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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 - 2003IN 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 ofwireless carrierstelecommunica- 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