H.R. 7031 — Making National Parks Safer Act

This section defines key terms for purposes of the Act, including (1) appropriate committees of Congress as the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources and the House Committee on Natural Resources; (2) emergency communications center as a facility designated to receive 9–1–1 requests that performs specified functions (e.g., processing requests, dispatching responders) or a public safety answering point (as defined in 47 U.S.C. 222); (3) interoperability as the capability of emergency communications centers to receive, process, and share 9–1–1 requests and related data without proprietary interfaces; (4) Next Generation 9–1–1 system as having the meaning given in 47 C.F.R. 9.28 (or successor regulation); and (5) Secretary as the Secretary of the Interior acting through the Director of the National Park Service.

This section directs the Secretary of the Interior to complete, not later than one year after the date of enactment, an assessment of emergency communications centers in National Park System units to identify (1) the implementation status of Next Generation 9-1-1 systems (i.e., IP-based upgrades to traditional 911 services); (2) estimated costs to purchase such systems for centers that have not begun implementation; and (3) estimated costs to maintain and operate such systems across all centers. The section further requires the Secretary to submit to the appropriate congressional committees, and post on the Department of the Interior website, a report describing the assessment results and identifying implementation issues, including jurisdictional, technological, relevant authorities-related, and legal agreements issues.

This section directs the Secretary of the Interior to develop, not later than one year after submission of the report under section 3(b), a plan—based on the assessment under section 3(a)—to install Next Generation 9–1–1 systems (i.e., IP-based upgrades to traditional 911 services that support multimedia alerts and precise location data) at identified emergency communications centers in units of the National Park System. In developing the plan, the Secretary must consult with (1) state and local emergency operations officials to ensure interoperability, (2) appropriate state and local stakeholders as determined by the applicable unit superintendent, and (3) relevant federal agencies including the Departments of Commerce and Transportation and the Federal Communications Commission; however, the plan need not address centers where the unit superintendent determines sufficient Next Generation 9–1–1 systems are already installed or being installed.