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S1178......................................................by STATE AFFAIRS
EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS FEE - Amends existing law as a trailer bill to
House Bill 363 of the 2003 Legislative Session to provide for utilization
of the emergency communications fee by a 911 service area; and to provide
for reimbursement of telecommunications providers.
03/31 Senate intro - 1st rdg - to printing
04/01 Rpt prt - to St Aff
Rpt out - rec d/p - to 2nd rdg
04/02 2nd rdg - to 3rd rdg
04/03 3rd rdg - PASSED - 33-0-2
AYES -- Andreason, Bailey, Brandt, Bunderson, Burkett, Burtenshaw,
Calabretta, Cameron, Compton, Darrington, Davis, Gannon, Geddes,
Hill, Ingram, Kennedy, Keough, Little, Lodge, Malepeai, Marley,
McKenzie, Noble, Noh, Pearce, Richardson, Schroeder, Sorensen,
Stegner, Stennett, Sweet, Werk, Williams
NAYS -- None
Absent and excused -- Goedde, McWilliams
Floor Sponsor - Sorensen
Title apvd - to House
04/04 House intro - 1st rdg - to St Aff
04/08 Rpt out - rec d/p - to 2nd rdg
04/09 2nd rdg - to 3rd rdg
04/14 3rd rdg - PASSED - 57-7-6
AYES -- Andersen, Barraclough, Bauer, Bedke, Bell, Bieter, Black,
Block, Boe, Bolz, Campbell, Cannon, Clark, Collins, Deal, Denney,
Douglas, Edmunson, Ellsworth, Eskridge, Field(18), Field(23), Gagner,
Garrett, Henbest, Jaquet, Jones, Kellogg, Lake, Langford, Langhorst,
Martinez, Meyer, Miller, Mitchell, Naccarato, Nielsen, Raybould,
Ring(Roberge), Ringo, Roberts, Robison, Rydalch, Sali, Sayler,
Schaefer, Shepherd, Shirley, Skippen, Smith(30), Smith(24), Smylie,
Snodgrass, Stevenson, Tilman, Trail(Young), Wills
NAYS -- Barrett, Harwood, Kulczyk, McGeachin, McKague, Moyle, Wood
Absent and excused -- Bradford(Larsen), Crow, Cuddy, Eberle,
Ridinger, Mr. Speaker
Floor Sponsor - Black
Title apvd - to Senate
04/15 To enrol
04/16 Rpt enrol - Pres signed
04/17 Sp signed
04/18 To Governor
04/23 Governor signed
Session Law Chapter 311
Effective: 07/01/03
|||| LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF IDAHO ||||
Fifty-seventh Legislature First Regular Session - 2003
IN THE SENATE
SENATE BILL NO. 1178
BY STATE AFFAIRS COMMITTEE
1 AN ACT
2 RELATING TO THE EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS ACT; AMENDING SECTION 31-4801, IDAHO
3 CODE, AS AMENDED BY HOUSE BILL 363, AS ENACTED BY THE FIRST REGULAR SES-
4 SION OF THE FIFTY-SEVENTH IDAHO LEGISLATURE, TO PROVIDE FOR UTILIZATION OF
5 THE EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS FEE BY A 911 SERVICE AREA; AND AMENDING SEC-
6 TION 31-4804, IDAHO CODE, AS AMENDED BY HOUSE BILL 363, AS ENACTED BY THE
7 FIRST REGULAR SESSION OF THE FIFTY-SEVENTH IDAHO LEGISLATURE, TO PROVIDE
8 FOR REIMBURSEMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS PROVIDERS.
9 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Idaho:
10 SECTION 1. That Section 31-4801, Idaho Code, as amended by House Bill
11 363, as enacted by the First Regular Session of the Fifty-seventh Idaho Legis-
12 lature, be, and the same is amended to read as follows:
13 31-4801. PURPOSE. The legislature recognizes that providing consolidated
14 emergency communications systems is vital in enhancing the public health,
15 safety, and welfare of the residents of the state of Idaho. The legislature
16 further finds that there is an obvious need for providing a means to finance
17 the initiation, maintenance, operation, enhancement and governance of consoli-
18 dated emergency communications systems.
19 (1) The legislature of the state of Idaho finds that:
20 (a) Since the original enactment of the emergency communications act in
21 1988, many of Idaho's communities have found that they are lacking in the
22 resources to fully fund emergency communications systems at the local
23 level;
24 (b) Changes in technology and the rapid growth of communications media
25 have demonstrated that financing such systems solely by a line charge on
26 subscribers to wire-line services does not reflect utilization of emer-
27 gency communications systems by subscribers to wireless and other forms of
28 communications systems;
29 (c) There is a need to enhance funding for the initiation and enhancement
30 of consolidated emergency communications systems throughout the state;
31 (d) Utilization of cellular telephones to access emergency communications
32 systems has substantially increased citizen access to emergency services
33 while at the same time increasing demands upon the emergency response sys-
34 tem.
35 (e) In order to protect and promote the public health and safety, and to
36 keep pace with advances in telecommunications technology and the various
37 choices of telecommunications technology available to the public, there is
38 a need to plan and develop a statewide coordinated policy and program to
39 ensure that enhanced 911 services are available to all citizens of the
40 state and in all areas of the state. Accordingly, it is the intent of the
41 legislature that the association of Idaho cities and the Idaho association
42 of counties establish a task force composed of county commissioners, sher-
43 iffs, city councilmen, police chiefs, fire chiefs, emergency medical ser-
2
1 vice providers and telecommunications providers. The purpose of the task
2 force is to review and, if appropriate, recommend legislation to the sec-
3 ond regular session of the fifty-seventh Idaho legislature concerning the:
4 (i) governance of 911 emergency communications systems and (ii) the estab-
5 lishment of emergency communications systems for those counties of the
6 state that do not have such systems.
7 (2) Therefore, it is hereby declared that the intent and purpose of the
8 provisions of this act are to:
9 (a) Provide authority to counties and 911 service areas to impose an
10 emergency communications fee on the use of both telephone lines and wire-
11 less communications systems;
12 (b) Provide that the emergency communications fee shall be exclusively
13 utilized by the counties or 911 service areas electing to impose it to
14 finance the initiation, maintenance, operation, enhancement and governance
15 of consolidated emergency systems as well as enhanced consolidated emer-
16 gency systems;
17 (c) Provide for the agreed-to reimbursement to wireless carriers for
18 their implementation of enhanced consolidated emergency communications
19 systems by counties or 911 service areas that have implemented enhanced
20 consolidated emergency communications systems.
21 SECTION 2. That Section 31-4804, Idaho Code, as amended by House Bill
22 363, as enacted by the First Regular Session of the Fifty-seventh Idaho Legis-
23 lature, be, and the same is amended to read as follows:
24 31-4804. EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS FEE. (1) The emergency communications
25 fee provided pursuant to the provisions of this chapter shall be a uniform
26 amount not to exceed one dollar ($1.00) per month per access line, and such
27 fee shall be used exclusively to finance the initiation, maintenance, opera-
28 tion, enhancement and governance of a consolidated emergency communications
29 system and provide for the reimbursement of wireless carriers telecommunica-
30 tions providers for implementing enhanced consolidated emergency systems as
31 provided for in section 31-4804A, Idaho Code. All emergency communications
32 fees collected and expended pursuant to this section shall be audited by an
33 independent, third party auditor ordinarily retained by the governing board
34 for auditing purposes. The purpose of the audit as related to emergency commu-
35 nications systems is to verify the accuracy and completeness of fees collected
36 and costs expended.
37 (2) The fee shall be collected from customers on a monthly basis by all
38 telecommunications providers that make available access lines to persons
39 within the county, or 911 service area, and may be listed as a separate item
40 on customers' monthly bills.
41 (3) The telecommunications providers shall remit such fee to the county
42 treasurer's office or the administrator for the 911 service area based upon
43 the 911 service area from which the fees were collected. In the event the
44 telecommunications provider remits such fees based upon the emergency communi-
45 cations fee billed to the customer, a deduction shall be allowed for uncol-
46 lected amounts when such amounts are treated as bad debt for financial report-
47 ing purposes.
48 (4) From every remittance to the governing body made on or before the
49 date when the same becomes due, the telecommunications provider required to
50 remit the same shall be entitled to deduct and retain one percent (1%) of the
51 collected amount as the cost of administration for collecting the charge.
52 Telecommunications providers will be allowed to list the surcharge as a sepa-
53 rate item on the telephone subscriber's bill, and shall have no obligation to
3
1 take any legal action to enforce the collection of any charge, nor be held
2 liable for such uncollected amounts.
3 (5) Use of fees. The emergency communications fee provided hereunder
4 shall be used only to pay for the lease, purchase or maintenance of emergency
5 communications equipment for basic and enhanced consolidated emergency sys-
6 tems, including necessary computer hardware, software, database provisioning,
7 training, salaries directly related to such systems, costs of establishing
8 such systems, and agreed-to reimbursement costs of telecommunications
9 providers related to the operation of such systems. All other expenditures
10 necessary to operate such systems and other normal and necessary safety or law
11 enforcement functions including, but not limited to, those expenditures
12 related to overhead, staffing, administrative and other day to day operational
13 expenditures, shall continue to be paid through the general funding of the
14 respective governing boards.
STATEMENT OF PURPOSE
RS 13250
The purpose of this legislation is to make two technical
corrections to House Bill 363.
The first correction is to add language that was
inadvertently dropped on page 2, line 26 of House Bill 363, and
merely requires the insertion of the words "or 911 service area"
after the word "counties."
The second correction provides the replacement of the words
"wireless carriers" on page 4, line 51 of House Bill 363, with
the words "telecommunications providers," which are the correct
terms used consistently throughout House Bill 363.
These terms were agreed to by the sponsors and were intended
to be correctly stated in House Bill 363.
FISCAL IMPACT
This bill will have no impact on the General Fund or any
local governmental entity.
Contact
Name: Michael J. Kane
Idaho Sheriffs Association
Phone: 208/342-4545
STATEMENT OF PURPOSE/FISCAL NOTE S 1178