Emergency 911 Regulations
Being compliant with Kari’s Law and the Ray Baum Act involves multiline telephone systems in building environments supporting specific emergency 911 functionality. Kari’s Law includes direct dial to 911 services and the notification of designated personnel when an emergency call is made, while the Ray Baum Act relates to the identification of dispatchable locations of 911 callers.
Kari’s Law Compliance
Kari’s Law request that all outbound dialing must provide direct access to 911 service without the caller having to dial an initial number, digit, prefix, or other access numbers before dialing 911. While numerous states have their own version of Kari’s Law, a nationwide version, H.H. 582 (115th) was signed into law in 2018 and to effect February 16, 2020.
Ray Baum’s Act Compliance
This act was created to ensure faster and more accurate responses to 911 calls, Section 506 of the Ray Baum’s Act requires that all multi-line telephone systems provide a dispatchable location on all emergency 911 calls. A dispatchable location is defined no only as the street address of the 911 calling party, but also must include additional information such as room number, floor number, or similar information necessary to adequately identify the location of the calling party.
This law goes into effect on January 6, 2021, for on premise fixed telephony devices.
Is my communications system compliant?
Most manufactured supported systems are compliant. You may require a software upgrade and programming to be compliant. Please contact your American Telephone representative to verify your system status.