By Kara Stamets, Content Marketing Specialist, Alertus Technologies

Kari’s Law requires that any calling device used by organizations in the U.S. must be able to reach 911 directly when dialing 911 from multi-line telephone systems (MLTS). The law honors Kari Hunt, whose estranged husband murdered her in a Texas motel room in 2013. Hunt’s 9-year-old daughter tried calling 911 four times from the hotel room, but her calls never went through, as the hotel required a prefix to be dialed on outbound calls.

While Kari’s Law was passed by Texas in 2015, it also gained momentum throughout other states such as Illinois, Maryland, and Tennessee. It was officially implemented as a federal law across the U.S. in 2020. The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) can penalize businesses and organizations for non-compliance.

Kari’s Law applies to organizations that sell, lease, construct, install, manage, or operate an MLTS that was installed, manufactured, or sold after February 17, 2020. The statute isn’t retroactive, so it doesn’t apply to an existing MLTS installed before that date. Therefore, some locations may still require a prefix to be dialed such as “9” to call 911 until the phone system is upgraded.

RAY BAUM’S Act requires that a dispatchable location, such as a validated street address, hotel room, and floor number, is passed along with every 911 call to a public safety answering point (PSAP) or emergency communications center (ECC), regardless of the technological platform used.

RAY BAUM’S Act impacts MLTS manufacturers, owners, operators, service providers, PSAPs/ECCs, and state and local authorities.

What Types of Organizations are Affected by these Statutes?

• K-12

• Higher Education

• Government Offices

• Hotels

• Retail Facilities 

• Financial Institutions 

• Hospitals 

• Organizations with multiple locations

Since February 17, 2020, all MLTS manufacturers, importers, installers, vendors, managers, and operators must configure all new MLTS systems to meet the requirements of Kari’s Law and RAY BAUM’S Act.

For more information on these regulations, check out 911.gov’s Quick Reference Guide

Alertus VoIP Phone Notification

Alertus VoIP Phone Notification monitors when 911 is called and activates the Alertus System to notify on-site personnel that an individual on the property placed the call. This notification can specifically target a select group of individuals responsible for evaluating the situation, advising them which phone was used to initiate the 911 call and enabling them to determine the next steps. Alternatively or simultaneously, the system can initiate a general emergency alert across the organization without human intervention.

Alertus VoIP integrates with Cisco or Avaya to transform phone systems into paging or emergency PA systems by sending notifications to all or select VoIP phones throughout your facility. When an emergency occurs, on-site personnel can use their MLTS to distribute critical information and alerts. 

Alertus VoIP also integrates with legacy phone systems to send text-to-speech (TTS) notifications to phone page groups and existing paging systems. Contact us to find out more about our integration capabilities.