APCO’s advocacy is driven by the needs of its members, and the APCO Annual Conference and Expo provides a great opportunity for APCO’s Government Relations Office (GRO) to connect face-toface with the membership, provide updates on our advocacy efforts and learn more about the issues facing the 9-1-1 community. This year, there will be several opportunities to engage with APCO’s government relations team during APCO 2025 in Baltimore, July 27-30. We highlight these opportunities below and encourage you to connect with us, whether at the conference or by contacting us directly.
One of our main roles is sharing updates about the advocacy landscape in D.C. Since last year, there have been several developments at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and on Capitol Hill that affect APCO. Most notably, we’ve seen leadership changes at the FCC with the appointment of Chairman Brendan Carr to replace former Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and the retirement of Commissioner Geoffrey Starks. Since Chairman Carr took office, we’ve seen early action from the FCC on several public safety communications issues, including on Wireless Emergency Alerts, wireless 9-1-1 location accuracy, and NG9-1-1 reliability and interoperability. As of the time this article goes to print, we still await the appointment of a fifth commissioner to replace Chairman Carr’s open position, as well as news on a potential replacement for Commissioner Starks. We will be sure to inform you of any updates at the annual conference.
With new leadership in Congress and a Republican majority in both the House and Senate, we have fresh opportunities to advance key 9-1-1 initiatives. We continue to make progress in educating lawmakers on the critical needs of the 9-1-1 community, including funding the transition to NG9- 1-1 and expanding wellness resources for emergency communications centers (ECCs). Additionally, support is building for reclassifying public safety telecommunicators as a protective service — an important step toward recognizing their vital role in emergency response. On April 30, the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation voted to advance the bipartisan Enhancing First Response Act (S.725) to the full Senate for consideration. This bill, among other provisions, would direct the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to reclassify public safety telecommunicators as a “Protective Service Occupation.” We remain committed to pursuing these opportunities and driving positive change for 9-1-1 professionals.
APCO’s government relations team will provide updates on these topics and other advocacy priorities throughout APCO 2025. Members of our team will provide brief updates during the first general business session, the chapter leaders training and the AFC advisor meeting. We’re also hosting sessions in APCO’s new federal partners professional development track.
This dedicated federal policy track features discussions with GRO and key agencies such as the First Responder Network Authority, the FCC and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). GRO has organized a number of panel discussions dedicated to allow members to hear from some of our federal partners. The first session, “FCC Update on Public Safety Proceedings,” will feature representatives from the FCC’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau to provide an update on key public safety proceedings. This session will take place on Monday, July 28, at 3:30 p.m. ET.
The second session, “When Disaster Strikes: How the FCC and TERT Step In,” takes place on Wednesday, July 30, at 2 p.m. ET and will feature the FCC’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau and the Telecommunicator Emergency Response Taskforce (TERT) to discuss their disaster preparedness and response activities, including resources for the public safety community and lessons learned. If you have thoughts to share on critical issues like 9-1-1 location accuracy, reclassification of 9-1-1 professionals, NG9-1-1, emergency alerts, outage reporting, the need for wellness resources in ECCs or anything else that’s in (or should be in) our portfolio, we want to hear from you. Understanding the challenges our members face and being able to apply your experiences to APCO’s priorities is extremely helpful. In addition to engaging with the membership on the advocacy issues, we look forward to the opportunity to hear from speakers and audience members at conference sessions on a variety of interesting issues, such as using artificial intelligence in the ECC, emerging technologies to address language barriers and call processing, using drones in emergency response, and other topics.
We encourage you to connect with us and share your thoughts on these issues at the conference or any time throughout the year. If you’d like to learn more about the issues we’re working on, visit APCO’s advocacy page at apcointl.org/advocacy or follow APCO’s X account (@APCOIntl) for timely updates. You can also reach us directly at [email protected].
We hope to connect with you soon!
Nicole McGinnis ([email protected]) is Chief Counsel and Director of Government Relations for APCO International.
Alison Venable ([email protected]), Government Relations Counsel, also contributed to this column. A
