Kari's Law Act of 2016
Floor Speech
I rise in general support of H.R. 4167. I agree that it is important to make sure that consumers using multiline telephone systems, or MLTSs, can directly dial 911 without having to dial additional digits first. We are talking about the multiline phone systems that we use in large office buildings and hotels. Many of these systems require consumers to dial an extra 9 to get an outside line. Most of us know that, but too many people do not realize this applies to 911 also. If you don't dial 9 first, you can't reach emergency services.
Such a requirement led to a tragedy in Texas several years ago. Kari Dunn was killed while her 9-year-old daughter tried to call for help. She did what she was told to do in an emergency--dial 911--but because the system she was using required her to dial 9 first, she only heard silence at the other end.
Building on the Herculean effort of Kari Dunn's family, we are one step closer to fixing this problem once and for all. Kari's Law is an important step to making our systems work better in an emergency, but we should not delay taking the next step, and that is providing location information to first responders.
These multiline systems often fail to deliver precise location information. That means that if someone calls 911 from this very building, for instance, precious minutes would tick by as emergency personnel struggle to figure out where the call came from in the Capitol. We should act immediately to correct this problem, too, because making sure the call goes through is only helpful if public safety officials can find the caller.
Mr. Speaker, that is why Democrats had hoped to include such a provision in H.R. 4167 during markup. We are encouraged by the commitment we received from Subcommittee Chairman Walden to work together on a separate bill to address this concern. We hope to get this done soon. With that commitment, I urge Members to support H.R. 4167.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the bill.
I yield back the balance of my time.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Source