
California spent nearly half a billion dollars on an emergency response system that confused dispatchers and reportedly delayed medical care. Now, lawmakers are pushing for renewed scrutiny of the program after local journalists exposed the system's life-endangering failures.
The debacle began in 2019, when California Gov. Gavin Newsom vowed to overhaul the state's "antiquated" emergency calling system. The state wanted to replace the analog system with Next Generation 911, a modernized system that could transmit more information, including voice, text, and video.