Texas Administrative Code › Title 1 - ADMINISTRATION › Part 12 - COMMISSION ON STATE EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS › Chapter 251 - 9-1-1 SERVICE-STANDARDS › Section 251.16 - Direct Access to 9-1-1 Service

Current through Reg. 49, No. 28; July 12, 2024
(a)
				Purpose. The purpose of this rule is to facilitate the implementation of Texas
				Health and Safety Code Chapter 771A ("Kari's Law") requiring telephone systems
				that provide outbound dialing capacity to be configured to provide direct
				access to 9-1-1 service and, in instances where no hardware changes are
				necessary, to provide notification of a 9-1-1 call to a central location on the
				site of the residential or business facility from which a 9-1-1 call is made
				using a telephone system.
(b)
				Definitions. For the purposes of this rule:
(1) "9-1-1 service" means a communications
				service that connects users to a public safety answering point through a 9-1-1
				system.
(2) "Additional location"
				means an optional location, other than a central location, that receives
				notification of a 9-1-1 call that should be staffed 24x7 with personnel that
				can assist emergency first responders in accessing the residential or business
				facility from which a 9-1-1 call is made and determining the location of the
				9-1-1 call, e.g., Campus Police, Security Office.
(3) "Business service" means a
				telecommunications or communications service provided a customer where the use
				is primarily of a business, professional, institutional, or otherwise
				occupational nature.
(4) "Business
				service user" means a user of business service that provides telecommunications
				or communications service, including 9-1-1 service, to end users through a
				publicly or privately owned or controlled telephone switch. Business service
				user includes a "governmental body" as defined in §
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				552.003, Government Code, including an
				institution of higher education.
(5) "Central location" means a designated
				location on the site of a residential or business facility from which a 9-1-1
				call is made that receives notification of the 9-1-1 call. A central location
				is not required to have a person available at the location to receive or
				respond to the notification.
(6)
				"Commission" means the Commission on State Emergency Communications.
(7) "Internet Protocol enabled service" or
				"IP" has the meaning assigned by §
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				51.002, Texas Utilities Code.
(8) "Local exchange access line" or
				"Equivalent local exchange access line" has the meaning assigned in Commission
				Rule 255.4 (Title 1, Part 12 Texas Admin. Code, §
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				255.4).
(9) "Notification" refers to a telephone
				system feature that can send notice to a central location and optional
				additional location that a 9-1-1 call has been made. Common notifications
				include "screen pops" with audible alarms for security desk computers using a
				client application, text messages for smartphones, and email for
				administrators. Where feasible, notification should provide the telephone
				number or extension and location information of the telephone system handset
				from which the 9-1-1 call is made.
(10) "Telephone switch" refers to the
				function of switching inbound and outbound calls in order to allow multiple
				end-users to share a defined number of local exchange access lines or
				equivalent local exchange access line.
(11) "Telephone system" refers to a legacy
				system, or equivalent system using Internet Protocol enabled service, comprised
				of common control units, interconnected telephone or handsets, control hardware
				and software, and adjunct systems that allow for advanced features such as call
				handling and transferring, conference calling, call metering and accounting,
				private and shared voice message boxes, direct inward/outward dialing. A
				telephone system, commonly referred to as a "multi-line telephone system" or
				MLTS, includes network and premises based systems such as Centrex and VoIP, as
				well as private branch exchange (PBX), Hybrid, and Key Telephone Systems (as
				classified by the Federal Communications Commission under Part 68 of Title 47,
				Code of Federal Regulations) and includes systems used, owned, or leased by
				governmental agencies and political subdivisions, for-profit businesses, and
				non-profit entities.
(12) Any term
				not expressly defined in this rule, has the meaning assigned in Commission Rule
				RSA 252.7,
				Definitions.