N.Y. CNT Law § 300

§ 300. Legislative findings and declaration of intent. The legislature\nrecognizes the paramount importance of the health, safety and welfare of\nthe citizens of the state and further recognizes that when the lives or\nproperty of its citizens are in imminent danger that timely and\nappropriate assistance must be rendered.\n The legislature recognizes further that such assistance is almost\nalways summoned by telephone and that a multiplicity of emergency\ntelephone numbers exist within any one county and that unintentional,\nthough avoidable, delays in reaching appropriate emergency aid can and\ndo occur to the detriment and jeopardy of life and property.\n The legislature acknowledges that the three digit number, 911, is a\nnationally recognized and applied telephone number which may be used to\nsummon emergency aid and to eliminate delays caused by lack of\nfamiliarity with emergency numbers and by understandable confusion in\ncircumstances of crisis.\n The legislature finds that the enhanced emergency telephone service\nknown as E911 provides substantial benefits beyond basic 911 systems\nthrough the provision of selective routing and automatic number and\nlocation identification and that these enhancements not only\nsignificantly reduce the response time of emergency services but also\nrepresent the state of the art in fail-safe emergency telephone system\ntechnology.\n The legislature further finds that a major obstacle to the\nestablishment of an E911 system in the various counties within the state\nis the cost of the telecommunication equipment and services which are\nnecessary to provide such system.\n The legislature further finds and declares that, by the enactment of\nthe provisions of this article, it is the intent of the legislature to\nfulfill its obligation to provide for the health, safety and welfare of\nthe people of this state by providing counties with a funding mechanism\nto assist in the payment of the costs associated with establishing and\nmaintaining an E911 system and thereby considerably increase the\npotential for providing all citizens of this state with the valuable\nservices inherent in an E911 system.\n