108TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 2898

AN ACT

To improve homeland security, public safety, and

citizen activated emergency response capabilitiesthrough the use of enhanced 911 wireless services, and for other purposes.

108TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 2898

AN ACT

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,
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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

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

3 Act of 2003’’.

4 SEC. 2. COORDINATION OF E–911 IMPLEMENTATION.

5 Part C of title I of the National Telecommunications

6 and Information Administration Organization Act (47

7 U.S.C. 901 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the

8 following:

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

10 ‘‘(a) E–911 IMPLEMENTATION COORDINATION OF11 FICE.—

12 ‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Assistant Sec13 retary and the Administrator of the National High14 way Traffic Safety Administration shall—

15 ‘‘(A) establish a joint program to facilitate

16 coordination and communication between Fed17 eral, State, and local emergency communica18 tions systems, emergency personnel, public safe19 ty organizations, telecommunications carriers,

20 and telecommunications equipment manufactur21 ers and vendors involved in the implementation

22 of E–911 services; and

23 ‘‘(B) create an E-911 Implementation Co24 ordination Office to implement the provisions of

25 this section.
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1 ‘‘(2) MANAGEMENT PLAN.—The Assistant Sec2 retary and the Administrator shall jointly develop a

3 management plan for the program established under

4 this section. Such plan shall include the organiza5 tional structure and funding profiles for the 5-year

6 duration of the program. The Assistant Secretary

7 and the Administrator shall, within 90 days after

8 the date of enactment of this Act, submit the man9 agement plan to the Committees on Energy and

10 Commerce and Appropriations of the House of Rep11 resentatives and the Committees on Commerce,

12 Science, and Transportation and Appropriations of

13 the Senate.

14 ‘‘(3) PURPOSE OF OFFICE.—The Office shall—

15 ‘‘(A) take actions, in concert with coordi16 nators designated in accordance with subsection

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

18 communication;

19 ‘‘(B) develop, collect, and disseminate in20 formation concerning practices, procedures, and

21 technology used in the implementation of E–

22 911 services;

23 ‘‘(C) advise and assist eligible entities in

24 the preparation of implementation plans re25 quired under subsection (b)(3)(A)(iii);
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1 ‘‘(D) receive, review, and recommend the

2 approval or disapproval of applications for

3 grants under subsection (b); and

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

5 such grants in fulfilling such implementation

6 plans.

7 ‘‘(4) REPORTS.—The Assistant Secretary and

8 the Administrator shall provide a joint annual report

9 to Congress by the first day of October of each year

10 on the activities of the Office to improve coordina11 tion and communication with respect to the imple12 mentation of E–911 services.

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

14 ‘‘(1) MATCHING GRANTS.—The Assistant Sec15 retary and the Administrator, after consultation with

16 the Secretary of Homeland Security and the Chair17 man of the Federal Communications Commission,

18 and acting through the Office, shall provide grants

19 to eligible entities for the implementation of phase II

20 E–911 services through planning, infrastructure im21 provements, telecommunications equipment pur22 chases, and personnel training.

23 ‘‘(2) MATCHING REQUIREMENT.—The Federal

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

25 under this section shall not exceed 50 percent. The
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1 non-Federal share of the cost shall be provided from

2 non-Federal sources.

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

4 grants under paragraph (1), the Assistant Secretary

5 and the Administrator shall require an eligible entity

6 to certify in its application that—

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

8 is a State government, the entity—

9 ‘‘(i) has coordinated its application

10 with the public safety answering points (as

11 such term is defined in section 222(h)(4)

12 of the Communications Act of 1934) lo13 cated within the jurisdiction of such entity;

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

15 governmental body of the entity to serve as

16 the coordinator of implementation of E–

17 911 services, except that such designation

18 need not vest such coordinator with direct

19 legal authority to implement E–911 serv20 ices or manage emergency communications

21 operations;

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

23 coordination and implementation of E–911

24 services; and
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1 ‘‘(iv) has integrated telecommuni2 cations services involved in the implemen3 tation and delivery of phase II E–911 serv4 ices; or

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

6 is not a State, the entity has complied with

7 clauses (i), (iii), and (iv) of subparagraph (A),

8 and the State in which it is located has com9 plied with clause (ii) of such subparagraph.

10 ‘‘(4) CRITERIA.—The Assistant Secretary and

11 the Administrator shall jointly issue regulations

12 within 180 days of the enactment of the E–911 Im13 plementation Act of 2003, after a public comment

14 period of not less than 60 days, prescribing the cri15 teria for selection for grants under this section, and

16 shall update such regulations as necessary.

17 ‘‘(c) DIVERSION OF E–911 CHARGES.—

18 ‘‘(1) DESIGNATED E–911 CHARGES.—For the

19 purposes of this subsection, the term ‘designated E–

20 911 charges’ means any taxes, fees, or other charges

21 imposed by a State or other taxing jurisdiction

22 that—

23 ‘‘(A) appear on telecommunications serv24 ices customers’ bills; and
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1 ‘‘(B) are designated or presented as dedi2 cated to deliver or improve E–911 services.

3 ‘‘(2) CERTIFICATION.—Each applicant for a

4 matching grant under this section shall certify to the

5 Assistant Secretary and the Administrator at the

6 time of application, and each applicant that receives

7 such a grant shall certify to the Assistant Secretary

8 and the Administrator annually thereafter during

9 any period of time during which the funds from the

10 grant are available to the applicant, that no portion

11 of any designated E–911 charges imposed by a

12 State or other taxing jurisdiction within which the

13 applicant is located are being obligated or expended

14 for any purpose other than the purposes for which

15 such charges are designated or presented.

16 ‘‘(3) CONDITION OF GRANT.—Each applicant

17 for a grant under this section shall agree, as a con18 dition of receipt of the grant, that if the State or

19 other taxing jurisdiction within which the applicant

20 is located, during any period of time during which

21 the funds from the grant are available to the appli22 cant, obligates or expends designated E–911 charges

23 for any purpose other than the purposes for which

24 such charges are designated or presented, all of the
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1 funds from such grant shall be returned to the Of2 fice.

3 ‘‘(4) PENALTY FOR PROVIDING FALSE INFOR4 MATION.—Any applicant that provides a certification

5 under paragraph (1) knowing that the information

6 provided in the certification was false shall—

7 ‘‘(A) not be eligible to receive the grant

8 under subsection (b);

9 ‘‘(B) return any grant awarded under sub10 section (b) during the time that the certification

11 was not valid; and

12 ‘‘(C) not be eligible to receive any subse13 quent grants under subsection (b).

14 ‘‘(d) AUTHORIZATION; TERMINATION.—

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

16 be appropriated to the Department of Transpor17 tation, for the purposes of grants under the joint

18 program operated under this section with the De19 partment of Commerce, not more than

20 $100,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2004

21 through 2008.

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

23 section shall cease to be effective on October 1,

24 2008.

25 ‘‘(e) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section:
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1 ‘‘(1) OFFICE.—The term ‘Office’ means the E–

2 911 Implementation Coordination Office.

3 ‘‘(2) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘Adminis4 trator’ means the Administrator of the National

5 Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

6 ‘‘(3) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—

7 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘eligible en8 tity’ means a State or local government or a

9 tribal organization (as defined in section 4(l) of

10 the Indian Self-Determination and Education

11 Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 450b(l))).

12 ‘‘(B) INSTRUMENTALITIES.—Such term in13 cludes public authorities, boards, commissions,

14 and similar bodies created by one or more eligi15 ble entities described in subparagraph (A) to

16 provide E–911 services.

17 ‘‘(C) EXCEPTION.—Such term does not in18 clude any entity that has failed to submit the

19 most recently required certification under sub20 section (c) within 30 days after the date on

21 which such certification is due.

22 ‘‘(4) E–911 SERVICES.—The term ‘E–911 serv23 ices’ means both phase I and phase II enhanced 911

24 services, as described in section 20.18 of the Com25 mission’s regulations (47 CFR 20.18), as in effect
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1 on the date of enactment of this section, or as subse2 quently revised by the Federal Communications

3 Commission.

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

5 ‘phase II E–911 services’ means only phase II en6 hanced 911 services, as described in such section

7 20.18 (47 CFR 20.18), as in effect on such date, or

8 as subsequently revised by the Federal Communica9 tions Commission.’’.

10 SEC. 3. REPORT ON THE DEPLOYMENT OF E–911 PHASE II

11 SERVICES BY TIER III SERVICE PROVIDERS.

12 Within 90 days after the date of enactment of this

13 Act, the Federal Communications Commission shall sub14 mit a report to the Committee on Energy and Commerce

15 of the House of Representatives and the Committee on

16 Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate

17 detailing—

18 (1) the number of tier III commercial mobile

19 service providers that are offering phase II E–911

20 services;

21 (2) the number of requests for waivers from

22 compliance with the Commission’s phase II E–911

23 service requirements received by the Commission

24 from such tier III providers;
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1 (3) the number of waivers granted or denied by

2 the Commission to such tier III providers;

3 (4) how long each waiver request remained

4 pending before it was granted or denied;

5 (5) how many waiver requests are pending at

6 the time of the filing of the report;

7 (6) when the pending requests will be granted

8 or denied;

9 (7) actions the Commission has taken to reduce

10 the amount of time a waiver request remains pend11 ing; and

12 (8) the technologies that are the most effective

13 in the deployment of phase II E–911 services by

14 such tier III providers.

Passed the House of Representatives November 4,

2003.

Attest:

Clerk.