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