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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 111 / Friday, June 11, 2021 / Proposed Rules
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including personnel, equipment, and resource allocation, and we seek comment on the impact the possible implementation solutions may have on SAMHSA and the VA when supporting text-to-988 service. To that end, we intend to coordinate with SAMHSA and the VA, and we encourage other industry stakeholders in the wireless and texting service industry to coordinate with these agencies as well.
Assuming that our adoption of rules implementing text-to-988 capability will require expenditure of additional resources by SAMHSA and the VA, are there ways that we can structure our rules to minimize the burden on our federal partners? Are there any steps we should take to deter misuse of text-to988, so as to limit the unnecessary expenditure of resources by our federal partners? Are there any solutions that have been employed in other contexts, such as text-to-911, that we or others should adapt here to deter misuse of text-to-988?
53. In addition, we encourage SAMHSA and the VA to coordinate with outside organizations that have expertise in providing crisis counseling via text message as they develop the infrastructure to receive and respond to text messages which may one day be delivered to the Lifeline and Veterans Crisis Line via 988. Many commenters in this proceeding have urged collaboration between private entities like the Trevor Project and federal agencies providing similar services. We therefore seek comment on how to facilitate such coordination across federal agencies and the private sector, as we work towards our shared goal of ensuring that all Americans have ready access to mental health counseling and support services.
C. Legal Authority 54. We propose concluding that we have the authority to adopt the rules proposed and for which we seek comment in this further notice of proposed rulemaking under Title III of the Act and the Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act CVAA. We seek comment on these and any other sources of authority available to us. In particular, we seek comment on whether, and if so, to what extent, our numbering authority under section 251e of the Act provides an additional source of authority for the rules proposed and for which we seek comment in this further notice of proposed rulemaking. Finally, we also seek comment on whether we should employ our ancillary authority. We note that, in our preliminary review, the
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National Suicide Hotline Designation Act of 2020 does not provide additional support fornor does it hinderthe actions proposed in this further notice of proposed rulemaking. We seek comment on these views.
55. The rules we propose and for which we seek comment in this further notice of proposed rulemaking are analogous to those the Commission has adopted to facilitate text-to-911
communications, which relied, in part, on the Commissions Title III authority over wireless carriers, including sections 301, 303, 307, 309, and 316. We propose concluding that, with respect to CMRS providers, Title III provides us with appropriate authority to require wireless carriers to support text-to-988
service and to require delivery of a bounce-back message to consumers in cases where delivery of a text to 988
cannot be completed. As the Supreme Court has long recognized, Title III
grants the Commission a comprehensive mandate regarding regulation of spectrum usage, and courts have routinely found that Title III
provides the Commission with broad authority to manage spectrum . . . in the public interest. As we explain, we believe the rules we propose in this further notice of proposed rulemaking are likely to have significant public interest benefits. And, the Commission has previously found that its Title III
licensing authority supported adoption of a similar set of obligations in the textto-911 context. Therefore, we believe that with respect to CMRS providers, Title III provides sufficient authority here. We note that, following the release of the Text-to-911 Order, the Commission released a Declaratory Ruling classifying SMS and MMS
services as information services under the Act. However, as the Commission explicitly noted in the Declaratory Ruling, this determination does not affect the general applicability of the spectrum allocation and licensing provisions of Title III and the Commissions rules to SMS and MMS
services, nor does it affect the specific application of sections 301, 303, 307, 309, and 316 to the Commissions textto-911 rules. We seek comment on this analysis.
56. With respect to interconnected text messaging service providers, we propose to find that the CVAA provides us with authority to adopt the proposals in this further notice of proposed rulemaking, as some commenters in this proceeding suggest. Congress enacted the CVAA to increase the accessibility of modern communications technologies to people with disabilities, including access related to emergency
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services, and the Commission relied, in part, on this authority when it adopted similar text-to-911 requirements. The CVAA provides the Commission with authority to achieve equal access to emergency services by individuals with disabilities, as a part of the migration to a national internet protocol-enabled emergency network. In particular, the CVAA granted the Commission the authority to adopt regulations to implement recommendations proposed by the Emergency Access Advisory Committee established by the CVAA, which concern access to 911 and NG911
services, and to adopt other regulations as are necessary to achieve reliable, interoperable communication that ensures access by persons with disabilities to an IP-enabled emergency services network. We tentatively conclude that the CVAA provides authority for our proposals because access to 988 is similar to 911 access for the purposes of our CVAA authority. We seek comment on this tentative conclusion. Do commenters agree that access to the Lifeline or Veterans Crisis Line through 988 constitute access to emergency services under the CVAA?
Do commenters agree that text-to-988 is necessary to achieve reliable, interoperable communication that ensures access by persons with disabilities to an IP-enabled emergency services network? More generally, does the CVAA provide us with authority to adopt the rules proposed in this further notice of proposed rulemaking?
57. We seek comment on any other sources of authority available to the Commission to adopt the proposals detailed in this further notice of proposed rulemaking. In particular, we seek comment on whether our section 251e authority over numbering provides authority to require support for text-to-988 service. Section 251e1 of the Act grants us exclusive jurisdiction over those portions of the North American Numbering Plan that pertain to the United States and provides that numbers must be made available on an equitable basis. This provision gives the Commission authority to set policy with respect to all facets of numbering administration in the United States.
The Commission found in the 988
Report and Order that section 251e provides us with the ability to regulate interconnected and one-way VoIP
providers that make use of numbering resources when they connect with the PSTN. We seek comment on whether our numbering authority provides an additional, independent basis to adopt rules with respect to CMRS providers
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