What You Need to Know About Kari’s Law & Ray Baum’s Act for 911 Direct Dialing

How the Law and Act Came About

Kari’s Law is named in honor of Kari Hunt, who was killed by her estranged husband in a motel room in Marshall, Texas in 2013.  Ms. Hunt’s 9-year-old daughter tried to call 911 for help four times from the motel room phone, but the call never went through because she did not know that the motel’s phone system required dialing “9” for an outbound line before dialing 911.

Under Section 506 of RAY BAUM’S Act, the Commission has adopted rules to ensure that “dispatchable location” is conveyed with 911 calls to dispatch centers, regardless of the technological platform used, including 911 calls from MLTS.  Dispatchable location means a location delivered to the PSAP with a 911 call that consists of the validated street address of the calling party, plus additional information such as suite, apartment, or similar information necessary to adequately identify the location of the calling party.  (47 CFR § 9.3.)   For further information on dispatchable location requirements applicable to non-MLTS, including compliance timelines

For Information directly from the FCC website click here. https://www.fcc.gov/mlts-911-requirements

What Does this mean to you

[Kari's Law]
Kari’s Law requires MLTS systems (the PBX) in the United States to:

∙  enable users to dial 911 directly, without having to dial a prefix to reach an outside line (unencumbered)

∙  provide for notification (e.g., to a front desk or security office) when a 911 call is made

This law went into effect February 16, 2020 for all new MLTS installs and any MLTS systems that have been upgraded (like firmware).  Yes, Firmware counts!

 [Ray Baum's Act]

Ray Baum's act requires that a ‘‘dispatchable location’’ is conveyed with 911 calls, regardless of the technological platform used, so that 911 call centers will receive the caller’s location automatically and can dispatch responders more quickly.

‘‘Dispatchable location’’ is defined as ‘‘the street address of the calling party, and additional information such as room number, floor number, or similar information necessary to adequately identify the location of the calling party.’

 In layman's terms, on each 911 outbound call to emergency services, the following information must be conveyed:

∙  BTN or Main telephone number of hotel

∙  Street Address (as registered in the PSTN ALI database) - the "front door" of the building

∙  Dispatchable location (room number or extension number)

 How do we know if we are compliant?

 Check with your provider is your very first step.  Ask them.  If they do not have a good answer or if they can’t provide you with a testing number such as 922 then you need to seek out other sources for answers.

 As an example, Open One Solutions, Inc.  will also allow a testing number - currently 922 - to simulate the full path of the call and digitally repeat back all the information data points outlined above for confirmation by the end user.  In addition to this we will send out text and or email notifications to up to 10 parties if a 911 call has been made.

 Call an Expert

 Perhaps you want to place yourself at ease and call an expert.  Yes, call our office today and we can provide a service to test to see if your solution meets the current Kari’s Law and Ray Baum Act requirements.

 Call us at 312-780-1010 Option 1 for a full compliance audit or send us an email at info@openonesolutions.com 

 I urge you to call us today.  This could save you ten’s of thousands in fines as well as save you the time & high cost of litigation. Let alone law suit payouts in the millions.

 This has been Telecom Bob once again in the good fight to “Eliminate Telecom Hell”

Open One Solutions, Inc. is a Chicago based Business VoIP Provider specializing in both cloud / hosted and premised based IP phone systems or IP-PBX solutions. Open One Solutions brings years of experience in this field. Our company founder has been using and deploying cloud / hosted VoIP since 2004 and deploying IP-PBX solutions since the 90’s. For additional information contact us at 312-780-1010 or send us an email at info@openonesolutions.com