The California Public Utilities Commission is getting ready to tackle insuring enhanced 911 access for multiple line telephone systems, or MLTS.

Since 1995, only 350 of California's 1.3 million businesses, governmental entities and non-profits have provided location information for telephone extensions to the voluntary E-911 database. The lack of these records creates a gap in the emergency call system for the state.

Only 16 states have legislations adopting E911 requirements for MLTS.  The California PUC is seeking input regarding the differences in E911 provisioning between residential and business customers, technical data related to E911 MLTS capabilities, the replacement cycle of MLTS equipment and the standards for emergency services in the state.

"An employee may dial 911 and the address associated with the call is just the billing address - which in some cases is a completely separate building. Emergency responders can arrive at a multi-story building or a large campus and have no idea where the emergency is taking place," said Karina Yandell, corporate development manager, 911 ETC, Inc. "Despite the fact that California has yet to mandate compliance, organizations such as Sony Studios, Orange County, and UC Irvine Medical Center have all chosen to utilize 911 ETC and are currently providing E911 protection to their employees.

"The general public has been largely unaware of this safety glitch that exists in our nation's system - it has been the advent of VoIP and the problem it presents for 911 that has finally brought the issue to the forefront. It would be good to see California join the growing number of states that have chosen to address the safety issue and mandate compliance for organizations employing multi-line telephone systems."

The proposed regulations would exempt small businesses with 49 or fewer employees, meaning 56,372 businesses in the state, employing 60.5 percent of the California workforce would need to be in compliance.

Parties wishing to comment on the proposal have until May 10 to do so.