SACRAMENTO, CA - Assemblymember Rhodesia Ransom, Chair of the Assembly Emergency Management Committee, announced today that the provisions of her bill, AB 1805, calling for crucial oversight and investigation into mismanagement and cost overruns in California’s Next Gen 911 project, have been transitioned into California’s 2026-27 budget, ensuring these key provisions go into effect as soon as July.
The budget agreement follows negotiations resulting from California’s Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) issuance of a report highlighting grave concerns with project mismanagement. The state has already spent $456 million developing Next Gen 911 under a regional model that the California Office of Emergency Services (OES) is now seeking to shift away from, despite significant concerns, repeated technical failures, and lack of communication with the public. The LAO found the project is overdue, over budget, and lacks key transparency measures to ensure OES is properly stewarding public funds. Emergency Management hearings, led by Assemblymember Ransom, underscored concerns regarding project modeling, vendor engagement, and oversight.
In response, Assemblymember Ransom has collaborated directly with the Senate and Assembly Budget committees, public safety leaders, key stakeholders, as well as the Newsom Administration to ensure that the project receives a rigorous audit and separate technical evaluation before any new funds are spent on long-term contracts, to make certain that this project gets back on track safely and responsibly.
“This budget language marks a turning point for the Next Gen 911 project, and shows Californians that the Legislators they elected are translating talk into action. We have spent hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars on a project to keep Californians safe, and after more than a decade our state still has no reliable network to show for it. Today’s budget deal changes the status quo and moves us towards the next generation of 911 services. Thank you to Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas and Budget Chair Jesse Gabriel and their teams for working tirelessly with me to make sure that this project takes accountability for its failures and moves forward in a way that keeps Californians safe for decades to come.”
-Assemblymember Rhodesia Ransom
The budget items, which passed on June 29th, now wait for Governor Newsom’s approval and will take effect immediately upon his signature. The language requires quarterly reporting to the Legislature on the status of the Next Gen 911 project, initiates a thorough audit from the State Auditor and a rapid-response technical evaluation from qualified experts, and ensures that no contracts will be issued to private contractors until the evaluation is complete.
