Illustration by Rolando Chiapoco
When Sept. 1 rolls around, the phone systems in every business in the state of Texas must provide access to emergency services without having to dial for an outside line. Known as Kari’s Law, the bill passed by the 2015 state legislature makes Texas the third state in the nation to implement the requirement.
Kari’s Law is named after Kari Renee Hunt, who was murdered in 2013 by her estranged husband in a hotel room in Marshall. When her 9-year-old daughter tried to call 911 from the hotel room, she was unable to get through because the phone system required she dial a “9” first for an open line. Making 911 the only number anyone would ever need to dial to get emergency services became the Hunt family’s mission.
“Now, it is a law here in Texas,” said Kathleen Porché, 911 program manager for the Corpus Christi Police Department MetroCom. “All businesses have to either have this fixed on their phone systems or have a waiver that gives them another year to get it fixed.”
Waiver applications can be found online at Texas911.org/karislaw. Part of that process includes putting stickers on every phone in the system that clearly explains how to get an outside line before dialing 911.
While the law will be enforced nationally by the Federal Communications Commission rather than the CCPD, local officials have taken on the responsibility of alerting businesses about the law.
“We are putting up billboards and getting the word out,” Porché said. “We want to get the information out there to our businesses so they can comply and help our citizens get help as quickly as possible if they are in an unfortunate incident.”
So far, all city buildings are in compliance with the law.
“Here at MetroCom, we care about our community and the people we serve,” Porché said. “We want to be sure they are safe and have access to 911. We want businesses to comply with this law to help our citizens be able to get 911 help when needed.”
