BILL ANALYSIS 1
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SENATE ENERGY, UTILITIES AND COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE
MARTHA M. ESCUTIA, CHAIRWOMAN
SB 911 - Dunn Hearing Date: April 5, 2005 S
As Introduced: February 22, 2005 Non-FISCAL
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DESCRIPTION
Current law requires most emergency 911 telephone calls made
from cellphones to be answered by the California Highway Patrol
(CHP). An alternative public safety agency (e.g. a county
Sheriff) can answer the call if the call originates from a
location other than a highway or county road under the CHP's
jurisdiction, provided that the CHP, the Department of General
Services, and the alternative public safety agency all agree
that to do so would be in the public interest.
This bill allows the 911 call to be answered by an alternative
public safety agency if the call originates from a location
other than a freeway.
BACKGROUND
Since 1984, when cellular telephone service was introduced, all
911 calls from cellular telephones have been answered by the
CHP. At that time a cellphone caller could not be automatically
located, so the presumption was that the caller was calling from
the freeway, which is the CHP's jurisdiction. If the call
instead came from a location which was not the CHP's
jurisdiction, such as on a city street, the CHP would forward
the call to the proper public safety agency. The forwarding of
calls is problematic for 911 response because it slows the
emergency response, the extra handling can cause important
information to be dropped (e.g. calling number or caller
location), and it creates extra work for the CHP to forward the
call. Directly connecting the cellphone 911 call to the
responding public safety agency would speed emergency response
and eliminate unnecessary work by the CHP.
In recent years technological advancements have made it possible
to locate the caller; cellphone companies and handset
manufacturers are required by federal regulations to implement
the technology. The ability to locate the cellular 911 caller
makes it possible to directly connect the call to the public
safety agency responsible for the emergency response. In 1999,
when cellular companies were first implementing the location
identification technology, legislation authorized cellular 911
calls to be routed directly to local public safety agencies (AB
1263 (Thomson), Chapter 981, Statutes of 2000). This direct
local routing was permitted only if the call came from an area
that was not the CHP's jurisdiction and if the CHP, the local
public safety agency, and the Department of General Services,
who administers California's 911 program, all agreed that to do
so would be in the public interest.
All in-state telephone calls are assessed a surcharge which
raises about $130 annually million to pay for the 911 service.
This surcharge pays for the equipment and associated
telecommunications services necessary to answer the calls. It
does not pay for dispatchers.
The number of cellular 911 calls continues to rise, from about 3
million calls in 1997 to 7.8 million calls in 2004. About 1
million of those 7.8 million calls had to be transferred to
other public safety agencies.
COMMENTS
This bill changes state policy to allow 911 calls coming from
highways which are the CHP's jurisdiction to be routed to
non-CHP public safety agencies. The requirement that such
routing can occur only with the consent of the CHP and local
public safety agencies is unchanged. When contacted by
Committee staff, the CHP did not oppose the bill.
POSITIONS
Sponsor:
California State Sheriffs' Association
California National Emergency Number Association
Support:
Alameda County Sheriff's Department
Calaveras County Sheriff's Department
California Fire Chiefs Association
Contra Costa County Sheriff's Department
El Dorado County Sheriff's Department
Fire Districts Association
Imperial County Sheriff's Department
Kern County Sheriff's Department
Kings County Sheriff's Department
Merced County Sheriff's Department
Plumas County Sheriff's Department
San Diego County Sheriff's Department
Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Department
Shasta County Sheriff's Department
Stanislaus County Sheriff's Department
Tuolumne County Sheriff's Department
Yuba County Sheriff's Department
Oppose:
None on file
Randy Chinn
SB 911 Analysis
Hearing Date: April 5, 2005