Share:
House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2023 - 2024
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | June 20, 2023 01:15 PM |
|---|---|
| From: | Representative Joe Hamm and Rep. Tina Pickett, Rep. Clint Owlett, Rep. Jonathan Fritz, Rep. Martin T. Causer, Rep. Alec J. Ryncavage |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | Informing PUC of 911 landline system outage |
| When the power goes out in a community with limited cell phone coverage, the members of that community still rely heavily on their landline for 911 access. Landlines still work during a power outage if the telecommunication company has properly maintained their generators or batteries that keep those phones working. In rural Pennsylvania, Landlines remain prominent and relevant due to limited cellular coverage. We learned in a recent PUC hearing regarding Frontier Communications that we have telecommunication companies that have not been maintaining these systems and entire 911 systems have been down for hours, if not days. When this happens, our county EMCs are notified and make sure our local volunteer fire and EMS providers are notified of this outage and complete failure by the telecommunication company. We believe the PUC should be made aware when this happens. This bill will give the county EMCs 72 hours after a power outage that takes down a 911 landline system to report the incident to the PUC. We believe this will be helpful information for the PUC as they look to make sure communities are safe and do their best to hold these telecommunication companies accountable. Please join us in holding rogue telecommunication companies accountable by co-sponsoring this legislation. |
Introduced as HB1624