BILL ANALYSIS Ó SB 1211 Page 1 Date of Hearing: June 25, 2014 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATION Isadore Hall, Chair SB 1211 (Padilla) - As Amended: May 27, 2014 SENATE VOTE : 37-0 SUBJECT : Emergency Services: Next Generation 911. SUMMARY : Requires the Office of Emergency Services (OES) to develop a plan and timeline of target dates for testing, implementing, and operating a Next Generation 911 (Next Gen 911) emergency communication system, including text to 911 services, throughout California. Specifically, this bill : 1)Specifies that in order to maximize efficiency and contain costs, the Next Gen 911 emergency communication system shall incorporate shared infrastructure and elements of other public safety and emergency communications networks, including, but not limited to, all of the flowing: a) Public safety communications identified in the annual plan by the Public Safety Communications Divisions within OES. b) Local and regional public safety broadband networks authorized by the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. c) Public safety broadband networks authorized by the federal Middle Class Tax relief and Job Creation Act of 2013. d) Public safety radio and communications facilities used for the purpose of public warnings. 2)Requires OES, in determining the surcharge rate, to additionally include costs it expects to incur, consistent with the plan and timeline, to plan, test, implement, and operate Next Gen 911 technology and services, including text to 911 services. 3)Requires OES, at least one month before determining the surcharge rate, to prepare a summary of the calculation of the SB 1211 Page 2 proposed surcharge and make it available to the Legislature and the 911 Advisory Board, and on OES's Internet Web site. EXISTING LAW 1)Requires OES to administer the state's 911 emergency telephone system, including local dispatch centers known as Public Safety Answering Points (PSAP), with funds from a 911 customer surcharge on intrastate communication service. 2)Requires OES to determine annually, on or before October 1, a surcharge rate that it estimates will produce sufficient revenue to fund the current fiscal year's 911 costs. The surcharge cannot be greater than three-quarters of 1 percent nor less than one-half of 1 percent. 3)Establishes the State 9-1-1 Advisory Board to advise OES on various topics, including but not limited to OES policies, practices, and procedures; training; budget and funding; and proposed projects and studies. FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown COMMENTS : Purpose of the bill : According to the author, California's statewide 911 telephone system is on the cusp of a major upgrade to enable texting to 911 as a new additional option for requesting assistance in an emergency. Eventually, "Next Gen 911" infrastructure will enable real-time transmission of emergency-related data, photos, and video between the public and public safety agencies. Texting to 911 enhances public safety for persons with disabilities, in a hostage situation or home break-in when a voice call can be dangerous, and when network congestion from high usage during a crisis makes voice connections unavailable or slow. SB 1211 establishes a transparent process for adjusting the customer fee that funds the 911 system. It also requires coordinated planning of 911 upgrades, and shared infrastructure where feasible, with other public safety communications networks deployed in California with state and federal funds. Current 911 system : California's existing 911 system was established pursuant to the Warren 911 Emergency Assistance Act SB 1211 Page 3 of 1976 and includes 458 PSAPs. A PSAP is a call center that is responsible for answering calls to an emergency telephone number for police, firefighting, and ambulance services. The PSAPs in California receive about 25 million 911 voice calls per year, 75 percent of which are from wireless devices. These calls are dispatched to local first responders including police, ambulance, fire, medical and other emergency service providers. The Public Safety Communications Office within OES administers the state 911 system. In 2013, this office was transferred from the California Technology Agency (CTA) to OES as part of the 2013-14 Budget Act. The 911 program costs are paid from the State Emergency Telephone Number Account (SETNA) funds, which are derived from a statewide 911 surcharge on telephone customer bills. OES is required to determine the surcharge rate annually up to a statutory maximum of 0.75 percent of intrastate service charges. The SETNA has been in a structural deficit for years, with annual surcharge revenue declining from about $133 million in 2005-06 to about $80 million in 2012-13. The rate was set at 0.50 percent from 2007 through 2013, but in October OES increased the surcharge to 0.75 percent effective January 1, 2014, with projected total revenue of $108 million for 2014-15. Next Gen 911 : Next Gen 911 refers to an Internet Protocol (IP)-based, two-way communications system that will enable real-time transmission of emergency-related voice, text, data, photos, and video between the public and public safety agencies. Next Gen 911 will build upon, and eventually replace, the existing 911 voice system that operates on the legacy switched telephone network. Implementing Next Gen 911 will require substantial funding for PSAP upgrades to an IP-based platform. A "Rough Order Magnitude Cost Estimate" reported in 2013 was $885 million for total hardware and software costs to deploy conceptual Next Gen 911 design while also running the existing 911 system. OES states that this is an estimated $375 million additional investment over five years on top of the $510 million to operate the existing system over that same five years. No later than May 15, 2014, the four major wireless carriers - AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, and T-Mobile - will offer all subscribers the ability to text to 911, pursuant to a voluntary commitment to the FCC. A proposed FCC rule would require all wireless and Internet-based text providers to offer text-to-911 capability by December 31, 2014. Short Message Service (SMS) texting SB 1211 Page 4 technology is an acceptable interim solution prior to full deployment of Next Gen 911 infrastructure. While a voice call to 911 is still preferred, text to 911 offers public safety advantages for persons with disabilities, in a hostage situation or home break-in when a voice call can be dangerous, and when network congestion from high usage during a crisis makes voice connections unavailable or slow. But despite these 2014 carrier obligations, text to 911 will not be fully operational until PSAPs are "technically ready" and authorized by a state or local 911 agency to receive 911 text messages. To date, OES has not specified plans to fund PSAP upgrades to receive texts, but reports that it is conducting pilots to verify the operation of each form of text to provide the PSAPs with a basis to determine which, if any, form of text they want to receive. (OES also reports that all PSAPs currently have the ability to receive SMS to teletype texts, devices used by the hearing-impaired.) In the meantime, carriers currently are required to send a "bounce-back" auto-reply message to alert subscribers who attempt to text to 911 that the service is not available and that they should place a voice call instead. Arguments in support : The California Ambulance Association writes in support of the bill stating that efficient, effective emergency dispatch is essential to ensuring that our communities receive the highest quality emergency medical response. Next Gen 911 will enable the public to make voice, text, or video emergency requests for assistance from any communications device. Additionally, public safety answering points will be able to receive emergency data from personal safety devices such as automatic collision notification systems and medical alert systems. The American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO, states that this bill would significantly improve the safety of Californians by integrating new emergency response technologies, such as the Next Gen 911 emergency communication system. Improvements would include a text to 911 service which would greatly enhance the efficiency of emergency responders. Double-referral : SB 1211 was previously heard in the Assembly Utilities and Commerce Committee where it successfully passed with a vote of 14 to 0. SB 1211 Page 5 REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION : Support American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO AT&T California Ambulance Association California Chapter of the National Emergency Number Association California Communications Association California's Independent Telecommunications Companies California Police Chiefs Association Frontier Communications Office of Ratepayer Advocates SPRINT The Utility Reform Network Opposition None on file Analysis Prepared by : Felipe Lopez / G. O. / (916) 319-2531