E911 Rules: Kari's Law and RAY BAUM'S Act, Explained

Kari's Law requires that anyone can dial 911 directly from a multi-line phone system, no "dial 9 first," and that the system sends an on-site notification (such as an email or screen alert) when a 911 call is placed, so the front desk knows help was called. It is named for Kari Hunt, whose daughter could not reach 911 from a hotel room phone that required a prefix.

RAY BAUM'S Act (Section 506) requires that a dispatchable location travel with the 911 call: not just a street address, but the information responders need to find the caller, like the floor or suite number. This applies to fixed phones and, in phases, to non-fixed devices like softphones that move around.

What this means for your business

If your phone system requires a prefix to reach 911, does not notify anyone on-site, or sends 911 calls with a stale or headquarters-only address, it is out of compliance, and more importantly, responders can be sent to the wrong building. Every extension, including remote workers' devices, needs a current dispatchable location.

On a well-run modern system this is handled at setup: 911 dials directly from every device, on-site notifications are configured, and dispatchable addresses are registered for every number and location, suite numbers included, with a process for updating them when people move. Whoever provides your phones should be able to show you exactly where those settings live; if they cannot, that is a finding. Healthcare settings have extra wrinkles, covered on our medical practice page.

The compliance dates that already passed

These laws are not upcoming: Kari's Law applies to multi-line phone systems manufactured, installed, or upgraded after February 16, 2020, and RAY BAUM'S Act dispatchable-location requirements phased in during January 2021 for fixed devices and January 2022 for non-fixed devices like softphones and mobile apps. A business installing or reconfiguring a phone system today is squarely inside both.

A practical compliance checklist

• 911 connects with no prefix, from every device, including softphones and lobby phones.
• A 911 call triggers an on-site notification (email, SMS, or screen alert) to front desk or security, with the caller's location.
• Every extension has a dispatchable location: street address plus floor, suite, or room, not just a headquarters address.
• Remote and hybrid workers' devices carry their current address, with a process for updating it when they move.
• Locations are re-verified after every office move or reshuffle, the step everyone forgets.

How systems fail these rules in practice

The classic failures: a system migrated from an old PBX that still expects "dial 9 for an outside line"; branch offices whose calls present the headquarters address to dispatchers; softphones registered to wherever the company was when the account was created; and nobody receiving the on-site notification because it was configured to an inbox that no longer exists. Every one of these is invisible until the worst possible moment, which is why 911 address registration in the portal, reviewed at every move, is the design rather than an option here.

How Cannon VoIP handles this: 911 dials with or without a 9, gets past Do Not Disturb and billing holds, and the 911 address is registered on each phone number after it is checked with 911 systems. An extension at another site can be given its own 911 number, and each building can be a 911 site with its own address, so desk phones send their building's address. 911 calls from the mobile app send the phone's location (or the account address when there is no location fix), and the apps show the address and callback number a 911 call would send right now, and the Numbers screen shows each 911 address and whether the carrier has it ready. A 911 caller hears ringing at once and the call goes out even when the system is busy; a failed 911 call is retried, then the caller is told to hang up and redial. When anyone dials 911, the people you choose are alerted by portal notice, email, text or phone call, including outside contacts like an alarm company, with a follow-up once the call ends. Dial 933 to test what dispatch would see, and for 30 minutes after a 911 call no incoming call is filtered or blocked, so dispatch can always call back.