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Legislative bills

Bipartisan Legislation Passes Senate to Improve 9-1-1 Emergency Response System

Strategic Insights

— 1 min read

United States senators Ben Ray Lujan, Martin Heinrich, Amy Klobuchar, and Marsha Blackburn introduced the Enhancing First Response Act, a bipartisan legislation aimed at strengthening the nation's 9-1-1 emergency response system. The bill has now passed the Senate and is one step closer to becoming law. The legislation focuses on improving Americans' ability to reach help during natural disasters, reclassifying 9-1-1 dispatchers as protective service workers, and enhancing the resiliency and reliability of 9-1-1 services.

Key Takeaways:

  • The Enhancing First Response Act would improve Americans' ability to reach help during natural disasters by making important updates to the nation's 9-1-1 emergency reporting system.
  • The legislation would reclassify 9-1-1 dispatchers as protective service workers, recognizing the lifesaving nature of their work and ensuring they access the benefits they need and deserve.
  • The bill requires the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to issue a report after major natural disasters on the extent to which people were unable to reach 9-1-1 and make recommendations to improve the resiliency of 9-1-1 systems.
  • The FCC would also be required to study unreported 9-1-1 outages and develop recommendations to improve outage reporting and communication between mobile carriers and 9-1-1 centers.
  • The legislation updates the classification of 9-1-1 dispatchers from clerical workers to protective service workers in the Standard Occupational Classification (SOC).
  • The bill requires the FCC to report on the extent to which multi-line telephone system manufacturers and vendors have complied with Kari's Law, which requires the manufacturers of multi-line telephone systems to create systems that allow callers to reach 9-1-1 without dialing a prefix or postfix.

Statistics:

  • The bill has garnered bipartisan support from 12 senators, including Majority Leader John Thune and Senator Dan Sullivan.
  • The legislation is cosponsored by Senators Shelley Moore Capito, Ed Markey, Ted Budd, Angus King, Mark Kelly, Mike Crapo, and Maria Cantwell.
  • The bill has passed the Senate and now goes to the House of Representatives for a vote.

Sources:

  • New Mexico Senator Ben Ray Lujan
  • U.S. Senators Ben Ray Lujan, Martin Heinrich, Amy Klobuchar, and Marsha Blackburn
  • U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar
  • U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn

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