The FCC has announced a tentative agenda for its Open Commission Meeting scheduled for 10:30 am on Thursday, April 22, 2021.
The Commission at its meeting will consider a draft Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to make the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, a national network that provides free, confidential support to Americans in suicidal crisis or emotional distress, reachable by text messaging to 988. The FCC previously established 988 as the 3-digit dialing code for Americans to reach the Lifeline by telephone beginning July 16, 2022. The draft item proposes that Americans should be able to reach the Lifeline by text through the same short, easy-to-remember code by which Americans will be able to call the Lifeline, and asks questions about the scope of Text-to-988 rules.
988 is not currently available for most Americans. During the transition to 988, Americans who need help should continue to contact the Lifeline by calling 1-800-273-8255 (1-800-273-TALK) and through online chats.
The FCC Open Meeting will be held online only, and will be streamed live with open captioning at www.fcc.gov/live. American Sign Language interpreting and other accommodations are available by submitting your request via e-mail to fcc504@fcc.gov or by calling the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau at 202-418-0530 (voice). Please include a detailed description of the accommodation needed. In addition, please include a way the FCC can contact you if it needs more information. Please allow as much advance notice as possible; last‐minute requests will be accepted, but may be impossible to fill.
April 22 Meeting News Release:
URL: https://www.fcc.gov/document/fcc-announces-tentative-agenda-april-open-meeting-8
Word: https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DOC-371278A1.docx
PDF: https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DOC-371278A1.pdf
Text: https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DOC-371278A1.txt
Public Draft of the Text-to-988 FNPRM:
PDF: https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DOC-371279A1.pdf
Text: https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DOC-371279A1.txt
For information about the 988 FNPRM, please contract Michelle Sclater, Competition Policy Division, Wireline Competition Bureau, at (202) 418-0388 or michelle.sclater@fcc.gov. Individuals who use videophones and are fluent in American Sign Language (ASL) may call the FCC’s ASL Consumer Support Line at (844) 432-2275 (videophone).