Kari’s Law & RAY BAUM’S Act: The E911 Rules Every Business Phone System Must Follow

If your business uses VoIP phones, two federal laws — Kari's Law and Section 506 of RAY BAUM'S Act — dictate exactly how your phone system must handle 911 calls. Non-compliance isn't just a safety risk; it carries real FCC penalties. Here's what both laws require, who's responsible, and how to make sure your phone system is compliant.

Why These Laws Exist

Both laws came out of preventable tragedies where someone couldn't reach 911 from a business or hotel phone, or where emergency responders were sent to the wrong location. They set a national baseline for how multi-line telephone systems (MLTS) — the kind of PBX or cloud phone system almost every business uses — must handle emergency calls.

The two laws solve two different problems: Kari's Law is about reaching 911, and RAY BAUM'S Act is about finding you when you do.

Kari's Law: Direct 911 Dialing

Kari's Law requires that multi-line phone systems allow users to dial 911 directly — without a prefix. No dialing "9" first for an outside line, no access codes.

It has two core requirements:

1. Direct dialing. A person must be able to dial 911 and reach emergency services without any prefix or extra steps.
2. Notification. When someone dials 911, the system must send a notification (to a front desk, security office, or designated contact) so on-site personnel know an emergency call was placed and can direct responders when they arrive.

The notification requirement is the one businesses most often overlook. It can be an on-screen alert, an email, a text, or a call to a central desk — but it has to happen automatically.

RAY BAUM'S Act (Section 506): Dispatchable Location

Kari's Law makes sure the call goes through. RAY BAUM'S Act makes sure responders know where to go.

Section 506 requires that a "dispatchable location" be transmitted with every 911 call. A dispatchable location is more than a street address — it's enough detail to actually find the caller, including:

• The street address of the calling party, and
• Additional location information such as building, floor, suite, or room number where needed to locate the caller quickly.

This matters enormously for larger sites. A 911 call from a 12-story office building or a sprawling campus is nearly useless to responders if all they get is the street address. Dispatchable location tells them which floor and which suite.

Who Must Comply, and Who's Responsible

These rules apply to multi-line telephone systems — essentially any business phone system with multiple extensions, whether on-premises PBX, hosted PBX, or SIP-based cloud calling.

Responsibility is shared across the parties who install, manage, and operate the system: manufacturers, importers, sellers, installers, and the businesses that operate the MLTS. In practice, if you operate a phone system for your organization, you share responsibility for its 911 compliance — which is why the choice of provider and how they configure your system matters so much.

The Remote Work Wrinkle

Dispatchable location gets genuinely hard when employees take softphones and IP phones home or on the road. A phone registered to your office won't automatically report a home address. Compliant systems handle this by:

• Prompting remote users to confirm or update their location, or
• Detecting location automatically where the technology allows, and
• Keeping location records current so a 911 call from a laptop softphone routes to the right emergency call center with the right address.

If your workforce is distributed, ask your provider specifically how they handle E911 for off-site users. This is where many systems quietly fall short.

How to Make Sure You're Compliant

1. Test direct 911 dialing. From several phones, confirm 911 connects with no prefix. (Coordinate with your provider or use a test protocol — don't tie up real 911 dispatchers.)
2. Verify the notification fires. Confirm someone on-site is alerted when 911 is dialed.
3. Check dispatchable location per phone. Make sure each phone reports an address specific enough to find the caller — including floor/suite for multi-story or multi-tenant sites.
4. Cover remote users. Confirm softphones and take-home devices report a usable location.
5. Keep records updated. Location data must stay current as people and phones move.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does this apply to small businesses? Yes. The laws apply to multi-line telephone systems generally, which covers the phone systems used by businesses of essentially all sizes. Small offices are not exempt.

We use a cloud phone system — is compliance automatic? Not necessarily. A good provider configures direct dialing, notifications, and dispatchable location for you — but you should verify it, especially for remote workers. Compliance is a shared responsibility.

What counts as a valid "dispatchable location"? The validated street address plus enough additional detail (building, floor, suite, room) to actually locate the caller. A bare street address for a large multi-floor building generally isn't sufficient.

What are the penalties for non-compliance? These are FCC rules, and non-compliance can expose the responsible parties to enforcement and penalties — on top of the obvious safety liability if someone can't reach help.

The Bottom Line

Kari's Law and RAY BAUM'S Act turn 911 handling from a "nice to have" into a legal requirement for every business phone system: dial 911 directly, notify on-site staff, and transmit a location precise enough to find the caller — including for remote workers. The good news is that with a properly configured phone system, all of this runs automatically in the background.

This article is general information, not legal advice. Confirm your specific obligations with a qualified professional.

Want to be sure your phone system is E911-compliant? YonderTele configures and verifies Kari's Law and RAY BAUM'S Act compliance as part of every deployment.