II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 290
To direct the Secretary of the Interior to upgrade existing emergency commu-
nications centers in units of the National Park System to Next Genera-
tion 9–1–1 systems, and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
JANUARY29, 2025
Mr. B
ARRASSO(for himself, Mr. KING, Mr. HICKENLOOPER, and Mrs. HYDE-
S
MITH) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred
to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources-
A BILL
To direct the Secretary of the Interior to upgrade existing
emergency communications centers in units of the Na-
tional Park System to Next Generation 9–1–1 systems,
and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Making National 4
Parks Safer Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 6
In this Act: 7
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(1) APPROPRIATE COMMITTEES OF CON -1
GRESS.—The term ‘‘appropriate committees of Con-2
gress’’ means— 3
(A) the Committee on Energy and Natural 4
Resources of the Senate; and 5
(B) the Committee on Natural Resources 6
of the House of Representatives. 7
(2) E
MERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS CENTER .— 8
(A) I
N GENERAL.—The term ‘‘emergency 9
communications center’’ means— 10
(i) a facility that— 11
(I) is designated to receive a 9– 12
1–1 request for emergency assistance; 13
and 14
(II) performs 1 or more of the 15
functions described in subparagraph 16
(B); or 17
(ii) a public safety answering point 18
(as defined in section 222 of the Commu-19
nications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 222)). 20
(B) F
UNCTIONS DESCRIBED .—The func-21
tions described in this subparagraph are the fol-22
lowing: 23
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•S 290 IS
(i) Processing and analyzing 9–1–1 1
requests for emergency assistance and in-2
formation and data related to the requests. 3
(ii) Dispatching appropriate emer-4
gency response providers. 5
(iii) Transferring or exchanging 9–1– 6
1 requests for emergency assistance and 7
information and data related to the re-8
quests with 1 or more other emergency 9
communications centers and emergency re-10
sponse providers. 11
(iv) Analyzing any communications re-12
ceived from emergency response providers. 13
(v) Supporting incident command 14
functions. 15
(3) I
NTEROPERABILITY.—The term ‘‘interoper-16
ability’’ means the capability of emergency commu-17
nications centers— 18
(A) to receive 9–1–1 requests for emer-19
gency assistance and information and data re-20
lated to the requests, such as location informa-21
tion and callback numbers from a person initi-22
ating the request; and 23
(B) to process and share 9–1–1 requests 24
for emergency assistance and information and 25
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data related to the requests with other emer-1
gency communications centers and emergency 2
response providers without the need for propri-3
etary interfaces and regardless of jurisdiction, 4
equipment, device, software, service provider, or 5
other relevant factors. 6
(4) N
EXT GENERATION 9 –1–1 SYSTEM.—The 7
term ‘‘Next Generation 9–1–1 system’’ has the 8
meaning given the term ‘‘Next Generation 911’’ in 9
section 9.28 of title 47, Code of Federal Regulations 10
(or a successor regulation). 11
(5) S
ECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 12
the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Di-13
rector of the National Park Service. 14
SEC. 3. ASSESSMENT OF EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS 15
CENTERS LOCATED IN UNITS OF THE NA-16
TIONAL PARK SYSTEM. 17
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after the 18
date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall complete 19
an assessment of emergency communications centers lo-20
cated in units of the National Park System to identify— 21
(1) the implementation status of Next Genera-22
tion 9–1–1 systems at existing emergency commu-23
nications centers in units of the National Park Sys-24
tem; 25
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(2) estimated costs to purchase Next Genera-1
tion 9–1–1 systems for emergency communications 2
centers in units of the National Park System that 3
have not begun to implement Next Generation 9–1– 4
1 systems; and 5
(3) estimated costs to maintain and operate 6
Next Generation 9–1–1 systems across all emer-7
gency communications centers in units of the Na-8
tional Park System. 9
(b) R
EPORT.—On completion of the assessment 10
under subsection (a), the Secretary shall submit to the ap-11
propriate committees of Congress, and make available on 12
the website of the Department of the Interior, a report— 13
(1) describing the results of the assessment; 14
and 15
(2) identifying issues that may affect the imple-16
mentation of Next Generation 9–1–1 systems across 17
all emergency communications centers in units of 18
the National Park System, including— 19
(A) jurisdictional issues; 20
(B) technological issues; 21
(C) issues relating to relevant authorities; 22
and 23
(D) issues relating to legal agreements. 24
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SEC. 4. PLAN TO INSTALL NEXT GENERATION 9–1–1 SYS-1
TEMS IN UNITS OF THE NATIONAL PARK SYS-2
TEM. 3
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after the 4
date on which the report under section 3(b) is submitted, 5
the Secretary shall develop a plan, based on the results 6
of the assessment completed under section 3(a) and sub-7
ject to subsection (c), to install Next Generation 9–1–1 8
systems at identified emergency communications centers 9
in units of the National Park System. 10
(b) C
ONSULTATION.—In developing the plan under 11
subsection (a), the Secretary shall consult with— 12
(1) State and local emergency operations offi-13
cials to ensure interoperability of the Next Genera-14
tion 9–1–1 systems; 15
(2) State and local stakeholders that the super-16
intendent of the applicable unit of the National Park 17
System determines to be appropriate; and 18
(3) relevant Federal agencies, including— 19
(A) the Department of Commerce; 20
(B) the Department of Transportation; 21
and 22
(C) the Federal Communications Commis-23
sion. 24
(c) L
IMITATION.—Notwithstanding subsection (a), a 25
plan developed under that subsection shall not be required 26
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to address emergency communications centers in any unit 1
of the National Park System at which the superintendent 2
of the unit of the National Park System determines that 3
sufficient Next Generation 9–1–1 systems have already 4
been installed or are being installed, as applicable. 5
Æ
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