WASHINGTON, DC - Communications and Technology Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR), Communications and Technology Subcommittee Ranking Member Anna Eshoo (D-CA), and committee member Rep. John Shimkus (R-IL), today sent a letter to National Telecommunications and Information Administration Administrator Lawrence Strickling and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Administrator Mark Rosekind. The members write requesting an explanation as to why the agencies have failed to satisfy their requirements under the Next Generation 911 Advancement Act of 2012.
“Intended to improve coordination and communications between Federal, State, and local emergency systems with respect to 911 services, the law also provides for matching grant funding to transition the Nation from today’s analog 911 to a Next Generation 911 (NG911) system that uses Internet protocol based technology," write Walden, Eshoo, and Shimkus. “To that end, the law directed the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to issue regulations prescribing the criteria for the selection for the grant program… and imposed an annual reporting obligation on NTIA and NHTSA to keep Congress informed of progress in implementing the law’s provisions. To date, these directives have not been satisfied."
The leaders continued, “The importance of an effective and robust 911 system and the modernization of that system through the transition to NG911, cannot be understated. …
To help us better understand why, notwithstanding Congress’s clear intent for quick action to promulgate regulations providing needed guidance for potential program grantees and the obligation to keep us informed through the submission of an annual report, we request you provide, no later than Oct. 11, 2016, an explanation for the failure to satisfy the requirements of the Next Generation 911 Advancement Act of 2012."
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* Letter to NTIA Administrator Lawrence Strickling and NHTSA Administrator Mark Rosekind
