Quiero saber acerca de...

31414

Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 111 / Friday, June 11, 2021 / Proposed Rules
jbell on DSKJLSW7X2PROD with PROPOSALS3

and interconnected text messaging services.
58. We also seek comment on the Commissions authority to mandate location information with text-to-988
service. Section 222 of the Communications Act, as amended, provides strong legal protections for customer proprietary network information CPNI, including geolocation information. Section 222d provides exceptions to allow CPNI and call location data to be shared for emergency services. We seek comment on whether this could encompass the transmission of geolocation information with 988 calls.
Should we choose to require covered text providers to include location information with texts to 988, does section 222 authorize the disclosure of location information with texts to 988?
Are there other privacy concerns that we should consider with regard to texts to 988?
59. Finally, we seek comment on whether exercise of our ancillary authority would be necessary or appropriate to support any of our proposed rules. The Commission relied in part on ancillary authority to apply the bounce-back notification requirement to providers of interconnected text messaging services when it adopted text-to-911
requirements. Would a similar finding be appropriate with respect to any aspect of our text-to-988 rules?
D. Benefits and Costs of Text-to-988
60. We expect to find that the benefits of requiring service providers to support text-to-988 service will exceed the costs of implementation. We seek comment on this proposal, and any specific data regarding both the benefits of facilitating access to the Lifeline via texts to 988
and on the costs or burdens implementation of text-to-988 may impose upon covered text providers.
61. Suicide causes shock, anguish, grief, and guilt among victims families and friends. Suicide attempts exact a similarly heavy toll on the community and the victim. The long-lasting damage from mental distress and suicide can extend deep into communities. As outlined above, we preliminarily believe that enabling text-to-988 service will improve access to lifesaving resources for individuals contemplating suicide or experiencing mental health crises, especially for members of at-risk communities such as young people, LGBTQ, people of color, and individuals with disabilities, thereby saving lives. By expanding access to counseling, text-to-988 may help break the cycle of pain, suffering, and suicide.

VerDate Sep<11>2014

20:12 Jun 10, 2021

Jkt 253001

We seek comment generally on these and other important benefits that may follow from increased access to mental health resources via texting to 988.
62. We further seek comment on ways to quantify these benefits. Of course, the benefits to individuals who the Lifeline or Veterans Crisis Line places on a path to recovery, much less to their families and friends, cannot be reduced to dollars and cents. That being said, even if text-to-988 service could annually place just one-per-one-thousand suicide victims on a path to long-term recovery, the economic gain would be $19.2
million in any single year, for a presentvalue of $78.7 million over five years and $134.9 million over ten years. In estimating benefits, we focus on teens and individuals with disabilities, as individuals in these groups are more likely to use a text-to-988 capability.
Based on the most recent CDC data from 20152019, 11,283 youth ages 1519
and an estimated 13,101 individuals who are deaf, hard of hearing, deafblind or speech disabled committed suicide using an estimated incidence among adults of 6%, or an average of more than 2,000 per year for each group. To calculate the estimated benefits for a single year, we multiply the annual average by 0.1% and the VSL 2,000
0.001 $9.6 million = $19.2 million.
We discount over five years and ten years at a 7% discount rate. We seek comment on this analysis.
63. Our proposed analysis does not examine certain categories of benefits.
For example, we have not estimated the cost savings from medical expenses and loss-of-work avoided through reduced suicides and suicide attempts. We also have not estimated the cost savings of reduced burdens on PSAPs, police, ambulance, and fire and rescue services, which currently respond to some 911
texts that will be routed to the Lifeline, where they will be more effectively and efficiently de-escalated or otherwise resolved. Moreover, we have not examined the benefits of text-to-988
usage by every demographic group. For example, smartphone ownership and suicide are particularly common in younger age groups. According to the Common Sense Census: Media Use by Tweens and Teens, 2019, 53% of children have their own smartphone by age 11, and 69% have one at age 12.
Currently, our estimated benefits analysis looks at youth ages 1519. To accurately estimate these benefits, we seek comment on how broadly we should define youth who may text to 988. Relatedly, there is the possibility that adults without hearing or speech disabilities may rely exclusively on textto-988 for added privacy or
PO 00000

Frm 00012

Fmt 4701

Sfmt 4702

convenience, meriting inclusion in our benefit estimates. We also seek comment on ways to better assess the long-term impact of text-to-988 service.
Without longitudinal studies evaluating the long-term effectiveness of suicide call centers, we cannot pinpoint how many suicides text-to-988 will prevent in the long run. Available survey-based studies, however, reveal call centers can substantially reduce suicides during the initial call and follow-up periods. We seek comment on the types and magnitudes of these and other benefits not covered in this further notice of proposed rulemaking, as well as any overlooked categories of costs.
64. In the Text-to-911 proceeding, the Commission estimated that the total cost for covered providers to implement textto-911 service amounted to less than $21 million. The costs of nationwide deployment of text-to-911 fell into three categories: CMRS and PSAP system cost components; interconnected text providers software upgrades; and bounce-back messaging application alterations and server platform modifications. Assuming that all or most of the software and equipment necessary to receive and transmit 911
texts will again be needed to deploy text-to-988, we expect that the implementation costs for text-to-988
service will be comparable to the costs for text-to-911 service. Using cost estimates from the Text-to-911
proceeding as a model, we estimate it will cost $19,024,916 for CMRS
providers to implement text-to-988, $613,275 for interconnected text messaging service providers to implement text-to-988, and $7,310,340
for Lifeline to route texts to local crisis centers. We convert the estimate for CMRS providers to implement text-to911 service to 2021 dollars by multiplying by a Consumer Price Index CPI factor of 1.16, then discounting over five years at a 7% discount rate.
Similarly, we convert the estimate for interconnected text messaging providers to implement text-to-911 service into 2021 dollars by using a CPI factor of 1.105. To soberly assess Lifeline capability, we assume that 100% of Lifeline call centers may require SMS
upgrades and thus multiply PSAP
software estimates by 2.22. To estimate the costs to equip the more than 180
Lifeline crisis centers, we calculate an average cost based on an estimated per PSAP cost of $40,613 =$263,277,595 +
$12,891,283/6,800, for a total of $7,310,340 =180 $40,613. Therefore, we preliminarily estimate that total costs for implementing text-to-988 will be approximately $27 million. We seek
E:FRFM11JNP3.SGM

11JNP3