ENHANCED 911 SYSTEM

RSA tit. VII, ch. 106-H

in effect

RSA 106-H:1 Statement of Purpose.

106-H:1. Statement of Purpose. The general court of the state of New Hampshire declares that the interests of the state's citizens will be served by a coordinated statewide enhanced 911 system, utilizing 911 as the primary emergency telephone number, which will develop and improve emergency communication procedures and facilities with the objective of reducing the response time to emergency calls for law enforcement, fire, medical, rescue and other emergency services. Source. 1992, 165:1, eff. July 5, 1992.

RSA 106-H:2 Definitions.

106-H:2. Definitions. In this chapter: I. "Automatic location identification" or "ALI" means the system capability to identify automatically the geographical location of the telephone being used by the caller and to provide a display of that location at the public safety answering point. II. "Automatic number identification" or "ANI" means the system capability to identify automatically the calling telephone number and to provide a display of that number at the public safety answering point. III. "Bureau" means the bureau of emergency communications within the division of emergency services and communications, in the department of safety, established pursuant to RSA 21-P:36. III-a. "Commercial mobile radio service" means commercial mobile radio service as defined in 47 C.F.R. section 20.3. IV. "Commission" means the enhanced 911 commission established in RSA 106-H:3. V. "Commissioner" means the commissioner of the department of safety. V-a. "Designated behavioral health access point" means the centralized crisis operations center, designated by the state, that acts as a statewide point of entry for individuals experiencing a non-emergent behavioral health crisis, including but not limited to mental health crises, suicidal thoughts, substance use disorder crises, or emotional crises. V-b. "Division" means the division of emergency services and communications of the department of safety. VI. "Emergency services" means fire, police, ambulance, rescue and other service of an emergency nature identified by the bureau. VII. "Enhanced 911 system" and "enhanced 911 services" means a system consisting of selective routing with the capability of automatic number and location identification at a public safety answering point, which enables users of the public telecommunications system to request emergency services by dialing the digits 911. VIII. "Enhanced ANI/ALI" means the capability of a municipality or other political subdivision to receive ANI and ALI displays from 911 calls routed from the public safety answering point. VIII-a. "Master street address guide" or "MSAG" means an alphabetical listing of all streets and house number ranges within a municipality. House number ranges shall consist of the beginning number and highest possible number on each public or private way with multiple structures. VIII-b. "Prepaid commercial mobile radio service" means commercial mobile radio service that allows a caller to dial 911 to access the E911 system, which service must be paid for in advance and is either sold in predetermined units or dollars which decline with use in a known amount or is sold for unlimited use during a predetermined period of time. IX. "Private safety agency" means a private entity which provides emergency police, fire, ambulance, or medical services. X. "Public agency" means the state government and any unit of municipal or county government located within the state which provides or has authority to provide firefighting, law enforcement, ambulance, medical or other emergency services. XI. "Public safety agency" means a functional division of a public agency which provides firefighting, law enforcement, ambulance, medical, rescue or other emergency services. XII. "Public safety answering point" means a facility with enhanced 911 capability, operated on a 24-hour basis, assigned the responsibility of receiving 911 calls and transferring or relaying emergency 911 calls to other public safety agencies or private safety agencies, and transferring or relaying non-emergent 911 calls to the designated behavioral health access point. XIII. "Relay routing" means the method of responding to a telephone request whereby a public safety answering point notes pertinent information and relays requests for emergency services by telephone to the appropriate public safety agency or private safety agency for dispatch of an emergency service unit and relays requests for non-emergency services by telephone to the designated behavioral health access point. XIII-a. "Street address guide" or "SAG" means a listing of all numbered structures on each public or private way with multiple structures within the municipality. XIV. "Transfer routing" means the method of responding to a telephone request for whereby a public safety answering point transfers the call directly to the appropriate public safety agency or private safety agency for dispatch of an emergency service unit and transfers requests for non-emergency services to the designated behavioral health access point. XV. "Voice over Internet Protocol" or "VoIP" means any service that: (a) Enables real-time, 2-way voice communications that originate from or terminate to the user's location in Internet Protocol or any successor protocol; (b) Requires a broadband connection from the user's location; and (c) Permits users generally to receive calls that originate on the public switched telephone network and to terminate calls to the public switched telephone network. Source. 1992, 165:1. 1998, 51:1, 2. 2003, 319:117, 118. 2004, 171:12. 2012, 270:1, eff. Jan. 1, 2013. 2015, 230:1, 2, eff. Jan. 1, 2016. 2022, 107:1, eff. July 26, 2022. 2025, 35:1-4, eff. July 13, 2025.

RSA 106-H:3 Commission Established.

106-H:3. Commission Established. I. (a) There is hereby established an enhanced 911 commission consisting of 19 members, including the director of the division of fire standards and training and emergency medical services or designee, the commissioner of the department of energy or designee, the commissioner of the department of safety or designee, a public member, a police officer experienced in responding to emergency calls, a representative of the disabled community, and one active member recommended by each of the following organizations, nominated by the governor with the approval of the council: (1) Fairpoint. (2) New Hampshire Association of Fire Chiefs. (3) New Hampshire Association of Chiefs of Police. (4) New Hampshire Federation of Fire Mutual Aids. (5) New Hampshire Municipal Association. (6) New Hampshire Sheriffs Association. (7) New Hampshire Telephone Association. (8) New England Cable Telecommunications Association. (9) The commissioner of the department of administrative services, or designee. (10) A representative of the mobile telecommunications carriers industry. (11) A representative of the Professional Firefighters of New Hampshire. (12) A representative of the New Hampshire Emergency Dispatchers Association. (13) Comcast. (b) The director of the division of emergency services and communications shall oversee the administration of enhanced 911 services. II. Members of the commission shall initially be appointed for terms of one, 2 and 3 years; thereafter members shall be appointed to serve 3-year terms. In the event of a vacancy, a replacement shall be appointed for the remaining term. No member shall serve beyond the time he ceases to hold the office, employment or membership which qualified him for appointment to the commission. III. Members of the commission shall serve without compensation but shall be entitled to receive reimbursement for any actual expenses incurred as a necessary incident to such service. IV. Members shall annually elect from among themselves a person to serve as commission chairman and another to serve as commission vice-chairman. The commission shall hold no fewer than 4 regular meetings a year at such times and places as the chairman shall fix, either on his own motion or upon written request of any 4 members. Source. 1992, 165:1. 1999, 337:1. 2003, 319:119. 2004, 171:13, 30. 2008, 361:14. 2010, 271:4. 2012, 51:1, eff. July 13, 2012. 2017, 44:2, eff. July 8, 2017. 2021, 91:219, eff. July 1, 2021.

RSA 106-H:5 Powers and Duties; Commission.

106-H:5. Powers and Duties; Commission. I. The commission shall, with the approval of the commissioner: (a) Establish technical and operational standards for the creation of a public safety answering point, which utilizes enhanced 911 network features. (b) Require submission of reports and information from those public safety agencies within the state that the division determines have information pertinent to the effective functioning of the division. II. The commission may, with the approval of the commissioner: (a) Make or cause to be made studies of any aspect of the enhanced 911 system, including but not limited to service, operations, training, data base development, and public awareness. (b) Undertake any project and engage in any activity which will serve to improve enhanced 911 services. Source. 1992, 165:1. 2003, 319:120. 2004, 171:14, eff. July 24, 2004.

RSA 106-H:6 Powers and Duties.

106-H:6. Powers and Duties. The director of the division of emergency services and communications, subject to the approval of the commissioner, shall: I. Appoint such personnel as may be necessary to perform the duties assigned by the division subject to the limits of available funds. Personnel appointed under this section shall be classified state employees as defined by the division of personnel. II. [Repealed.] III. Enter into contracts and do such things as may be necessary and incidental to the administration of the division's authority pursuant to this chapter, with the approval of the commissioner. IV. Accept in the name of the state any and all donations or grants, both real and personal, from any governmental unit or public agency or from any institution, person, firm, or corporation. The division shall receive, utilize, and dispose of all donations and grants consistent with the rules of the division and the purpose or conditions of the donation or grant. V. Make such investigations as may be necessary to determine whether governmental units are complying with the provisions of this chapter. VI. File as part of the annual report of the department of safety required under RSA 20:7, the status of development of operational standards and training programs, the development of the data base, revenue generated from telephone subscribers, budget and revenue projections, the degree of coordination with municipalities, the extent of public use of the service and the quality of service rendered. VII. In conjunction with the operating budget of the department of safety, the department shall submit a budget for each biennium, which shall include financial responsibility for and the costs of all programs offered or contracted by the division of emergency services, communications and management, and all revenues and expenditures of the dedicated fund established in RSA 106-H:9. Source. 1992, 165:1. 1993, 231:3. 2003, 319:121. 2004, 171:15. 2008, 358:6, 7, 16, IV, eff. Sept. 9, 2008; 361:14, eff. July 11, 2008.

RSA 106-H:8 Coordination by Provider of Telephone Service.

106-H:8. Coordination by Provider of Telephone Service. I. Every telephone utility authorized to do business in the state pursuant to RSA 374:22, I, every entity which provides commercial mobile radio service, as defined in 47 C.F.R. 20.3, and required by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to provide 911 service, and every VoIP provider required by the FCC to provide 911 service shall make available the universal emergency telephone number 911 for use by the public in seeking assistance from fire, police, and other related safety agencies through a single public safety answering point. Each telephone service provider shall assure that all requests for police, fire, medical, or other emergency services received by the provider or the provider's operator services shall be transferred to the public safety answering point. Such transfer shall include the calling party's telephone number in American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) in a format recommended for data exchange by the National Emergency Number Association (NENA). II. For purposes of implementing this chapter, any provider of commercial mobile radio service shall be entitled to reimbursement from the bureau of the reasonable expenses incurred prior to the effective date of this paragraph to accomplish the provision of enhanced 911 service to the extent authorized by the Federal Communications Commission and approved by the enhanced 911 commission. The bureau may utilize the services of any other state agency or a consultant to assist in reviewing the requested reimbursement to insure that it is reasonable and may seek recovery of the expense of that review from the provider. Source. 1992, 165:1. 1997, 298:16. 1999, 337:2. 2006, 49:1. 2012, 270:2, eff. Jan. 1, 2013.

RSA 106-H:9 Funding; Fund Established.

106-H:9. Funding; Fund Established. I. (a) The enhanced 911 system and the statewide emergency notification system shall be funded through a surcharge to be levied upon each residence and business telephone exchange line, including PBX trunks and Centrex lines, each individual commercial mobile radio service number and each VoIP service number with a place of primary use within New Hampshire, and each semi-public and public coin and public access line. For purposes of this subparagraph, "place of primary use" shall have the same meaning as the definition contained in 4 U.S.C. section 124(8). No such surcharge shall be imposed upon more than 25 business telephone exchange lines, including PBX trunks and Centrex lines, or more than 25 commercial mobile radio service exchange lines or VoIP service lines or channels per customer billing account. (b) In the case of local exchange telephone companies, the surcharge shall be contained within tariffs or rate schedules filed with the public utilities commission and shall be billed on a monthly basis by each local exchange telephone company. (c) In the case of an entity which provides commercial mobile radio service the surcharge shall be billed to each customer on a monthly basis and shall not be subject to any state or local tax; the surcharge shall be collected by the commercial mobile radio service provider, and may be identified on the customer's bill. For prepaid commercial mobile radio service, the provisions of paragraph I-a shall apply. (d) In the case of a VoIP provider, the surcharge shall be billed to each customer on a monthly basis and shall not be subject to any state or local tax; the surcharge shall be collected by the VoIP provider, and may be identified on the customer's bill. (e) Each local exchange telephone company, VoIP service provider, or entity which provides commercial mobile radio service, including prepaid commercial mobile radio service except as otherwise provided in subparagraph I-a(i), shall remit the surcharge amounts on a monthly basis, as prescribed by the commissioner, to the enhanced 911 services bureau, which shall be forwarded to the state treasurer for deposit in the enhanced 911 system fund. The state treasurer shall pay expenses incurred in the administration of the enhanced 911 system and the statewide emergency notification system from such fund. Such fund shall not lapse. If the expenditure of additional funds over budget estimates is necessary for the proper functioning of the enhanced 911 system or the statewide emergency notification system, the department of safety may request, with prior approval of the fiscal committee of the general court, the transfer of funds from the enhanced 911 system fund to the department of safety for such purposes. The moneys in the account shall not be used for any purpose other than the development and operation of enhanced 911 services and the statewide emergency notification system, in accordance with the terms of this chapter. Surcharge amounts shall be reviewed after the budget has been approved or modified, and if appropriate, new tariffs or rate schedules shall be filed with the public utilities commission reflecting the surcharge amount. I-a. Prepaid commercial mobile radio service. (a) In this paragraph: (1) "Consumer" means a natural person or any other person who purchases prepaid commercial mobile radio service in a retail transaction. (2) "Commissioner" means the commissioner of the department of safety. (3) "Division" means the division of emergency services and communications of the department of safety. (4) "Entity" means a natural person or any other person, including any firm, corporation, partnership, or business organization. (5) "Provider" means an entity that provides prepaid commercial mobile radio service pursuant to a license issued by the Federal Communications Commission. (6) "Retail transaction" means the purchase of prepaid commercial mobile radio service from a seller for any purpose other than resale. (7) "Seller" means an entity, including a provider, who sells prepaid commercial mobile radio service to a consumer. (b) There is hereby imposed a prepaid commercial mobile radio service E911 surcharge that shall be levied on each retail transaction sourced to New Hampshire. The amount of the surcharge levied for each retail transaction shall be the same as the surcharge imposed under RSA 106-H:9, I(a). (c) For purposes of subparagraph (b), a retail transaction is sourced to New Hampshire: (1) If the transaction occurs in person at a seller's location in New Hampshire; or (2) If subparagraph (1) does not apply, the prepaid commercial mobile radio service is evidenced by a physical item, such as a card, and the purchaser provides a New Hampshire delivery address for such item; or (3) If subparagraphs (1) and (2) do not apply, the consumer gives a New Hampshire address during the consummation of the sale, including the address associated with the consumer's payment instrument if no other address is available, and the address is not given in bad faith; or (4) If subparagraphs (1)-(3) do not apply, the consumer's mobile telephone number is associated with a postal zip code, telephone area code, or location within New Hampshire. (d) The prepaid commercial mobile radio service E911 surcharge shall be collected by the seller from the consumer with respect to each retail transaction sourced to New Hampshire. The amount of the surcharge shall be either separately stated on an invoice, receipt, or other similar document that is provided by the seller to the consumer, or otherwise disclosed to the consumer. (e) The seller shall be liable to remit all charges required by this paragraph that are collected from consumers, including all such charges that the seller is deemed to collect where the amount of the surcharge has not been separately stated on an invoice, receipt, or other similar document provided by the seller to the consumer. (f) The prepaid commercial mobile radio service E911 surcharge shall not be subject to any other state or local tax. (g) If a minimal amount of prepaid commercial mobile radio service is sold with a prepaid mobile device for a single, non-itemized price, then the seller may elect not to apply the surcharge to such transaction. For purposes of this subparagraph, an amount of service denominated as 10 minutes or less, or 5 dollars or less, is minimal. (h) A seller may deduct and retain 3 percent of the prepaid commercial mobile radio service E911 charges that are collected by the seller from consumers. (i) A seller having less than 150 retail transactions in a calendar quarter and who has not collected the surcharge on such transactions shall not be required to remit the surcharge on those transactions, provided that the seller: (1) Submits a certification to the enhanced 911 services bureau, not later than the 15th day following such quarter, that the seller had less than 150 retail transactions in such quarter; and (2) Submits with such certification copies of invoices, receipts, or other similar documentation establishing the number of retail transactions in such quarter. (j) Whenever lawful, providers and sellers of prepaid commercial mobile radio service shall put forth reasonable good faith efforts to cooperate with and provide timely and reasonable assistance to the division, its E911 telecommunications supervisors and investigative or law enforcement officers of this state, or any town, city, or county in this state, in connection with locating the source of any emergency E911 call or lawful investigation or activity by such telecommunications supervisor or law enforcement officer. In such instances, providers and sellers of prepaid commercial mobile radio service shall not be liable for damages to any person resulting from or incurred in connection with the provision of such lawful assistance. (k) Beginning on January 1, 2016, prepaid commercial mobile radio service providers shall report annually to the division the total number of active prepaid commercial mobile radio service customers in New Hampshire. For purposes of such report, "active prepaid commercial mobile radio service customers" shall include all prepaid commercial mobile radio service customers with a New Hampshire telephone number on the date of the report, or if account balance information is not available, otherwise determined not to be active by comparable data. All information submitted to the division by a provider shall be considered proprietary and confidential and shall not be considered a public record under RSA 91-A. II. [Repealed.] III. (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, and except as otherwise provided in RSA 82-A, the records and files of the department, related to this section, are confidential and privileged. Neither the department, nor any employee of the department, nor any other person charged with the custody of such records or files, nor any vendor or any of its employees to whom such information becomes available in the performance of any contractual services for the department shall disclose any information obtained from the department's records, files, or returns or from any examination, investigation, or hearing, nor may any such employee or person be required to produce any such information for the inspection of any person or for the use in any action or proceeding except as provided in this paragraph. (b) The following exceptions shall apply to this paragraph: (1) Delivery to the surcharge collector or its representative of a copy of any return or other papers filed by the surcharge collector. (2) Disclosure of department records, files, returns, or information in a New Hampshire state judicial or administrative proceeding pertaining to administration of the surcharge where the information is directly related to an issue in the proceeding regarding the surcharge under this section, or the surcharge collector whom the information concerns is a party to such proceeding, or the information concerns a transactional relationship between a person who is a party to the proceeding and the taxpayer. (3) Disclosure to the department of revenue administration of records, files, and information required by the department of revenue administration to administer the communications services tax pursuant to RSA 82-A and to assist the bureau in its administration of RSA 106-H:9. (4) Disclosure of department records, files, and information to the legislative budget assistant, when requested by the legislative budget assistant pursuant to RSA 14:31, IV. Source. 1992, 165:1. 1997, 298:17. 2003, 319:122. 2005, 251:5. 2010, 271:2. 2012, 247:16, eff. Aug. 17, 2012; 270:3, 4, eff. Jan. 1, 2013. 2015, 230:3-7, eff. Jan. 1, 2016.

RSA 106-H:9-a Penalty for Late Payment of Surcharge.

106-H:9-a. Penalty for Late Payment of Surcharge. The commissioner is authorized to charge a penalty not to exceed $1,000, plus interest of 18 percent per year, on surcharge receipts that are more than 90 days in arrears, which penalty and interest shall be forwarded to the state treasurer for deposit in the enhanced 911 system fund. Source. 2008, 358:9, eff. Sept. 9, 2008.

RSA 106-H:10 Municipal Cooperation.

106-H:10. Municipal Cooperation. I. Municipalities are encouraged to provide a verified master street address guide (MSAG) and a verified street address guide (SAG) to the bureau of emergency communications for use in developing and maintaining the enhanced 911 data base. Every year, municipalities are encouraged to provide an updated MSAG and an updated SAG to the bureau. II. The bureau shall provide local telephone service providers authorized to do business in the state pursuant to RSA 374:22 with a copy of each MSAG and each SAG for every municipality in the local telephone service provider's service territory. The local telephone service providers shall match each subscriber in the service territory by telephone number with an SAG address, and shall assure that accurate matches are provided to the enhanced 911 data base. III. Municipalities are encouraged to assist the local telephone service providers in identifying the subscriber names associated with SAG addresses, but nothing in this section shall be construed to require municipalities to expend funds to locate telephone subscriber information. Source. 1992, 165:1. 1997, 92:1. 1998, 51:3, eff. July 4, 1998.

RSA 106-H:11 Enhanced ANI/ALI Capability.

106-H:11. Enhanced ANI/ALI Capability. Municipalities or other political subdivisions may petition the bureau for the provision of equipment which will facilitate or expand the enhanced 911 capability of a dispatch office. The bureau shall review any application for enhanced ANI/ALI capability to determine if the requested equipment will be fully coordinated with the primary public safety answering point in operation and services. Source. 1992, 165:1, eff. July 5, 1992.

RSA 106-H:12 Confidentiality.

106-H:12. Confidentiality. I. Automatic number identification and automatic location identification information consisting of the address and telephone numbers of telephone subscribers whose listings are not published in directories or listed in directory assistance offices is confidential. Such confirmation will be provided on a call-by-call basis only for the purpose of handling emergency calls and any permanent record of such information shall be secured by the public safety answering point and disposed of in a manner which will retain that security except as otherwise required by applicable law. II. Any telephone subscriber may notify the bureau that a member of the household or business served by the telephone line has a physical impairment or otherwise has special needs. This information shall be accorded the same confidentiality as all other identifying information, and shall be used only as necessary for the provision of emergency services. Source. 1992, 165:1, eff. Jan. 1, 1993.

RSA 106-H:13 Penalty for False Information.

106-H:13. Penalty for False Information. I. Any person who dials or otherwise causes 911 to be called for the purpose of making a false alarm or complaint or purposely reports false information which could result in the dispatch of emergency services shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. II. Any person who dials and otherwise causes 911 to be called and purposely reports information which he or she knows to be false concerning the existence of a biological or chemical substance which could result in the dispatch of emergency services shall be guilty of a class B felony. Source. 1992, 165:1. 2002, 222:6, eff. Jan. 1, 2003.

RSA 106-H:14 Information Not Subject to Right-to-Know Law.

106-H:14. Information Not Subject to Right-to-Know Law. I. Any information or records compiled under this chapter shall not be considered a public record for the purposes of RSA 91-A regardless of the use of such information under paragraph II. II. Notwithstanding paragraph I, the division shall make information or records compiled under this chapter available only as follows: (a) On a case-by-case basis to a law enforcement agency that requires the information or records for investigative purposes; (b) To the department of environmental services solely for the purposes of estimating the location of wells subject to RSA 482-B and for creating and maintaining an inventory of drinking water sampling sites and the materials used for water system service lines needed to comply with the Federal Safe Drinking Water Act. The department of environmental services shall not be required to release such data under RSA 91-A; and (c) To the caller or their legal representative, or to the subject of the call or their legal representative, with written authorization of the recipient on a form satisfactory to the department, that such information or records are being made available solely for the purposes of investigation in anticipation of litigation or for use in connection with any civil court proceeding. Records released under this section shall be marked "limited purpose release" and shall not be redisclosed by the recipient beyond the investigation or civil proceeding. Any records which are the subject of a criminal investigation will be released only after the criminal matter is concluded. Neither the state nor its agencies or employees shall be civilly liable for any improper use or release of 911 records to any person obtaining such records as provided in this section. (d) The department may provide the following information from the designated behavioral health access point: (1) All pertinent information obtained from a caller to the enhanced 911 system who is determined to be in non-emergent behavioral health crisis, when the department transfers the call to the designated behavioral health access point for non-emergent services for behavioral health crises; and pertinent information provided by the designated behavioral health access point to community mental health centers as provided in RSA 135-C and to emergency services agencies. (2) For calls for emergency services placed by the designated behavioral health access point to the enhanced 911 system regarding individuals at imminent risk for suicide, homicide, or other crises, the contact information of the emergency services agency to which the public safety answering point transferred the call. (3) For monitoring trends and quality assurance purposes only, all pertinent information from a sample of calls to the enhanced 911 system transferred to the designated behavioral health access point pursuant to subparagraph (1), as well as statistics regarding the number of calls transferred to the behavioral health access point. Source. 1992, 165:1. 2006, 137:2. 2007, 89:2, eff. Dec. 8, 2007. 2022, 107:2, eff. July 26, 2022. 2023, 168:1, eff. Sept. 26, 2023. 2025, 35:5, eff. July 13, 2025.

RSA 106-H:15 Misuse of 911 System.

106-H:15. Misuse of 911 System. Any deliberate use of the universal emergency telephone number 911 for any reason other than seeking emergency assistance from fire, police, or other safety related agencies shall constitute misuse of the 911 system. The third and any subsequent misuse of the 911 system in a calendar year shall constitute a violation. Source. 1997, 298:18, eff. July 1, 1997.

RSA 106-H:16 Emergency Notification System.

106-H:16. Emergency Notification System. I. For the purpose of alerting members of the public about emergencies in a particular area and delivering rapid emergency notification and information, the bureau shall develop and maintain a statewide emergency notification system (ENS). The bureau shall work with technical members from the wireline, wireless, VoIP, and cable industries to design the ENS for the delivery of emergency messages for emergency state and local government purposes in a manner compatible with existing communications systems and networks. II. The ENS shall use the fixed-location data in the bureau's E-911 telephone database as well as E-911 data collected from wireline and VoIP providers who utilize dynamic location information databases compliant with the National Emergency Numbering Association's (NENA) i2 protocol or successor protocols. All wireline telephone numbers in the E-911 telephone database shall automatically be included in the ENS, as well as telephone numbers collected semi-annually from wireline and VoIP providers utilizing dynamic location databases compliant with the NENA i2 or successor protocol. In addition, the bureau shall provide the ability for the public to register with the bureau a variety of devices and communication methods at fixed locations where they have personal interests, such as their homes, businesses, and other family residences. This data shall remain confidential and shall be used solely by the ENS for the purpose of emergency notification and message delivery. Members of the public may opt-out of the emergency notification and message delivery system pursuant to the provisions of paragraph IV. III. The bureau shall, to the greatest extent possible, ensure that the ENS is fully geographic information system (GIS) capable and able to define an emergency zone by address or geographic area. Wireline phone, VoIP, and opt-in devices shall be linked to a GIS mapping database, capable of performing a query based on an address or a general geographic area. IV. Unless otherwise contrary to law, the ENS shall include means by which persons may opt-out of the system and also make the capabilities of the system accessible to the extent that current or future technology allows for communications devices not otherwise included in the system, such as nomadic voice over Internet Protocol phones, internet protocol enabled services, and commercial mobile radio services. V. To accommodate the use of the ENS during an emergency, the ENS shall be capable of providing a pre-recorded message and delivering that message to a large number of telephones and communications devices in a manner designed so as not to overwhelm or collapse the system. VI. The bureau shall ensure that every state, county, and local emergency response agency has access to and training in the use of the ENS. VII. The bureau shall establish policies, standards, and procedures for the ENS, with the assistance, review, and approval of the enhanced 911 commission and the commissioner of safety. The bureau shall conduct regular assessments and internal tests of the ENS to ensure that it is functioning properly in compliance with the requirements of this section and that it meets all federal and state requirements for incident management. To the extent that a question arises regarding whether a particular notification meets the definition of an emergency, the commissioner of safety or his or her designee shall be the final arbitrator. VIII. The bureau, with the approval of the enhanced 911 commission and the commissioner of safety, may develop and modify the ENS to be compatible with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) guidelines or requirements for broadcast messaging. IX. The bureau may participate in and shall use the Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) component of the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) or succeeding federal alerting systems as the vehicle to communicate with commercial mobile radio service customers. Nothing in this section shall be deemed to alter or supersede any aspect of WEA operation pursuant to existing FCC rules. Source. 2010, 271:1, eff. Aug. 6, 2010. 2014, 285:1, eff. Sept. 26, 2014.

RSA 106-H:17 Disclosure of Caller Location in Emergency Situations.

106-H:17. Disclosure of Caller Location in Emergency Situations. I. Upon request of a law enforcement agency, a wireless telecommunications carrier shall provide call location information concerning the telecommunications device of the user in order for the requesting law enforcement agency to respond to a call for emergency services or an emergency situation that involves the risk of death or serious physical harm. The wireless telecommunications carrier shall provide the most accurate call location available, given the technical and other limitations that may impact the accuracy of the call location information in the relevant area. II. The department of safety shall obtain contact information for all wireless telecommunications carriers authorized to do business in this state in order to facilitate a request from a law enforcement agency for call location information in accordance with this section. III. When requested by a law enforcement agency, the public safety answering point of the enhanced 911 statewide system shall assist the agency to obtain call location information from wireless telecommunications carriers. Such assistance shall be provided only upon the requesting agency providing information establishing that the call location information is necessary to assist the agency in responding to an emergency situation that involves the risk of death or serious bodily injury. IV. No cause of action shall lie in any court against any wireless telecommunications carrier, its officers, employees, agents, or other specified persons for providing call location information while acting in good faith and in accordance with the provisions of this section. A wireless telecommunications carrier shall not be obligated to make an affirmative determination that the requesting law enforcement agency or public safety answering point has met the threshold requirements of paragraph I. V. The commissioner of the department of safety shall adopt rules, under RSA 541-A, relative to the notice and disclosure requirements provided in this section. VI. In this section, "wireless telecommunications carrier" shall have the same meaning as commercial mobile radio service provider in RSA 106-H:8. Source. 2010, 314:2, eff. Sept. 11, 2010.

Source: New Hampshire General Court (gc.nh.gov)URL: https://gc.nh.gov/rsa/html/NHTOC/NHTOC-VII-106-H.htmFetched: 10/20/2026