Kari’s Law Now in Effect Nationwide

MARSHALL — Monday is first day across the nation that businesses are required to be compliant with Kari’s Law. This law requires telephone systems to have direct access to 9-1-1. According to our news partner KETK, the law is named for Kari Hunt, she was stabbed to death in 2013 by her husband in a Marshall motel room. The couple’s oldest daughter, was 9-year-old at the time, dialed 9-1-1 for help.

During the struggle, the child tried but was unsuccessful in getting help because the motel phone required “9” to be dialed first to reach any outside line, including emergency services. After Kari’s death, her father, Hank, made it his mission to make sure no child would experience what his granddaughter did trying to call 9-1-1 and not receiving help. He started a petition that got the attention of hundreds of thousands of people including lawmakers across the nation. On the state level, Illinois, Maryland, and Tennesse passed the law before Texas passed it in 2015 by Governor Greg Abbott. The law went into effect in Texas on September 1, 2016.

Congressman Louie Gohmert sponsored Kari’s Law at the national level that was passed by Congress in 2017 and signed into law on what would have been Kari’s 36th birthday by President Trump in February 2018. “The horrific death of East Texas resident Kari Rene Hunt caused many people throughout the First District of Texas and the country to lose trust in a system that should assist when faced with emergency situations. Never again should a child or anyone else, for that matter, pick up the phone, dial 9-1-1, and get nothing.” Rep. Louie Gohmert, 2017.