I 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2898

To improve homeland security, public safety, and citizen activated emergency 

response capabilities through the use of enhanced 911 wireless services, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 25, 2003

Mr. SHIMKUS (for himself, Ms. ESHOO, Mr. UPTON, Mr. MARKEY, Mr. DINGELL, Mr. TERRY, Mr. TOWNS, Mr. PICKERING, Mr. GILLMOR, Mrs. 

BONO, Mr. WHITFIELD, Ms. SLAUGHTER, Mr. GREEN of Texas, Mr. 

MCHUGH, Mr. HASTINGS of Florida, Mr. KIND, Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts, Mr. WYNN, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. FROST, Mr. RUPPERSBERGER, 

Mr. GORDON, Mr. ENGEL, Mr. PETERSON of Pennsylvania, and Mr. STUPAK) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL

To improve homeland security, public safety, and citizen 

activated emergency response capabilities through the use 

of enhanced 911 wireless services, and for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘E–911 Implementation 

5 Act of 2003’’. 
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1 SEC. 2. COORDINATION OF E–911 IMPLEMENTATION . 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Part C of title I of the National 

3 Telecommunications and Information Administration Or4 ganization Act (47 U.S.C. 901 et seq.) is amended by add5 ing at the end the following: 

6 ‘‘SEC. 158. COORDINATION OF E–911 IMPLEMENTATION. 

7 ‘‘(a) E–911 IMPLEMENTATION COORDINATION OF8 FICE.—

9 ‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Assistant Sec10 retary shall establish an E–911 Implementation Co11 ordination Office to facilitate coordination and com12 munication between Federal, State, and local emer13 gency communications systems, emergency per14 sonnel, public safety organizations, telecommuni15 cations carriers, and telecommunications equipment 

16 manufacturers and vendors involved in the imple17 mentation of E–911 services. 

18 ‘‘(2) PURPOSE OF OFFICE.—The Office shall—

19 ‘‘(A) take actions, in concert with coordi20 nators designated in accordance with subsection 

21 (b)(3)(A)(ii), to improve such coordination and 

22 communication; 

23 ‘‘(B) develop, collect, and disseminate in24 formation concerning practices, procedures, and 

25 technology used in the implementation of E–

26 911 services; 
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1 ‘‘(C) advise and assist eligible entities in 

2 the preparation of implementation plans re3 quired under subsection (b)(3)(A)(iii); 

4 ‘‘(D) receive, review, and recommend the 

5 approval or disapproval of applications for 

6 grants under subsection (b); and 

7 ‘‘(E) oversee the use of funds provided by 

8 such grants in fulfilling such implementation 

9 plans. 

10 ‘‘(3) REPORTS.—The Assistant Secretary shall 

11 provide an annual report to Congress by the first 

12 day of October of each year on the activities of the 

13 Office to improve coordination and communication 

14 with respect to the implementation of E–911 serv15 ices. 

16 ‘‘(b) PHASE II E–911 IMPLEMENTATION GRANTS.—

17 ‘‘(1) MATCHING GRANTS.—The Assistant Sec18 retary, after consultation with the Secretary of 

19 Homeland Security and acting through the Office, 

20 shall provide grants to eligible entities for the imple21 mentation of phase II E–911 services through plan22 ning, infrastructure improvements, telecommuni23 cations equipment purchases, and personnel train24 ing. 
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1 ‘‘(2) MATCHING REQUIREMENT.—The Federal 

2 share of the cost of a project eligible for a grant 

3 under this section shall not exceed 50 percent. The 

4 non-Federal share of the cost shall be provided from 

5 non-Federal sources. 

6 ‘‘(3) COORDINATION REQUIRED.—In providing 

7 grants under paragraph (1), the Assistant Secretary 

8 shall require an eligible entity to certify in its appli9 cation that—

10 ‘‘(A) in the case of an eligible entity that 

11 is a State government, the entity—

12 ‘‘(i) has coordinated its application 

13 with the public safety answering points (as 

14 such term is defined in section 222(h)(2) 

15 of the Communications Act of 1934) lo16 cated within the jurisdiction of such entity; 

17 ‘‘(ii) has designated a single officer or 

18 governmental body of the entity to serve as 

19 the coordinator of implementation of E–

20 911 services; 

21 ‘‘(iii) has established a plan for the 

22 coordination and implementation of E–911 

23 services; and 

24 ‘‘(iv) has integrated telecommuni25 cations services involved in the implemen-
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1 tation and delivery of phase II E–911 serv2 ices; or 

3 ‘‘(B) in the case of an eligible entity that 

4 is a local government, the entity has complied 

5 with clauses (i), (iii), and (iv) of subparagraph 

6 (A), and the State in which it is located has 

7 complied with clause (ii) of such subparagraph. 

8 ‘‘(4) CRITERIA.—The Assistant Secretary shall 

9 issue regulations within 180 days of the enactment 

10 of the E–911 Implementation Act of 2003, after a 

11 public comment period of not less than 60 days, pre12 scribing the criteria for selection for grants under 

13 this section, and shall update such regulations as 

14 necessary. 

15 ‘‘(c) AUTHORIZATION; TERMINATION.—

16 ‘‘(1) AUTHORIZATION.—There are authorized to 

17 be appropriated to the Department of Commerce not 

18 more than $100,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 

19 2004 through 2008 for grants under this section. 

20 ‘‘(2) TERMINATION.—The provisions of this 

21 section shall cease to be effective on October 1, 

22 2008. 

23 ‘‘(d) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section: 

24 ‘‘(1) OFFICE.—The term ‘Office’ means the E–

25 911 Implementation Coordination Office. 
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1 ‘‘(2) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘eligible en2 tity’ means State and local governments and tribal 

3 organizations (as defined in section 4(l) of the In4 dian Self-Determination and Education Assistance 

5 Act (25 U.S.C. 450b(l))), except that such term does 

6 not include any such State that has failed, or any 

7 local government from a State that has failed, to 

8 submit the most recently required annual certifi9 cation under section 715 of the Communications Act 

10 of 1934 within 30 days after the date on which such 

11 certification is due. 

12 ‘‘(3) E–911 SERVICES.—The term ‘E–911 serv13 ices’ means both phase I and phase II enhanced 911 

14 services, as described in section 20.18 of the Com15 mission’s regulations (47 C.F.R. 20.18), as in effect 

16 on the date of enactment of this section. 

17 ‘‘(4) PHASE II E–911 SERVICES.—The term 

18 ‘phase II E–911 services’ means only phase II en19 hanced 911 services, as described in such section 

20 20.18 (47 C.F.R. 20.18), as in effect on such date.’’. 

21 SEC. 3. STATE 911 FUNDING PRACTICES. 

22 (a) CERTIFICATION.—Title VII of the Communica23 tions Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 601 et seq.) is amended by 

24 adding at the end the following: 
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1 ‘‘SEC. 715. DIVERSION OF 911 FUNDS. 

2 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—

3 ‘‘(1) ASSESSMENT AND AUDIT.—The Commis4 sion shall review twice each year—

5 ‘‘(A) the imposition of taxes, fees, or other 

6 charges imposed by States that—

7 ‘‘(i) appear on telecommunications 

8 services customers’ bills; and 

9 ‘‘(ii) are designated or presented as 

10 dedicated to deliver or improve E–911 

11 services; and 

12 ‘‘(B) the use of revenues derived from such 

13 taxes, fees, or charges. 

14 ‘‘(2) CERTIFICATION.—Each State shall certify 

15 annually to the Commission that no portion of the 

16 revenues derived from such taxes, fees, or charges 

17 have been obligated or expended for any purpose 

18 other than the purposes for which such taxes, fees, 

19 or charges are designated or presented. 

20 ‘‘(b) NOTIFICATION OF CONGRESS AND THE PUB21 LIC.—If the Commission fails to receive any certification 

22 described in subsection (a)(2), then, within 30 days after 

23 the date on which such certification was due, the Commis24 sion shall cause to be published in the Federal Register, 

25 and notify the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 
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1 Transportation of the Senate and the Committee on En2 ergy and Commerce of the House of Representatives—

3 ‘‘(1) the identity of each State that failed to 

4 make the certification; and 

5 ‘‘(2) the amount of taxes, fees, or other charges 

6 described in subsection (a)(1)(A) imposed by that 

7 State that were expended for any purpose other than 

8 the purposes for which such taxes, fees, or charges 

9 were designated or presented. ’’. 

10 SEC. 4. REGULATION REVISION REQUIRED. 

11 Within 90 days after the date of enactment of this 

12 Act, the Federal Communications Commission shall revise 

13 section 20.18(j) of its regulations (47 C.F.R. 20.18(j)) to 

14 provide that a public safety answering point in any State 

15 shall not be considered to have a mechanism in place for 

16 recovering the public safety answering point’s cost of 

17 phase II enhanced 911 service for purposes of such section 

18 during any period that such State continues, after the 

19 30th day after the date on which the certification was due, 

20 to fail to make the certification required by section 

21 715(a)(2) of the Communications Act of 1934. 

22 SEC. 5. FCC REVIEW OF ACCURACY REQUIREMENTS IN 

23 RURAL AREAS. 

24 Within 180 days after the date of enactment of this 

25 Act, the Federal Communications Commission shall com-
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1 plete a proceeding to review the accuracy requirements es2 tablished under section 20.18(h) of its regulations (47 

3 C.F.R. 20.18(h) to determine whether alterations in such 

4 requirements are necessary to address the technological 

5 complexities related to compliance with such accuracy re6 quirements in rural areas.

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