"Six years ago, shortly after the Legislature enacted his first state budget, Gov. Gavin Newsom embarked on a celebratory tour to tout the spending plan's major provisions. Newsom's last stop was in San Francisco, where he bragged about increasing fees on telephone service to finance an upgrade of California's 911 emergency communication system, whose deficiencies had become painfully apparent during a series of destructive and deadly wildfires."
"During my first week in office, I proposed making crucial updates to modernize our antiquated 911 system, Newsom said during a media event. The idea that it's 2019, and we are using analog systems designed decades ago is astounding, and we need to make investments to make sure the technology aligns with the devices people are using in their daily lives."
"Fast forward to 2025. Wildfires still plague the state, including the massively destructive fires that swept through Los Angeles neighborhoods. Californians also remain at risk from earthquakes and floods, not to mention crimes and medical crises. They still are depending on an emergency communication system that Newsom denounced as antiquated. What happened to the promised upgrade? Since 2019 the state has spent $450 million on a new system,"
Gov. Gavin Newsom pledged in 2019 to modernize California's antiquated analog 911 system and to fund upgrades by increasing telephone service fees. The state selected an untested regionalized design dividing California into four sectors and contracted four technology firms to build Next Generation 911. Between 2019 and 2025 the state paid over $450 million toward the project. In 2025 the administration declared the partially built system unworkable, abandoned what had been constructed, and said the process must start over. Residents remain exposed to wildfire, earthquake, flood, crime, and medical emergencies while relying on outdated emergency communications.
Read at www.mercurynews.com
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