Defeat of 911 Funding Measures in States Has Some Worried About the Future
The defeat of 911 funding bills in Kentucky, Wisconsin and Mississippi this year has left those in charge of operating emergency services worried about aging equipment, and wondering how to fund upgrades for next-generation 911 (NG-911), even as they struggle to pay for current-generation systems. The bills were among at least six nationwide that sought additional funding to make up for a decline in 911 fees collected from the dwindling number of landline customers.
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Despite stories of a county judge in Kentucky doing double-duty as a 911 supervisor to save money, “raising a fee or a tax in a year when you have mid-term elections wasn’t something that was palatable” for legislators, said Tyler Campbell, legislative liaison for the Kentucky League of Cities in an email. The league pushed a measure that would have raised 911 fees for all phone customers and a particularly large increase for prepaid cell customers. “At some point, the FCC is going to mandate next-generation 911. We're already behind the 8-Ball, struggling to keep up.”
"There’s a real concern by counties and cities about being able to afford to upgrade the equipment [for NG-911] unless we can come to grips with our funding situation,” Campbell said. David Callender, government affairs associate with the Wisconsin Counties Association, said, “There’s concern [among counties] there might not be sufficient funding [for NG-911] unless we can find a stable funding source.”
One measure that did pass in Oregon, HB-4055 (http://bit.ly/1l2d68U), authorized charging prepaid cell customers a 75-cents-a-month 911 fee. In Tennessee, legislators this week approved HB-2255 (http://1.usa.gov/1eu7Z2E), creating a standard $1.16-a-month 911 surcharge for all phone service that provides access to 911. The money replaces landline funding that public safety answering points (PSAPs) lost when Charter Communications last year switched from providing landline to VoIP and wireless, said Jamison Peevyhouse, Weakley County (Tenn.)’s director of emergency management.
The decline in landlines is affecting most states, said Evelyn Bailey, director of the National Association of State 9-1-1 Administrators. “Revenues are declining and it’s happening everywhere to some extent.” The association is planning a workshop in June to discuss funding options including calling for the creation of a federal 911 surcharge, and seeking money from the USF for 911 operations, she said. The FCC noted a disparity in funding from state to state in a February 2013 NG-911 report to Congress (http://fcc.us/1iUUnJH), noting “the amounts raised from state and territorial 911/E911 fees ranged from an estimated low of $1,779,710 in Guam to an estimated high of $209,202,098 in Texas.” The report said funding mechanisms may not adequately capture new services that offer 911 access and recommended Congress develop incentives on states to broaden funders to support NG-911 implementation.
The Wisconsin measure, Legislative Reference Bureau 3078/1 (http://bit.ly/1kXG7qv), would have done away with counties’ authority to charge up to a monthly 40-cent 911 fee on landlines that municipalities have been tapping to make up for the loss of state general aid, Callender said. The measure would have given counties the ability to charge a monthly 40-cent fee on all devices capable of contacting 911. The money could not be used for other purposes and would have to be spent on 911 services. The measure was hurt by a provision calling for $50 million a year in state funding for counties to offset the loss in phone fees, Callender said.
Drawing the opposition of social services groups was Kentucky’s HB-391 (http://bit.ly/Qabmkj). The measure would have increased the state’s monthly wireless 911 fee from 70 cents to $1 because the fee has not been increased since 1988, Campbell said. The wireless fee increase was intended to reflect that 75 percent of 911 calls in the state came from cellphones that generate only 20 percent of 911 funding, he said. The bill also would have changed a formula calculated to charge prepaid customers to raise the average monthly amount collected from roughly 23 cents to $1. Consumer Action and the Community Action Partnership blasted the provision, saying in a press release (http://prn.to/1dKEKZ9) it would “sock poor Kentucky residents.” Another failed measure, Mississippi SB-2813 (http://bit.ly/1hS8ZZh), would have doubled the 911 fee for residential landline, wireless and VoIP customers from $1 to $2.
In Missouri, PSAPs are continuing a 14-year quest to begin charging cellphone users a 911 fee. The state is the last in the nation to not charge the fee. HB-1573 (http://on.mo.gov/1jI9idr) would authorize counties to charge a $1.50 monthly 911 fee on cellphone customers, as well as a 3 percent statewide charge for each prepaid wireless purchase. The measure passed the House last month, but Lisa Schlottach, president of the Missouri 911 Directors Association, fretted the measure could run into opposition in the Senate. “Anything that revolves around a tax or a fee is an issue,” she said. The shift away from landlines has meant “there are places in the state that can’t provide dispatchers’ proper training,” Schlottach said. “You think of dispatchers being able to talk someone through CPR, but there are dispatchers who can’t do that.”