By January 1, 1997, or one year after enhanced 911 service becomes available or a private switch automatic location identification service approved by the Washington utilities and transportation commission is available from the serving local exchange telecommunications company, whichever is later, any private shared telecommunications services provider that provides service to residential customers shall assure that the telecommunications system is connected to the public switched network such that calls to 911 result in automatic location identification for each residential unit in a format that is compatible with the existing or planned county enhanced 911 system.

Findings—1995 c 243: "The legislature finds that citizens of the state increasingly rely on the dependability of enhanced 911, a system that allows the person answering an emergency call to immediately determine the location of the emergency without the need of the caller to speak. The legislature further finds that in some cases, calls made from telephones connected to private telephone systems may not be precisely located by the answerer, eliminating some of the benefit of enhanced 911, and that this condition could additionally imperil citizens calling from these locations in an emergency. The legislature also finds that until national standards have been developed to address this condition, information-forwarding requirements should be mandated for only those settings with the most risk, including schools, residences, and some business settings." [ 1995 c 243 s 1.]

Severability—1995 c 243: "If any provision of this act or its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the remainder of the act or the application of the provision to other persons or circumstances is not affected." [ 1995 c 243 s 12.]