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Motion expressing the Sense of Council of Allegheny County encouraging the state legislature to support Senate Bill 432 and its companion bill, House Bill 1018, amending the Public Safety Emergency Telephone Act, to establish a statewide, integrated wireless Enhanced 9-1-1 state plan including a wireless surcharge, wireless fund and reporting on wireless use within the Commonwealth.
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WHEREAS, cell phones are valuable in an emergency and citizens should be encouraged to call 9-1-1 when they see an accident or crime; and
WHEREAS, the County 9-1-1 Center receives cellular calls from not only county residents but also from callers traveling through the county or the vicinity and such calls are often difficult to trace to even the nearest cell tower and do not provide caller information; and
WHEREAS, of the County 9-1-1 Center's approximately 770,000 calls received each year, 40.77%, or 314,000, are wireless calls but only land line users contribute towards the cost of Enhanced 9-1-1 by paying a 74 cent monthly surcharge; and
WHEREAS, in 1996, the Federal Communications Commission implemented regulations requiring emergency dispatchers to install new equipment which can track the location of cell phone emergency calls to within 150 meters which is extremely costly; and
WHEREAS, Senate Bill 432 and its companion bill, House Bill 1018, have been introduced to address these specific issues; and
WHEREAS, the Associated Public Safety Communications Officers, National Emergency Number Association, the Wireless Coalition and the County Commissioners Association have worked tirelessly to craft legislation for the general good of the Commonwealth.
Now, therefore, it is moved, and it is the Sense of the Council of Allegheny County, that this Council hereby supports Senate Bill 432 and its companion bill, House Bill 1018, and encourages the state legislature to move these bills from committee and through the legislature in order to ...
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