For the last several years Metrigy has tracked compliance with key 911 regulations including Kari’s Law and RAY BAUM’S Act. In addition, we are now tracking adoption of Next Generation 911, which promises to bring improved data sharing with first responders, and optimized location management.
911 Compliance
In the US, the two major laws governing 911 are Kari’s Law and RAY BAUM’S Act.
Kari’s Law, which became effective for new installs and sales of multi-line telephone systems on February 17, 2020, requires that phones be able to call 911 without requiring dialing of a prefix. Kari’s Law was inspired by the tragic story of Kari Hunt, who lost her life via domestic violence while her child tried to dial 911, but could not because the child did not realize that they first needed to dial an “9” to get an outside line. In addition to direct dial of 911, Kari’s Law requires that appropriate personnel are notified in the event of a 911 call, and that any phone calling 911 must be able to receive a call back.
RAY BAUM’S Act, which is an acronym for “Repack Airwaves Yielding Better Access for Users of Modern Services” is named after late former Congressman Ray Baum, a figure deeply involved in telecom policy throughout his career. RAY BAUM’S Act requires that calls to 911 provide a “dispatchable location” allowing first responders the ability to respond to the location of the call’s origin. RAY BAUM’S Act went into effect for fixed line phones on January 6, 2021 and for non-fixed phones (e.g. softphones) a year later.
Despite the fact that almost half a decade has passed since these laws went into effect, Metrigy finds that organizations still struggle with achieving compliance. In our Employee Engagement: 2025 research study of 400 organizations, published in November of 2024, we found that just 63.8% of participating companies said that they had achieved compliance with both laws, a slight increase from the 62.7% who reported compliance in 2023. Participants cite a number of reasons for not being compliant, including a belief that older systems do not require compliance, and confusion over what it means to be compliant. Lack of compliance raises risks of harm to employees,reputation, and financial loss and should be promptly addressed by IT and business leaders in consultation with appropriate legal counsel.
Alyssa’s Law Emerging
In response to the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida in 2018, a group led by the parents of one of the victims, Alyssa Aladeff, launched a nationwide effort to require classrooms to have silent alarms that teachers can activate in the event of an emergency. Activating these alarms triggers a call to 911 with appropriate location information, as well as to security stations within the school. Today, 8 states have enacted a version of Alyssa’s Law, with consideration underway in more than a dozen additional states. While we haven’t yet researched compliance, we do advise our clients to be aware of Alyssa’s Law efforts within the states where they operate.
NG911 Becomes Reality
Next Generation 911 has been under development by standards organizations for several years. It provides the ability for organizations to share additional data including alarm and sensor info, camera feeds, floor maps, locations of critical infrastructure, and so on with first responders. It also allows for endpoints to use available resources, such as network devices and GPS, to identify their location and transmit it in real time to emergency call centers. NG911 adoption today is limited by the ability of emergency call centers to support it, and by an enterprise’s phone system to leverage it. Our recent study showed a high level of awareness and growing adoption, with 42.1% of participants planning to implement NG911, and another 27.6% at least familiar with the technology.
Bottom Line
Achieving 911 compliance is a matter of critical workplace safety. And, NG911 will improve the ability to deliver a safe working environment via improved information sharing with first responders. Service providers, consultants, implementation partners, and enterprise telecom leaders should all take a proactive approach to ensuring compliance and readiness for emerging next-generation technologies.
