Funding Remains Challenge for 911, APCO Summit Told

“It is very difficult to get the Republicans to spend any money,” said Pallone (N.J.). “Obviously that is a way of trying to help out [911] that I would support, but it’s tough in this environment to get additional funding for any kind of infrastructure, even emergency response.”

“We absolutely could use more funding” for 911, said Goldman. But it doesn’t seem likely Congress will provide it, he said. “The most likely place to get more money on the federal side is from spectrum auctions, and we’re not getting the kind of revenue assignments that we thought we would be able to get, and honestly we probably aren’t doing new spectrum legislation in the immediate future,” Goldman said. “So I don’t want to bring bad news, but there’s probably not … new federal funding being assigned in the very near future.” However, $115 million is on its way from last year’s AWS spectrum auction, he said.

It should be a national priority to modernize 911 Infrastructure, which hasn't kept pace with new technology, FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel said in an afternoon keynote: “911 has never been more popular or more challenged.” Funding is a big problem, she said. Local and state jurisdictions annually collect $2.5 billion. But in the FCC’s last annual 911 Improvement Act report on 911 fund collection, the commission said eight states transferred funding to other programs, including uses that have nothing to do with public safety, she said.

Rosenworcel urged action on a 911 grant program envisioned by legislators in the 2012 Middle Class Job Creation and Tax Relief Act, which among other things set up FirstNet and authorized the voluntary incentive auctions of broadcast spectrum. Some of the spectrum auction revenue was meant to fund next-generation 911, including a $115 million matching grant program to update 911, she said. The law called for establishment of grant criteria 120 days after the law’s enactment, but it never happened, she said. “We need to get going and get this grant program underway.”

“While these funds are small, I think they can make a big impact if we use them wisely. … Let’s use them as next-generation 911 models that demonstrate proof of concept in both urban and rural areas.” Rosenworcel suggested a program framework that gives a common definition of next-generation 911 that applies across jurisdictions. “We need to incorporate into this program nationally accredited standards that promote interoperability between call centers,” she said. Second, funding should “demonstrate how public safety answering points can embrace economies of scale and still honor the tradition of local control,” she said. Third, the program must consider sustainability, funding projects that show they have mechanisms in place to cover future costs including training, she said.

Pallone has had success moving the Securing Access to Networks in Disasters (Sandy) Act, a public safety bill named for 2012’s Superstorm Sandy that requires no funding. Pallone said he hopes to get a floor vote next month, and there are senators interested in introducing the bill in that body. The House Commerce Committee approved the Sandy Act (HR-3998) in April after the wireless industry announced an agreement to voluntarily implement parts of the bill, like allowing users to roam onto other carrier networks during an emergency outage (see 1604270035). Pallone removed those parts from the bill, but passage is still required so communications services are classified as essential in an emergency. The change would allow communications companies to repair their network during an emergency, Pallone said.

Pallone will watch the wireless industry to make sure it sticks to its voluntary commitments, he said: “Whenever we come to a voluntary agreement with an industry, I always worry … how do we know it’s actually going to … happen?” Congress will step in if necessary, said Goldman.

Upgrading 911 technology is “a hard problem,” said David Furth, deputy chief of the FCC Public Safety Bureau. “There are governance issues. There are funding issues. There are many issues that we have to deal with, and we have to do it in a concerted way.” Much of the funding will need to come from the states and localities that collect 911 fees, he said. The number of states that divert that revenue to unrelated purposes has come down, but the practice still continues in some places, he said. “It will be up to Congress if they want to have an enforcement tool.” Goldman said no legislation is planned now.

This year, the FCC is busy implementing several public safety regulations, including on location accuracy, text to 911 and 911 reliability, said Furth. Later this month, the agency will consider an order to update the commission’s Part 4 network outage reporting rules, which would provide more information about outages to prevent future problems, he said. "I can't remember a time when the commission was more committed or just flat out busier on public safety issues than it has been in the last two years."

APCO Summit Notebook

An LTE network helps public safety only if the "men on the ground" use it, a New Jersey public safety official said on a FirstNet early builders panel. “Operations, operations, operations,” stressed Capt. David Brady of the New Jersey State Police Communications Bureau. FirstNet has a spectrum manager lease agreement with JerseyNet and four other projects across the country to provide early access to the public safety spectrum in the 700 MHz band. As one example, Brady described what happened when New Jersey set up an LTE network to support Pope Francis’ visit to Philadelphia. The network itself performed well, but some problems arose because one of the other agencies involved didn’t receive training about using the network until the day of the operation, said Brady. Also, the captain said public safety is a “very demanding” group that has no tolerance for technical problems. For example, public safety found itself limited by the battery life of commercial Samsung devices in an operation apprehending a gunman in Newark, he said. The network allowed commanders to track their officers’ GPS location on a mapping app, but because the officers’ devices had to ping location regularly, the batteries on the Samsung devices hit empty after only two hours, he said. The tracking application proved itself as a great tool for nabbing bad guys, he said, but if police officers have to charge their devices every hour, they're not likely to use them.

OhioFirst.Net demonstrated a videogame showing potential benefits of the FirstNet public safety network in the state. The game is meant to spur awareness and excitement about the network through an interactive experience, said Kelly Castle, program manager for OhioFirst.Net, which will deliver FirstNet in Ohio. In the game, players fight a fire in an indoor environment where it’s tough to see. First, the player tries to get around without the aid of technology. Then, the player tries again with the aid of a digital head-up display in the player’s vision displaying a map and infrared camera view of their surroundings. The LTE network could make those enhancements a reality, said the game’s developer, Brandon Abley. The game can be downloaded free from the OhioFirst.Net website starting Friday.