Aaron Sanderford
LINCOLN — Multiple outages of 911 systems in Nebraska from cut lines and power failures prompt new legislation demanding faster deployment of next-generation upgrades and clearer accountability when service providers fall short.
Legislative Bills 1255 and 1256, offered by State Sens. John Fredrickson and Wendy DeBoer, both of Omaha, would accomplish both of those tasks. LB 1255 would accelerate the years-long transitioning of Nebraska to next-generation 911.
LB 1256 would require 911 outages to be reported to the Nebraska Public Service Commission and require a public hearing after major outages that explores the reasons behind troubles with a backbone of the state’s emergency response systems.
David Sankey, the PSC’s director of 911 oversight, did not immediately reply to messages Tuesday seeking comment on the bills. He has testified that merging old and new technologies during the transition to a more modern 911 system contributes to outages.
Risk to public safety
Both senators have said they are responding to months of scattered Nebraska 911 outages in August, September, November and most recently this month in southeast Nebraska. Telephone service providers have mostly blamed cable cuts.
In one instance, a severed water line damaged the power supply for Lincoln’s Windstream provider, killing power and eventually stressing and overcoming a backup generator. Critics of the 911 outages and response to them have said the risk to public safety is real.
Fredrickson’s bill would clarify that the PSC has regulatory authority over 911, new and old. It would set a six-month goal and a one-year deadline to finish the transition to data-rich 911, requiring companies to notify the state of any delays.
“One of the issues we saw in the outages was that the legacy and next-gen systems were not compatible for seamless redundancy,” Fredrickson said Tuesday. “Next-gen increases redundancy and resiliency.”
DeBoer’s bill would define a 911 outage as a “significant degradation in the ability of an end user to establish and maintain a channel of communications services as a result of failure or degradation in the performance” of a service network.
It would require service providers to file the same reports to the PSC that they file to the Federal Communications Commission on 911 outages. It gives the Public Service Commission 90 days from the first outage report being received to hold a public hearing.
Her goal, she said, is to shorten the time it takes the PSC to gather reliable information from the telecommunications companies so that regulators and state lawmakers can respond more quickly to system problems and outages.
PSC needs access
“The Public Service Commission is charged with looking into these,” DeBoer said. “They ought to have the information to look into these. We’re making sure they have the same access FCC has, because they’re the ones who have to take corrective action.”
But, she said, she wants to make sure Nebraskans know they can still trust the state’s 911 system. It is already “strong and resilient,” she said. DeBoer said she and Fredrickson want to make it “stronger and more resilient.”
Other bills of note:
- Bills were introduced on behalf of Gov. Jim Pillen seeking to strengthen existing laws prohibiting foreign persons or foreign-owned companies from owning agricultural land in Nebraska and requesting a study of what impact a conflict in the Pacific between China and the U.S. would have on state supply chains.
- A proposal by Elmwood Sen. Rob Clements would devote $1.5 million in cash reserve funds toward development of a planned visitors center and museum on the fifth floor of the State Capitol Rotunda. The space has gone unused in recent years.
- LB 1218 from Lincoln Sen. Eliot Bostar would impose an excise tax of 3 cents per kilowatt hour on the electricity dispensed at a commercial electric vehicle charging station.
- Bills introduced by Omaha Sen. Justin Wayne would appropriate $225,000 to evaluate rehabilitating the Mayhew Cabin site in Nebraska City and require the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission to consult with the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska about the proposed Standing Bear museum.
- Blair Sen. Ben Hansen’s LB 1247 would allow the public to hunt on state “school” land by purchasing an “access stamp” costing not less than $25 for residents and $50 for nonresidents.
- LB 1248, offered by Omaha Sen. Kathleen Kauth, would eliminate sales tax exemptions for soft drinks, cand and drugs made from hemp.
Nebraska Examiner Senior Reporter Paul Hammel contributed to this report.