106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 800

AN ACT

To promote and enhance public safety through use of 9–

1–1 as the universal emergency assistance number, further deployment of wireless 9–1–1 service, support of

States in upgrading 9–1–1 capabilities and related functions, encouragement of construction and operation of

seamless, ubiquitous, and reliable networks for personal

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 ‘‘Wireless Communica5 tions and Public Safety Act of 1999’’.
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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.

2 (a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds that—

3 (1) the establishment and maintenance of an

4 end-to-end communications infrastructure among

5 members of the public, emergency safety, fire service

6 and law enforcement officials, emergency dispatch

7 providers, transportation officials, and hospital

8 emergency and trauma care facilities will reduce re9 sponse times for the delivery of emergency care, as10 sist in delivering appropriate care, and thereby pre11 vent fatalities, substantially reduce the severity and

12 extent of injuries, reduce time lost from work, and

13 save thousands of lives and billions of dollars in

14 health care costs;

15 (2) the rapid, efficient deployment of emergency

16 telecommunications service requires statewide coordi17 nation of the efforts of local public safety, fire serv18 ice and law enforcement officials, emergency dis19 patch providers, and transportation officials; the es20 tablishment of sources of adequate funding for car21 rier and public safety, fire service and law enforce22 ment agency technology development and deploy23 ment; the coordination and integration of emergency

24 communications with traffic control and manage25 ment systems and the designation of 9–1–1 as the
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1 number to call in emergencies throughout the Na2 tion;

3 (3) emerging technologies can be a critical com4 ponent of the end-to-end communications infrastruc5 ture connecting the public with emergency medical

6 service providers and emergency dispatch providers,

7 public safety, fire service and law enforcement offi8 cials, and hospital emergency and trauma care facili9 ties, to reduce emergency response times and provide

10 appropriate care;

11 (4) improved public safety remains an impor12 tant public health objective of Federal, State, and

13 local governments and substantially facilitates inter14 state and foreign commerce;

15 (5) emergency care systems, particularly in

16 rural areas of the Nation, will improve with the ena17 bling of prompt notification of emergency services

18 when motor vehicle crashes occur; and

19 (6) the construction and operation of seamless,

20 ubiquitous, and reliable wireless telecommunications

21 systems promote public safety and provide imme22 diate and critical communications links among mem23 bers of the public; emergency medical service pro24 viders and emergency dispatch providers; public

25 safety, fire service and law enforcement officials;
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1 transportation officials, and hospital emergency and

2 trauma care facilities.

3 (b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to encour4 age and facilitate the prompt deployment throughout the

5 United States of a seamless, ubiquitous, and reliable end6 to-end infrastructure for communications, including wire7 less communications, to meet the Nation’s public safety

8 and other communications needs.

9 SEC. 3. UNIVERSAL EMERGENCY TELEPHONE NUMBER.

10 (a) ESTABLISHMENT OF UNIVERSAL EMERGENCY

11 TELEPHONE NUMBER.—Section 251(e) of the Commu12 nications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 251(e)) is amended by

13 adding at the end the following new paragraph:

14 ‘‘(3) UNIVERSAL EMERGENCY TELEPHONE

15 NUMBER.—The Commission and any agency or enti16 ty to which the Commission has delegated authority

17 under this subsection shall designate 9–1–1 as the

18 universal emergency telephone number within the

19 United States for reporting an emergency to appro20 priate authorities and requesting assistance. The

21 designation shall apply to both wireline and wireless

22 telephone service. In making the designation, the

23 Commission (and any such agency or entity) shall

24 provide appropriate transition periods for areas in

25 which 9–1–1 is not in use as an emergency tele-
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1 phone number on the date of enactment of the Wire2 less Communications and Public Safety Act of

3 1999.’’.

4 (b) SUPPORT.—The Federal Communications Com5 mission shall encourage and support efforts by States to

6 deploy comprehensive end-to-end emergency communica7 tions infrastructure and programs, based on coordinated

8 statewide plans, including seamless, ubiquitous, reliable

9 wireless telecommunications networks and enhanced wire10 less 9–1–1 service. In encouraging and supporting that de11 ployment, the Commission shall consult and cooperate

12 with State and local officials responsible for emergency

13 services and public safety, the telecommunications indus14 try (specifically including the cellular and other wireless

15 telecommunications service providers), the motor vehicle

16 manufacturing industry, emergency medical service pro17 viders and emergency dispatch providers, transportation

18 officials, special 9–1–1 districts, public safety, fire service

19 and law enforcement officials, consumer groups, and hos20 pital emergency and trauma care personnel (including

21 emergency physicians, trauma surgeons, and nurses). The

22 Commission shall encourage each State to develop and im23 plement coordinated statewide deployment plans, through

24 an entity designated by the governor, and to include rep25 resentatives of the foregoing organizations and entities in
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1 development and implementation of such plans. Nothing

2 in this subsection shall be construed to authorize or re3 quire the Commission to impose obligations or costs on

4 any person.

5 SEC. 4. PARITY OF PROTECTION FOR PROVISION OR USE

6 OF WIRELESS SERVICE.

7 (a) PROVIDER PARITY.—A wireless carrier, and its

8 officers, directors, employees, vendors, and agents, shall

9 have immunity or other protection from liability in a State

10 of a scope and extent that is not less than the scope and

11 extent of immunity or other protection from liability that

12 any local exchange company, and its officers, directors,

13 employees, vendors, or agents, have under Federal and

14 State law (whether through statute, judicial decision, tar15 iffs filed by such local exchange company, or otherwise)

16 applicable in such State, including in connection with an

17 act or omission involving the release to a PSAP, emer18 gency medical service provider or emergency dispatch pro19 vider, public safety, fire service or law enforcement official,

20 or hospital emergency or trauma care facility of subscriber

21 information related to emergency calls or emergency serv22 ices.

23 (b) USER PARITY.—A person using wireless 9–1–1

24 service shall have immunity or other protection from liabil25 ity of a scope and extent that is not less than the scope
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1 and extent of immunity or other protection from liability

2 under applicable law in similar circumstances of a person

3 using 9–1–1 service that is not wireless.

4 (c) PSAP PARITY.—In matters related to wireless 9–

5 1–1 communications, a PSAP, and its employees, vendors,

6 agents, and authorizing government entity (if any) shall

7 have immunity or other protection from liability of a scope

8 and extent that is not less than the scope and extent of

9 immunity or other protection from liability under applica10 ble law accorded to such PSAP, employees, vendors,

11 agents, and authorizing government entity, respectively, in

12 matters related to 9–1–1 communications that are not

13 wireless.

14 (d) BASIS FOR ENACTMENT.—This section is enacted

15 as an exercise of the enforcement power of the Congress

16 under section 5 of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Con17 stitution and the power of the Congress to regulate com18 merce with foreign nations, among the several States, and

19 with Indian tribes.

20 SEC. 5. AUTHORITY TO PROVIDE CUSTOMER INFORMA21 TION.

22 Section 222 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47

23 U.S.C. 222) is amended—

24 (1) in subsection (d)—
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1 (A) by striking ‘‘or’’ at the end of para2 graph (2);

3 (B) by striking the period at the end of

4 paragraph (3) and inserting a semicolon and

5 ‘‘and’’; and

6 (C) by adding at the end the following:

7 ‘‘(4) to provide call location information con8 cerning the user of a commercial mobile service (as

9 such term is defined in section 332(d))—

10 ‘‘(A) to a public safety answering point,

11 emergency medical service provider or emer12 gency dispatch provider, public safety, fire serv13 ice, or law enforcement official, or hospital

14 emergency or trauma care facility, in order to

15 respond to the user’s call for emergency serv16 ices;

17 ‘‘(B) to inform the user’s legal guardian or

18 members of the user’s immediate family of the

19 user’s location in an emergency situation that

20 involves the risk of death or serious physical

21 harm; or

22 ‘‘(C) to providers of information or data23 base management services solely for purposes of

24 assisting in the delivery of emergency services

25 in response to an emergency.’’.
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1 (2) by redesignating subsection (f) as sub2 section (h) and by inserting the following after sub3 section (e):

4 ‘‘(f) AUTHORITY TO USE WIRELESS LOCATION IN5 FORMATION.—For purposes of subsection (c)(1), without

6 the express prior authorization of the customer, a cus7 tomer shall not be considered to have approved the use

8 or disclosure of or access to—

9 ‘‘(1) call location information concerning the

10 user of a commercial mobile service (as such term is

11 defined in section 332(d)), other than in accordance

12 with subsection (d)(4); or

13 ‘‘(2) automatic crash notification information to

14 any person other than for use in the operation of an

15 automatic crash notification system.

16 ‘‘(g) SUBSCRIBER LISTED AND UNLISTED INFORMA17 TION FOR EMERGENCY SERVICES.—Notwithstanding sub18 sections (b), (c), and (d), a telecommunications carrier

19 that provides telephone exchange service shall provide in20 formation described in subsection (i)(3)(A) (including in21 formation pertaining to subscribers whose information is

22 unlisted or unpublished) that is in its possession or control

23 (including information pertaining to subscribers of other

24 carriers) on a timely and unbundled basis, under non25 discriminatory and reasonable rates, terms, and conditions
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1 to providers of emergency services, and providers of emer2 gency support services, solely for purposes of delivering

3 or assisting in the delivery of emergency services.’’;

4 (3) by inserting ‘‘location,’’ after ‘‘destination,’’

5 in subsection (h)(1)(A) (as redesignated by para6 graph (2)); and

7 (4) by adding at the end of subsection (h) (as

8 redesignated), the following:

9 ‘‘(4) PUBLIC SAFETY ANSWERING POINT.—The

10 term ‘public safety answering point’ means a facility

11 that has been designated to receive emergency calls

12 and route them to emergency service personnel.

13 ‘‘(5) EMERGENCY SERVICES.—The term ‘emer14 gency services’ means 9–1–1 emergency services and

15 emergency notification services.

16 ‘‘(6) EMERGENCY NOTIFICATION SERVICES.—

17 The term ‘emergency notification services’ means

18 services that notify the public of an emergency.

19 ‘‘(7) EMERGENCY SUPPORT SERVICES.—The

20 term ‘emergency support services’ means informa21 tion or data base management services used in sup22 port of emergency services.’’.

23 SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS.

24 As used in this Act:
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1 (1) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means

2 the Secretary of Transportation.

3 (2) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means any of

4 the several States, the District of Columbia, or any

5 territory or possession of the United States.

6 (3) PUBLIC SAFETY ANSWERING POINT;

7 PSAP.—The term ‘‘public safety answering point’’ or

8 ‘‘PSAP’’ means a facility that has been designated

9 to receive 9–1–1 calls and route them to emergency

10 service personnel.

11 (4) WIRELESS CARRIER.—The term ‘‘wireless

12 carrier’’ means a provider of commercial mobile

13 services or any other radio communications service

14 that the Federal Communications Commission re15 quires to provide wireless 9–1–1 service.

16 (5) ENHANCED WIRELESS 9–1–1 SERVICE.—The

17 term ‘‘enhanced wireless 9–1–1 service’’ means any

18 enhanced 9–1–1 service so designated by the Federal

19 Communications Commission in the proceeding enti20 tled ‘‘Revision of the Commission’s Rules to Ensure

21 Compatibility with Enhanced 9–1–1 Emergency

22 Calling Systems’’ (CC Docket No. 94–102; RM–

23 8143), or any successor proceeding.

24 (6) WIRELESS 9–1–1 SERVICE.—The term

25 ‘‘wireless 9–1–1 service’’ means any 9–1–1 service
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1 provided by a wireless carrier, including enhanced

2 wireless 9–1–1 service.

3 (7) EMERGENCY DISPATCH PROVIDERS.—The

4 term ‘‘emergency dispatch providers’’ shall include

5 governmental and nongovernmental providers of

6 emergency dispatch services.

Passed the Senate August 5, 1999.

Attest:

Secretary.
106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 800

AN ACT

To promote and enhance public safety through use

less services, and for other purposes.uitous, and reliable networks for personal wireof construction and operation of seamless, ubiqpabilities and related functions, encouragementservice, support of States in upgrading 9–1–1 canumber, further deployment of wireless 9–1–1of 9–1–1 as the universal emergency assistance