Kari’s Law will make 9-1-1 Work for Everyone

This week the House passed Kari's Law Act 2017 (H.R. 582). This legislation is designed to prevent another tragedy by requiring all Multi-Line Telephone Systems (MLTS) to have a default setting that allows people to directly dial 9-1-1, without the need for additional digits or prefix.

I am honored to support this bill, in memory of Kari Hunt, so that everyone calling from anywhere in the U.S can easily dial 9-1-1 for help. No one, especially someone’s child, should ever be unable to dial 9-1-1 to save a loved one’s life.  

BACKGROUND: In December 2013, Kari Hunt was killed in a motel room in Texas. Her daughter repeatedly attempted to dial 9-1-1 from the motel room, but was unable to reach emergency responders because the motel’s MLTS required users to dial “9” to reach an outside line. While many hotels and office buildings have begun to make this change to their systems voluntarily, there is no uniform requirement that every MLTS be capable of directly dialing 9-1-1.