Congress decimates 911's digital upgrade

Public safety officials fear the nation's 911 centers will continue to languish in the analog era, after Democrats slashed proposed funding for a digital makeover in their social spending bill. The House Energy & Commerce Committee advanced a proposal that would have spent $10 billion on next-generation 911 centers in September, but that funding was reduced to $470 million for deployment in the final House version of the Build Back Better Act. Next-generation 911 would allow centers to accept multimedia from those in need and let centers share data among themselves easily to ensure the best response. The proposed $10 billion in Build Back Better funding was cut as part of the negotiations with the Senate to bring down the total. Funding next-generation 911 and public safety is a bipartisan issue that ended up in a partisan spending bill.