What's happening
This bill allows certain public buildings with on-campus emergency answering points, such as colleges, to route 911 calls to their own campus answering centers instead of directly to public emergency services.
Why it matters
Campus emergency calls can now be routed to on-campus answering centers (such as university police or security), potentially allowing faster and more informed responses from responders familiar with the campus layout and specific risks.
This change gives colleges and certain educational institutions more control over their emergency response processes, which can be crucial in situations unique to campus environments (e.g., active shooter, hazardous materials, or medical emergencies involving students).
The amendment still requires clarity for users: if a campus is exempt from direct 911 dialing, instructional stickers must inform callers whether their emergency call goes to a campus center or elsewhere, helping prevent confusion during emergencies.
By allowing this flexibility, the bill could improve coordination between campus and local public safety agencies, but it also places responsibility on institutions to maintain high standards in their on-campus emergency response systems.
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Who cares
SUNY and CUNY campus administrators
The bill would let covered public buildings with on-campus emergency answering points route 911 calls from multi-line telephone systems to those campus answering points.
Campus emergency answering staff
On-campus answering points could receive 911 calls that otherwise would have to connect directly to a public service answering point.
Campus telephone system managers
In covered buildings exempt because compliance would require hardware upgrades, instructional stickers would explain how callers can reach the on-campus emergency answering point.
Students, faculty and campus visitors
People using covered campus telephones could have their 911 calls routed to an on-campus answering point rather than directly to a public service answering point.
Headline styles
Direct 911 Calls in Buildings
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
Senator · Senate District 8
No co-sponsors yet.
History
- Signed chap.73
- Delivered to governor
- Returned to senate
- Passed assembly
- Ordered to third reading cal.340
- Substituted for A8952
- Referred to governmental operations
- Delivered to assembly
- Passed senateVote 59–0
- Ordered to third reading cal.95
- Referred to rules
Companion bill
The same bill in the other chamber. A bill becomes law when one version passes both houses and the governor signs it, so either number can carry it.
Require Direct 911 Dialing
Assembly Floor Calendar · Sponsor Amy Paulin
Full text
1 pageUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
7171
IN SENATE
January 10, 2020
Introduced by Sen. BROOKS -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Rules
AN ACT to amend the executive law, in relation to direct dialing to public service answering points
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. Subdivisions 3 and 4 of section 717-a of the executive law, as added by a chapter of the laws of 2019, amending the executive law relating to direct dialing to public service answering points, as proposed in legislative bills numbers S. 4756 and A. 458, are amended to read as follows:
3. All public buildings which operate on a multi-line telephone system in this state must configure their multi-line telephone system hardware to allow any call to 911 on the system to be directly connected to a public service answering point; provided however, that in the case of public buildings governed by section three hundred fifty-five or six thousand two hundred four of the education law which have on-campus emergency answering points, such public buildings may route such 911 calls to their on-campus answering points.
4. The requirements of subdivision three of this section shall not apply to any public building operating on a multi-line telephone system that would be required to upgrade the hardware of their telephone network to meet said requirement. However, every telephone in any exempt public building operating on a multi-line telephone system shall place an instructional sticker on or immediately adjacent to each telephone informing users of the phone's inability to directly dial 911 and the procedures to follow to connect to a 911 public service answering point, or in the case of public buildings governed by section three hundred fifty-five or six thousand two hundred four of the education law which have on-campus emergency answering points, such on-campus answering points, in case of an emergency.
§ 2. This act shall take effect on the same date and in the same manner as a chapter of the laws of 2019, amending the executive law relating to direct dialing to public service answering points, as proposed in legislative bills numbers S. 4756 and A. 458, takes effect.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD00608-02-0
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act to amend the executive law, in relation to direct dialing to public service answering points
Purpose
This is a chapter amendment that makes changes to provisions of L.2019, c.727.
Summary of provisions
This legislation amends the underlying chapter by providing that SUNY and CUNY buildings will be permitted to route their 911 calls to on-cam- pus emergency answering points.
Justification
The original legislation requires all 911 calls in public buildings to direct dial to 911 public service answering points (PSAPs) without requiring dialers to press additional numbers. If a hardware upgrade would be required to facilitate this, a public building can place a sticker on or near the phone notifying the dialer how to reach 911. However, some SONY and CUNY campuses have their own on-campus emergency answering points and emergency answering services which on-campus 911 calls route to. Typically, these on-campus services can respond to on-campus emergencies much more quickly and efficiently than a nearby PSAP. This chapter amendment clarifies that SUNY and CUNY institutions that route on-campus 911 calls to their own emergency answering and response systems can continue to do so.
Legislative history
Chapter amendment to Chapter 727 of the Laws of 2019.
Fiscal implications
None
Effective date
This act shall take effect on the same date and in the same manner as a chapter of the laws of 2019, amending the executive law relating to direct dialing to public service answering points, as proposed in legis- lative bills numbers S. 4756 and A. 458, takes effect.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.