(TNS) \u2014 California\u00a0lawmakers\u2019 desire for more oversight of the state\u2019s overdue and over-budget Next Generation 911 project appear likely to go into effect after requirements proposed earlier this session were included in recent budget and trailer bills.<\/p>\n
The recent additions call for the California Governor\u2019s\u00a0Office of Emergency Services\u00a0to deliver quarterly reports to the Legislature, tasks the California State Auditor with auditing the project and prevent the administration from entering a long-term contract with a vendor until an independent technical evaluation is complete.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis budget language marks a turning point for the Next Gen 911 project, and shows Californians that the Legislators they elected are translating talk into action,\u201d Assemblymember Rhodesia Ransom, D-Tracy, said in a recent statement.<\/p>\n
Earlier this year, Ransom\u00a0proposed a bill<\/a>\u00a0that would have required similar oversight measures to the ones recently added to budget and trailer bills. The budget and trailer bills that include the oversight provisions still require final approval from the governor, but Ransom was confident that these provisions could go into effect as early as this month.<\/p>\n Ransom and other lawmakers have been calling for more oversight over California\u2019s Next Generation 911 project after state officials discovered that the modernized emergency call system, which cost $450 million and was built out between 2019 and 2025, wasn\u2019t going to work the way they wanted. Cal OES leaders\u00a0decided to scrap the regional design<\/a>\u00a0that was initially proposed, and the agency made plans to instead construct a statewide 911 system.<\/p>\n Calls for more oversight of the project have also come from the federal level, with the\u00a0Federal Communications Commission\u00a0requesting spending information<\/a>\u00a0about the project.<\/p>\n In April,\u00a0Cal OES signed<\/a>\u00a0a 30-month, $194 million contract with Atos Public Safety, one of the vendors that served as the statewide backup provider for the now-scrapped regional 911 design, to keep providing services to emergency dispatchers that have already transitioned to the new system and to deploy the technology in more areas of the state.<\/p>\n Cal OES has maintained that this contract is necessary to prepare California\u2019s emergency communication systems for the influx of visitors expected for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics and Paralympics. The bridge contract will remain in effect, despite the changes to the budget bill.<\/p>\n Asked about the oversight measure in the budget bills, Cal OES spokesperson\u00a0Anita Gore\u00a0said in a statement that the agency was pleased to work with the Legislature to deliver a modern, safe, and reliable Next Generation 911 system.<\/p>\n \u201cThe budget agreement moves the project forward while enacting common sense actions to ensure ratepayer funds continue to be expended wisely and effectively,\u201d Gore said.<\/p>\n What\u2019s included in the budget language?<\/p>\n The calls for more oversight were bipartisan. Sen.\u00a0Tony Strickland, R-Huntington Beach, also\u00a0presented a bill<\/a>\u00a0this session that called for more legislative oversight over the 911 project. Strickland applauded the inclusion of elements of his legislation, which called for regular reports from Cal OES to the Legislature about the project, into the budget bill.<\/p>\n \u201cWe can\u2019t make the same mistake that we made in the past,\u201d Strickland said in an interview. \u201cAnd we, as the Legislature, are an equal branch in government, so, I think it\u2019s very important for both accountability and transparency that we get this bill done.\u201d<\/p>\n The new requirements added to the budget include:<\/p>\n Cal OES will contract with the research organization\u00a0RAND Corporation\u00a0to conduct an independent technical evaluation of and recommendations for the Next Generation 911 project. The budget allocates $2 million for this effort.The budget includes $1 million for the California State Auditor to conduct an audit of the project.Starting\u00a0October 2026, Cal OES is required to make quarterly reports to the chairs of the budget and emergency management committees.Cal OES\u2019 911\u00a0Advisory Board\u00a0members will elect a board chair during the first meeting of the calendar year.Is regional design still on the table?<\/p>\n Some of the vendors that built the regional design, which Cal OES has moved away from, were happy to see language in the budget bill that did not prevent the state from returning to its original plan for the 911 system.<\/p>\n