II 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 428 

To amend the Wireless Communications and Public Safety Act of 1999, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 30, 2007 

Mr. NELSON of Florida (for himself, Ms. SNOWE, and Mrs. CLINTON) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

To amend the Wireless Communications and Public Safety 

Act of 1999, 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 ‘‘IP-Enabled Voice 

5 Communications and Public Safety Act of 2007’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DUTY TO PROVIDE 911 AND E–911 SERVICE. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Wireless Communications 

8 and Public Safety Act of 1999 (47 U.S.C. 615 et seq.) 

9 is amended by adding at the end the following: 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 7. IP-ENABLED VOICE SERVICE PROVIDERS. 

2 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—It shall be the duty of every IP3 enabled voice service provider engaged in interstate or for4 eign communication to provide 9–1–1 service, including 

5 enhanced 9–1–1 service, to its subscribers in accordance 

6 with the orders of the Commission. 

7 ‘‘(b) ACCESS TO 911 COMPONENTS.— 

8 ‘‘(1) REGULATIONS.—Within 90 days after the 

9 date of enactment of the IP-Enabled Voice Commu10 nications and Public Safety Act of 2007, the Com11 mission shall issue regulations granting IP-enabled 

12 voice service providers rights of access to 911 com13 ponents that are comparable to the rights of access 

14 to 911 components granted to commercial mobile 

15 service providers. In promulgating the regulations, 

16 the Commission shall take into account any technical 

17 or network security issues that are specific to IP-en18 abled voice services. 

19 ‘‘(2) DELEGATION OF ENFORCEMENT TO STATE

20 COMMISSIONS.—The Commission may delegate au21 thority to enforce the regulations issued under para22 graph (1) to State commissions or other State agen23 cies or programs with jurisdiction over emergency 

24 communications. 

25 ‘‘(c) SAVINGS CLAUSE.—Nothing in the IP-Enabled 

26 Voice Communications and Public Safety Act of 2007 


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1 shall be construed as repealing or otherwise altering, 

2 modifying, affecting, or superseding Federal regulations 

3 obligating an IP-enabled voice service provider to provide 

4 9–1–1 service or enhanced 9–1–1 service.’’. 

5 (b) DEFINITIONS.—Section 6 of the Wireless Com6 munications and Public Safety Act of 1999 (47 U.S.C. 

7 615b) is amended by adding at the end thereof the fol8 lowing: 

9 ‘‘(8) IP-ENABLED VOICE SERVICE.—The term 

10 ‘IP-enabled voice service’ means a service that— 

11 ‘‘(A) enables real-time, 2-way voice com12 munications; 

13 ‘‘(B) requires a broadband connection from 

14 the user’s location; 

15 ‘‘(C) requires Internet protocol-compatible 

16 customer premises equipment; and 

17 ‘‘(D) permits users generally to receive 

18 calls that originate on the public switched tele19 phone networks and to terminate calls to the 

20 public switched telephone network. 

21 ‘‘(9) IP-ENABLED 9–1–1 SERVICE.—The term 

22 ‘IP-enabled 9–1–1 service’ means any 9–1–1 service 

23 provided by an IP-enabled voice service provider, in24 cluding enhanced IP-enabled 9–1–1 service. 


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1 ‘‘(10) ENHANCED IP-ENABLED 9–1–1 SERV2 ICE.—The term ‘enhanced IP-enabled 9–1–1 service’ 

3 means any enhanced 9–1–1 service so designated by 

4 the Federal Communications Commission in its Re5 port and Order in WC Docket Nos. 04–36 and 05– 

6 196, or any successor proceeding. 

7 ‘‘(11) 911 COMPONENT.—The term ‘911 com8 ponent’ means any equipment, network, databases 

9 (including automatic location information databases 

10 and master street address guides), interface, selec11 tive router, trunkline, or other related facility nec12 essary for the delivery and completion of 911 or E– 

13 911 calls and information related to such calls to 

14 which the Commission requires access pursuant to 

15 its rules and regulations.’’. 

16 SEC. 3. PARITY OF PROTECTION FOR PROVISION OR USE 

17 OF IP-ENABLED VOICE SERVICE. 

18 Section 4 of the Wireless Communications and Public 

19 Safety Act of 1999 (47 U.S.C. 615a) is amended— 

20 (1) by striking ‘‘carrier,’’ in subsection (a) and 

21 inserting ‘‘carrier or an IP-enabled voice service pro22 vider,’’; 

23 (2) by striking ‘‘its’’ the first place it appears 

24 in subsection (a) and inserting ‘‘their’’; 


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1 (3) by striking ‘‘service shall’’ in subsection (b) 

2 and inserting ‘‘service, or IP-enabled voice service, 

3 shall’’; 

4 (4) by striking ‘‘wireless.’’ in subsection (b) and 

5 inserting ‘‘wireless or IP-enabled.’’; 

6 (5) by striking ‘‘communications,’’ in subsection 

7 (c) and inserting ‘‘communications or IP-enabled 

8 voice service communications,’’; and 

9 (6) by striking ‘‘wireless.’’ in subsection (c) and 

10 inserting ‘‘wireless or IP-enabled.’’. 

11 SEC. 4. STATE AUTHORITY OVER FEES. 

12 Nothing in this Act, the Communications Act of 1934 

13 (47 U.S.C. 151 et seq.), the Wireless Communications and 

14 Public Safety Act of 1999 (47 U.S.C. 615a), or any Fed15 eral Communications Commission regulation or order shall 

16 prevent the imposition on, or collection from, a provider 

17 of IP-enabled voice services of any fee or charge specifi18 cally designated by a State, political subdivision thereof, 

19 or Indian tribe for the support of 911 or E–911 services 

20 if that fee or charge— 

21 (1) does not exceed the amount of any such fee 

22 or charge imposed on or collected from a provider of 

23 telecommunications services; and 

24 (2) is obligated or expended in support of 911 

25 and E–911 services, or enhancements of such servVerDate Aug 31 2005 22:16 Jan 31, 2007 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S428.IS S428

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1 ices, or other emergency communications services as 

2 specified in the provision of State or local law adopt3 ing the fee or charge. 

4 SEC. 5. MIGRATION TO IP-ENABLED EMERGENCY NET5 WORK. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 158 of the National Tele7 communications and Information Administration Organi8 zation Act (47 U.S.C. 942) is amended— 

9 (1) by redesignating subsections (d) and (e) as 

10 subsections (e) and (f), respectively; 

11 (2) by inserting after subsection (c) the fol12 lowing: 

13 ‘‘(d) MIGRATION PLAN REQUIRED.— 

14 ‘‘(1) NATIONAL PLAN REQUIRED.—No more 

15 than 180 days after the date of the enactment of the 

16 IP-Enabled Voice Communications and Public Safe17 ty Act of 2007, the Office shall develop and report 

18 to Congress on a national plan for migrating to a 

19 national IP-enabled emergency network capable of 

20 receiving and responding to all citizen activated 

21 emergency communications and improving informa22 tion sharing among all emergency response entities. 

23 ‘‘(2) CONTENTS OF PLAN.—The plan required 

24 by paragraph (1) shall— 


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1 ‘‘(A) outline the potential benefits of such 

2 a migration; 

3 ‘‘(B) identify barriers that must be over4 come and funding mechanisms to address those 

5 barriers; 

6 ‘‘(C) include a proposed timetable, an out7 line of costs and potential savings; 

8 ‘‘(D) provide specific legislative language, 

9 if necessary, for achieving the plan; 

10 ‘‘(E) provide recommendations on any leg11 islative changes, including updating definitions, 

12 to facilitate a national IP-enabled emergency 

13 network; 

14 ‘‘(F) assess, collect, and analyze the expe15 riences of the PSAPs and related public safety 

16 authorities who are conducting trial deploy17 ments of IP-enabled emergency networks as of 

18 the date of enactment of the IP-Enabled Voice 

19 Communications and Public Safety Act of 

20 2007; and 

21 ‘‘(G) document solutions that a national 

22 IP-enabled emergency network will provide for 

23 9–1–1 access to those with disabilities. 

24 ‘‘(3) CONSULTATION.—In developing the plan 

25 required by paragraph (1), the Office shall consult 


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1 with representatives of the public safety community, 

2 groups representing those with disabilities, tech3 nology and telecommunications providers, and others 

4 it deems appropriate.’’; and 

5 (3) by striking ‘‘services.’’ in subsection (b)(1) 

6 and inserting ‘‘services, and, upon completion of de7 velopment of the national plan for migrating to a 

8 national IP-enabled emergency network under sub9 section (d), for migration to an IP-enabled emer10 gency network.’’. 

11 (b) AVAILABILITY OF PSAP INFORMATION.—The 

12 Federal Communications Commission may compile a list 

13 of public safety answering point contact information, test14 ing procedures, and classes and types of services sup15 ported by public safety answering points, or other infor16 mation concerning necessary 911 components, for the pur17 pose of assisting providers in complying with this section, 

18 and may make any portion of such information available 

19 to the public if such availability would improve public safe20 ty. 

Æ 


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