INOUYE WANTS NTIA TO DEVELOP E-911 GRANT GUIDELINES

摘要

The Commerce Department抯 National Telecom & Information Administration (NTIA) needs to develop E-911 grant guidelines as required under a law passed 2 years ago, Senate Commerce Committee Chmn. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) said Thurs. in a letter to NTIA Dir. John Kneuer. NTIA has made 搇ittle or no effort?to establish grant criteria for the program, but instead has relied on the Administration抯 failure to ask for funds for E-911 grants to justify inaction 搃n the face of this explicit congressional directive,?said the letter, also signed by 5 other Democrats. The situation is critical since many public safety answering points (PSAPs) are unable to upgrade their emergency response systems without the grants, the letter said. According to the National Emergency Number Assn., nearly half of the counties in the country lack PSAPs that can locate 911 calls made from a wireless phone, it said. The senators said they intend to secure sufficient funding for the program.