Health and Human Services' Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) will build a system for monitoring 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline contacts and evaluate outcomes as a way of supporting quality improvement, HHS said Tuesday. That was among an array of 988-related federal government pledges in HHS' national suicide prevention strategy and action plans, released Tuesday. The action plan said Housing and Urban Development will disseminate communications and educational material, including information about 988, to housing counseling grantees, fair housing grantees, homeless services organizations and public housing authorities. It said HHS would work with other federal agencies involved in suicide prevention to share information about 988 and other resources at monthly meetings with tribal community officials. It said HHS also would provide support for people diagnosed with both intellectual and developmental disabilities in accessing behavioral health crisis services through 988 centers. In addition, SAMHSA will fund a mobile crisis team locator for 988 centers and the Veterans Crisis Line, as well as develop a toolkit on 988/911 coordination. It said SAMHSA would work with others including the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors and the National Association of State 911 Administrators to increase the number of states with established processes. Moreover, it will collaborate to increase the number of 911 diversion programs to 988 centers. The strategy's recommendations include raising awareness of 988 and other crisis services "with communications that are grounded in the principles of health equity and cultural sensitivity" and greater local collaboration and coordination between 988 call centers and 911 public safety answering points, as well as with police, fire and emergency medical services. The strategy also recommends ensuring 988 crisis counselors "provide effective suicide prevention services to all users, including those with substance use disorders."
Forcing ByteDance to divest TikTok is the right move and will withstand legal challenges, Senate Democrats and Republicans told us Tuesday as the chamber cleared the first procedural hurdle in approving the provision in the FY 2024 national security appropriations supplemental package (see 2404220049 and 2404190042).
The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on April 19 partially dismissed a lawsuit from sanctioned individuals Mir Rahman Rahmani and Hafi Ajmal Rahmani and over two dozen of their companies challenging their sanctions listing for their alleged role in a corruption scheme that swiped millions of dollars from U.S. contracts in Afghanistan (Mir Rahman Rahmani v. Janet Yellen, D.D.C. # 24-00285).
The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on April 19 partially dismissed a lawsuit from sanctioned individuals Mir Rahman Rahmani and Hafi Ajmal Rahmani and over two dozen of their companies challenging their sanctions listing for their alleged role in a corruption scheme that swiped millions of dollars from U.S. contracts in Afghanistan (Mir Rahman Rahmani v. Janet Yellen, D.D.C. # 24-00285).
The Senate on April 23 plans to begin considering a House-passed bill that would ban TikTok in the U.S. unless China’s ByteDance divests the popular social media application (see 2404180020).
The Coalition for Emergency Response and Critical Infrastructure (CERCI) told the FCC in a filing it lacks legal authority to award control of the 4.9 GHz band to the FirstNet Authority (FNA). New Street’s Blair Levin highlighted the filing Wednesday in a note to investors. “The Commission lacks statutory authority under the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 to award the FNA a license beyond the 700 MHz band addressed by that Act, and no other statute authorizes such a transfer,” CERCI said in a filing in docket 07-100: “Even if the FCC were authorized to make this grant, the FNA is not statutorily authorized to receive it” and “attempting to undertake this grant based on existing statutory authorities would, in any case, violate the major questions doctrine and raise nondelegation issues.” If lawyers at the FCC “agree with the argument, it moots the policy arguments about the relative benefits of national versus local control of spectrum and prevents the reallocation of the 50 megahertz of 4.9GHz spectrum licenses at issue,” which would be a “win” for Verizon and T-Mobile, Levin said. The arguments “are designed to have appeal to both Democrats and Republicans, who, in particular, are more sympathetic to arguments based on the major questions doctrine and the nondelegation doctrine,” he said. CERCI was formed last year by some public safety groups, the Edison Electric Institute, T-Mobile, UScellular, Verizon and the Competitive Carriers Association (see 2311160052). AT&T declined comment Thursday.
The FCC "has already begun investigating the 911 multistate outages that occurred [Wednesday] night to get to the bottom of the cause and impact," Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said in a statement Thursday. Authorities in affected states are asking questions, too. At least four states -- Texas, Nebraska, Nevada and South Dakota -- experienced 911 calling problems, said state officials and news reports.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control said April 16 that it’s issuing a final rule to remove the Zimbabwe sanctions regulations from the Code of Federal Regulations. OFAC said it’s taking the action because President Joe Biden on March 4 terminated the 2003 national emergency declaration for Zimbabwe (see 2403040039). The final rule will take effect upon publication in the Federal Register April 17.
FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel Monday urged the Office of Management and Budget to reclassify 911 communicators as first responders in the federal employment classification system. The letter marks National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week, which is this week. “Our Nation’s 911 operators are among our most vital first responders,” the letter argues: “The professionals who take these calls to set emergency response in motion operate with extraordinary skill in a pressure-filled environment.” Rosenworcel noted her long-standing advocacy of reclassifying the status of 911 communicators (see 1908140017) and that many states have taken that step.
Carvana seeks the Rule 12(b)(6) dismissal of plaintiff Michael Cribier’s Jan. 12 Telephone Consumer Protection Act class action because the complaint fails to state a claim upon which relief can be granted, said its motion Thursday (docket 3:24-cv-00094) ) in U.S. District Court for Southern California in San Diego.