The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, Los Angeles Country leaders and county officials across the country, in addition to the National Association of Counties, are applauding the unanimous vote by the Federal Communications Commission Board of Commissioners to adopt rules that require wireless carriers to route calls to the 9-8-8 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline based on the caller’s geographic location instead of by area code. This will allow for residents to be connected to services in a more timely and efficient matter.

Los Angeles County launched 9-8-8 over two years ago, in 2022. Locally, the county is averaging over 6,000 constituent contacts per month, with over 96% of these contacts being resolved via the 9-8-8 call-center without the need for emergency services.

The FCC’s actions will increase access to the 9-8-8 Lifeline.

“Expanding our crisis response network has been one of my top priorities for Los Angeles County,” said Supervisor Kathryn Barger. “9-8-8 is now one of the critical tools that helps ensure we have a care first response to individuals experiencing mental health crises. In my role as Chair of the NACo Commission on Mental Health and Wellbeing, I prioritized 9-8-8 support and led advocacy efforts at the White House and on Capitol Hill. I appreciate the FCC prioritizing this critical issue and taking action to approve rules that both implement georouting for calls to the 988 Lifeline and provide georouting data of 988 text messages. As a result, lives will undoubtedly be saved.”

“9-8-8 has been a game changer for how we respond to mental health crises in Los Angeles County, but the way calls are routed has caused problems,” said Supervisor Janice Hahn. “I appreciate the FCC for recognizing this issue and acting decisively to address it and I applaud the carriers who didn’t wait and are already using georouting for 9-8-8 calls – helping ensure everyone who calls for help can get the response they need and deserve.”

NACo has led key advocacy efforts at both the White House and Capitol Hill, organizing advocacy meetings with key congressional members and adopting 9-8-8 georouting as one of their top policy resolutions over two years ago. “Georouting calls to 9-8-8 will be a significant improvement to this life-saving system, facilitating faster response times to residents in need while protecting the privacy of those who dial for assistance,” said Matthew Chase, Executive Director of NACo. “The FCC has taken a critical step which will allow caretakers to offer more localized callers for residents in need.”

The FCC’s Third Report and Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking establishes a timeline for wireless carriers in the U.S. to implement georouting in 30 days for nationwide wireless providers and 24 months for smaller, non-nationwide providers following the effective date of the rules. It also requires text providers to provide georouting data for text messages sent to the 9-8-8 Lifeline.