telephone network, is part of the
telecommunication network and not just a call termination point.
Furthermore, this bill adds that a client server network be
created that allows PSAPs to access geo-reference maps for the
purpose of overlaying it with location information from wireless
carriers to pinpoint 911 calls made from cell phones. This bill
increases the existing floor for the emergency telephone users
surcharge from .5 percent to one (1) percent and set the ceiling
at two (2) percent versus at .75 percent for the purpose of
ensuring that all 500 plus PSAPs are able to be funded for costs
to upgrade and maintain the system.
Greater use of cell phones today than in the past : In the
United States today there are more than 90 million wireless
phone users who make more than 115,000 emergency calls a day. A
February 2003 Consumer Report noted that one in three people who
own a cell phone say they bought it mainly for safety reasons.
The report also highlighted that out of 11,500 subscribers
contacted in the fall of 2002, 1,880 said they tried to call 911
using a cell phone and 280 of them had trouble connecting to 911
and 4 percent or 75 people were not able to get through at all.
Individuals in California had the highest percentage of calls to
AB 914
Page 5
911 that never succeeded at 12 percent and one-third of Consumer
Reports California respondents said they encountered some
difficulty getting through to 911.
Currently, the 911 system is able to locate a caller from a
landline phone by pulling up their vital information. This
information is transmitted to one of 500 + PSAPs, which are
local and state agencies that answer 911 calls, by way of an
Automatic Number Identification (ANI) and Automatic Location
Identification (ALI). The ANI/ALI information is provided over
the regular phone network and in California SBC and Verizon, the
two incumbent local exchange carriers, receive reimbursements by
the state through a surcharge applied to every phone user to
provide the necessary information to PSAPs.
Back in 1972 the state could not have anticipated the rapid
growth in the use of wireless phones as it created the Warren
911 Emergency Services Act and the Emergency Telephone Users
Surcharge Act, that developed the 911 system used to this day.
Today there are more than 15.8 million cell phone users in
California - nearly half of the state's population.
As cell phone usage and technological improvements in wireless
communication has grown over the last three decades the 911
system has for the most part remained unchanged. Technological
improvements have allowed wireless phones to be more functional
and affordable causing the rapid growth in the number of
subscribers. Currently, after three years of the wireless 911
effort, only Torrance Police Department has the ability to
locate wireless 911 calls because either the receiving entity or
the transmitting entity cannot send ANI/ALI information.
Need for standardized statewide base map : The Federal
Communications Commission requires that wireless carriers must
implement Enhanced-911 (E911) within a specified period of time
following the date of PSAPs request to them that they have the
following mechanisms in place:
1)A mechanism is in place by which PSAP will recover its cots of
the facilities and equipment necessary to receive and utilize
the E911 data elements;
2)PSAP has ordered the equipment necessary to receive and
utilize the E911 data and the equipment will be installed and
capable of receiving and utilizing that data no later than six
months following its request; and
AB 914
Page 6
3)PSAP has mad a timely request to the appropriate local
exchange carrier (LEC) for the necessary trunking and other
facilities, including any necessary Automatic Identification
Location (ALI) database upgrades, to enable the E911 data to
be transmitted to PSAP.
One of the hurdles for PSAPs in requesting wireless carriers to
implement E911 is that the state has yet to develop a
standardized base map for PSAPs to overlay ALI information with
in order to locate a 911 call from a wireless user.
Proposed amendments by author : Delete the surcharge rate
increase due to funds already being available. The Emergency
Telephone User Surcharge Fund has consistently carried a balance
at the end of year, sometimes in excess of $80 million, which
ultimately resulted in $63 million being transferred to the
General Fund in 2001-02. The reason for maintaining the
existing surcharge rate is because the anticipated fund balance
will more than cover the initial costs for developing the plans
and working drawings for the client server system. It may be
necessary in the future re-evaluate the adequacy of the
surcharge rate in order to sufficiently fund the necessary
upgrades to the 500 + PSAPs, including the ongoing maintenance
of the client server network.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California Chapter of the National Emergency Number Association
(CalNENA)
California State Sheriffs Association
California Fire Chiefs Association
SEIU
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Daniel Kim / U. & C. / (916) 319-2083