Implementation of the National Suicide Hotline Act of 2018

FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION <CFR>47 CFR Part 52</CFR> <DEPDOC>[WC Docket No. 18-336; DA 25-148; FR ID 281931]</DEPDOC> <SUBJECT>Implementation of the National Suicide Hotline Act of 2018</SUBJECT> <HD SOURCE="HED">AGENCY:</HD> Federal Communications Commission. <HD SOURCE="HED">ACTION:</HD> Proposed rule. <SUM> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUMMARY:</HD> In this document, the Wireline Competition Bureau (Bureau) of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC or Commission) seeks targeted comment on potential privacy issues related to proposed rules that would require covered text providers to support georouting to ensure that the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline (988 Lifeline or Lifeline) may route covered 988 text messages to appropriate local crisis centers. </SUM> <EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">DATES:</HD> Comments are due on or before April 3, 2025, and reply comments are due on or before April 18, 2025. </EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">ADDRESSES:</HD> You may submit comments, identified by WC Docket No. 18-336, by any of the following methods: • <E T="03">Federal Communications Commission's website: https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs.</E> Follow the instructions for submitting comments. • <E T="03">People with Disabilities:</E> Contact the FCC to request reasonable accommodations (accessible format documents, sign language interpreters, CART, etc.) by email: <E T="03">FCC504@fcc.gov</E> or phone: 202-418-0530. For detailed instructions for submitting comments and additional information on the rulemaking process, see the <E T="02">SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION</E> section of this document. <FURINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:</HD> Merry Wulff, Attorney Advisor, Competition Policy Division, Wireline Competition Bureau, at <E T="03">Merry.Wulff@fcc.gov</E> or at (202) 418-1084. </FURINF> <SUPLINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:</HD> This is a summary of the Commission's Public Notice, document DA 25-148, released on February 19, 2025, in WC Docket No. 18-336. The full text of the document is available on the Commission's website at <E T="03">https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DA-25-148A1.pdf.</E> <HD SOURCE="HD1">Comment Filing Procedures</HD> Interested parties may file comments and reply comments on or before the dates indicated on the first page of this document. Comments should refer to WC Docket No. 18-336. Comments may be filed using the Commission's Electronic Comment Filing System (ECFS). • <E T="03">Electronic Filers:</E> Comments may be filed electronically using the internet by accessing the ECFS: <E T="03">https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs.</E> • <E T="03">Paper Filers:</E> Parties who choose to file by paper must file an original and one copy of each filing. • Filings can be sent by hand or messenger delivery, by commercial courier, or by the U.S. Postal Service. All filings must be addressed to the Secretary, Federal Communications Commission. • Hand-delivered or messenger-delivered paper filings for the Commission's Secretary are accepted between 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. by the FCC's mailing contractor at 9050 Junction Drive, Annapolis Junction, MD 20701. All hand deliveries must be held together with rubber bands or fasteners. Any envelopes and boxes must be disposed of before entering the building. • Commercial courier deliveries (any deliveries not by the U.S. Postal Service) must be sent to 9050 Junction Drive, Annapolis Junction, MD 20701. • Filings sent by U.S. Postal Service First-Class Mail, Priority Mail, and Priority Mail Express must be sent to 45 L Street NE, Washington, DC 20554. • <E T="03">People with Disabilities:</E> To request materials in accessible formats for people with disabilities (braille, large print, electronic files, audio format), send an email to <E T="03">fcc504@fcc.gov</E> or call the Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau at 202-418-0530. <HD SOURCE="HD1">Ex Parte Rules</HD> The proceeding this Notice initiates shall be treated as a “permit-but-disclose” proceeding in accordance with the Commission's <E T="03">ex parte</E> rules. Persons making <E T="03">ex parte</E> presentations must file a copy of any written presentation or a memorandum summarizing any oral presentation within two business days after the presentation (unless a different deadline applicable to the Sunshine period applies). Persons making oral <E T="03">ex parte</E> presentations are reminded that memoranda summarizing the presentation must (1) list all persons attending or otherwise participating in the meeting at which the <E T="03">ex parte</E> presentation was made, and (2) summarize all data presented and arguments made during the presentation. If the presentation consisted in whole or in part of the presentation of data or arguments already reflected in the presenter's written comments, memoranda or other filings in the proceeding, the presenter may provide citations to such data or arguments in his or her prior comments, memoranda, or other filings (specifying the relevant page and/or paragraph numbers where such data or arguments can be found) in lieu of summarizing them in the memorandum. Documents shown or given to Commission staff during <E T="03">ex parte</E> meetings are deemed to be written <E T="03">ex parte</E> presentations and must be filed consistent with rule 1.1206(b). In proceedings governed by rule 1.49(f) or for which the Commission has made available a method of electronic filing, written <E T="03">ex parte</E> presentations and memoranda summarizing oral <E T="03">ex parte</E> presentations, and all attachments thereto, must be filed through the electronic comment filing system available for that proceeding, and must be filed in their native format ( <E T="03">e.g.,</E> .doc, .xml, .ppt, searchable .pdf). Participants in this proceeding should familiarize themselves with the Commission's <E T="03">ex parte</E> rules. <HD SOURCE="HD1">Regulatory Flexibility Analysis</HD> The <E T="03">Implementation of the National Suicide Hotline Improvement Act of 2018, Third Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking</E> ( <E T="03">Third FNPRM</E> ), 89 FR 91636 (Nov. 20, 2024), included an Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis (IRFA) pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 603, exploring the potential impact on small entities of the Commission's proposals. The Bureau invites parties to file comments on the IRFA in light of this request for supplemental comments. <HD SOURCE="HD1">Paperwork Reduction Act</HD> This document does not contain proposed new or modified information collection requirements subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-13) beyond any already proposed in the <E T="03">Third FNPRM.</E> Therefore, it does not contain any new or modified information collection burden for small business concerns with fewer than 25 employees, pursuant to the Small Business Paperwork Relief Act of 2002 (Pub. L. 107-198) <E T="03">see</E> 44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(4), beyond any already proposed in the <E T="03">Third FNPRM.</E> <HD SOURCE="HD1">Providing Accountability Through Transparency Act</HD> The Providing Accountability Through Transparency Act (Pub. L. 118-9) requires each agency, in providing notice of a rulemaking, to post online a brief plain-language summary of the proposed rule. The required summary of the document is available at <E T="03">https://www.fcc.gov/proposed-rulemakings.</E> <HD SOURCE="HD1">Synopsis</HD> In document DA 25-148, the Bureau seeks additional, targeted comment on potential privacy issues involved in georouting text-to-988 pursuant to the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC or Commission) <E T="03">Implementation of the National Suicide Hotline Act of 2018, Third Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking</E> ( <E T="03">Third FNPRM</E> ), 89 FR 91636 (Nov. 20, 2024). The comments that the Commission has received in response to the <E T="03">Third FNPRM</E> have raised privacy as an important factor, and we are providing an opportunity for additional comment to obtain a more comprehensive record. The Commission has long recognized the importance of protecting the privacy interests of Americans seeking help from the 988 Lifeline. In recent years, the Commission has sought comment on privacy with respect to georouting and has taken action to protect the privacy of voice callers to 988. We continue this effort by seeking further comment on georouting text-to-988 implications, potential risks, and proposed safeguards to bolster the privacy and confidentiality of individuals texting the 988 Lifeline. Since the Commission designated 988 as the easy-to-remember, three digit code for the 988 Lifeline, the Commission has engaged with consumer advocacy groups, wireless providers, partner agencies, and other industry stakeholders to balance privacy concerns while advancing the accessibility and effectiveness of 988 Lifeline. We understand the sensitive nature of individuals' contacts with the 988 Lifeline and have worked to prevent the erosion of privacy protections or expectations of confidentiality. In response to privacy concerns surrounding the use of precise location information and the chilling effect those concerns may have on potential 988 Lifeline users, the Commission sought alternative solutions to enhance the 988 Lifeline while protecting user privacy and confidence in the program. Commission staff, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), Vibrant Emotional Health (Vibrant or Lifeline Administrator), nationwide wireless providers, and other industry stakeholders, developed, tested, and implemented georouting solutions to direct 988 calls based on a geographic location for the origin of the call without transmitting information about the caller's precise location. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Preview showing 10k of 24k characters. 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