New '911' Law Result of Motel Murder

San Angelo, Texas - A new Senate bill called Kari’s Law has been introduced to improve 911 services for multiline phone systems. Multiline phone systems are most commonly found in hotels and office buildings.

Kari’s Law was inspired by Kari Hunt. In late 2013, Kari was killed by her estranged husband at a motel in Northeast Texas. Kari’s 9-year-old daughter attempted to dial ‘911’ multiple times, but was unable to connect on the motel phone because the motel required people to dial ‘9’ to get an outside line.

Kari’s Law will amend the Communications Act of 1934. This bill requires phone vendors and individual buildings to make sure people can connect directly with emergency services without having to press ‘1’ or ‘9’ first. Kari’s Law will also add two new requirements. First, outgoing ‘911’ calls will connect directly to emergency services without interference. Second, with outgoing ‘911’ calls, onsite personnel will be notified that a ‘911’ call was made.

Tracy Gonzalez, public information officer for the San Angelo Police Department said, “This law should benefit people in the future if businesses adhere to the law.”

Congress.gov explained, “Businesses installing, managing, or operating such systems for use in the United States must configure the systems to provide a notification to a central location at the facility where the system is installed, or to another person or organization regardless of location, if the system is able to be so configured without an improvement to the hardware or software.”

When asked about how Kari’s Law could help people in the future, Gonzalez said, “I do think it would help prevent tragedies, as in the case of the murder of Kari Hunt. But, this would mean the business complies with the requirements of Kari’s Law (Senate Bill 788) and that the business does not file for a waiver.”

Although Kari Hunt had to lose her life for this bill to be created, it's never too late for change.

“I personally think that anything we can do to ensure a victim has the ability to request emergency assistance in a life or death situation is paramount," Gonzalez said. "There should not be any obstacle in any request for assistance. It should not take the loss of a life to remove these technological obstacles, but this is progress.”