CSHB 186(L&C): "An Act relating to a municipal enhanced 911 surcharge on wireless telephones."
00 CS FOR HOUSE BILL NO. 186(L&C) 01 "An Act relating to a municipal enhanced 911 surcharge on wireless telephones." 02 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 03 * Section 1. AS 29.35.131(a) is amended to read: 04 (a) A municipality may, by resolution or ordinance, elect to provide an 05 enhanced 911 system at public safety answering points, may purchase or lease the 06 enhanced 911 equipment or service required to establish or maintain an enhanced 911 07 system at public safety answering points from a local exchange telephone company or 08 other qualified vendor, and may impose an enhanced [A] 911 surcharge, in an amount 09 to be determined by the municipality, on all local exchange access lines that provide 10 telephone service to wireline telephones in the area to be served by the enhanced 11 911 system. A municipality that provides services under an enhanced 911 system 12 may also by resolution or ordinance impose an enhanced 911 surcharge on each 13 wireless telephone number that is billed to an address within the enhanced 911 14 service area. For a municipality with a population of 100,000 or more, an enhanced 15 911 [THE] surcharge may not exceed 50 cents per month for each wireless telephone
01 number or 50 cents per month for each [PER] local exchange access line for 02 wireline telephones. For a municipality with fewer than 100,000 people, an 03 enhanced 911 [THE] surcharge may not exceed 75 cents per month for each wireless 04 telephone number or 75 cents per month for each [PER] local exchange access line 05 for wireline telephones. An enhanced 911 service area [THE AREA SERVED BY 06 A SYSTEM] may be all of a city, all of a unified municipality, or all or part of the area 07 within a borough and may include the extraterritorial jurisdiction of a municipality in 08 accordance with AS 29.35.020. The governing body of a municipality shall review an 09 enhanced [THE] 911 surcharge annually to determine whether the current level of the 10 surcharge is adequate, excessive, or insufficient to meet anticipated enhanced 911 11 system needs. The municipality may only use the enhanced 911 surcharge for the 12 enhanced 911 system. 13 * Sec. 2. AS 29.35.131(b) is amended to read: 14 (b) A local exchange telephone company providing service in a municipality 15 that has imposed an enhanced [A] 911 surcharge shall bill each month and collect 16 the surcharge from customers in the enhanced [DESIGNATED] 911 service area. A 17 wireless telephone company that provides telephone service to wireless telephone 18 customers with billing addresses within the enhanced 911 service area shall 19 impose an enhanced 911 surcharge each month and collect the surcharge from 20 customers in the enhanced 911 service area. A local exchange telephone customer 21 may not be subject to more than one enhanced 911 surcharge on a local exchange 22 access line for a wireline telephone. A wireless telephone customer may not be 23 subject to more than one enhanced 911 surcharge for each wireless telephone 24 number. A customer that has more than 100 local exchange access lines from a local 25 exchange telephone company in the municipality is liable for the enhanced 911 26 surcharge only on 100 local exchange access lines. 27 * Sec. 3. AS 29.35.131(c) is amended to read: 28 (c) A local exchange telephone company or wireless telephone company 29 shall include the appropriate enhanced 911 surcharge, stated separately and included 30 in the total amount owed, in the bills delivered to its customers. The Regulatory 31 Commission of Alaska may not consider the enhanced 911 surcharge as revenue of
01 the [LOCAL EXCHANGE] telephone company and has no jurisdiction over an 02 enhanced 911 system. A [LOCAL EXCHANGE SERVICE] customer is liable for 03 payment of the enhanced 911 surcharge in the amounts billed by the [LOCAL 04 EXCHANGE] telephone company until the amounts have been paid to the telephone 05 company. 06 * Sec. 4. AS 29.35.131(d) is amended to read: 07 (d) A local exchange telephone company or wireless telephone company that 08 has collected the enhanced 911 surcharge shall remit the amounts collected to the 09 municipality no later than 60 days after the end of the month in which the amount was 10 collected. From each remittance made in a timely manner under this subsection, the 11 [LOCAL EXCHANGE] telephone company is entitled to deduct and retain the greater 12 of one percent of the collected amount or $150 as the cost of administration for 13 collecting the enhanced 911 surcharge. In addition, a wireless telephone company 14 is entitled to full recovery of the recurring and nonrecurring costs associated with 15 implementation and operation of Phase I E911 service as allowed under Federal 16 Communications Commission proceedings entitled "Revision of the 17 Commission's Rules to Ensure Compatibility with Enhanced 9-1-1 Emergency 18 Calling Systems" (CC Docket No. 94 - 102; RM - 8143). 19 * Sec. 5. AS 29.35.131(e) is amended to read: 20 (e) A local exchange telephone company or wireless telephone company is 21 not obligated to take legal action to enforce collection of the enhanced 911 surcharge. 22 However, if a [LOCAL EXCHANGE] telephone company is attempting to collect an 23 unpaid debt from a [LOCAL EXCHANGE SERVICE] customer, the telephone 24 company shall also attempt to collect any unpaid enhanced 911 surcharge that the 25 customer owes. If a customer pays a portion of a bill that includes an enhanced [A] 26 911 surcharge, the amount paid shall be prorated between the telephone company and 27 the enhanced 911 surcharge. The telephone company shall annually provide the 28 municipality with a list of the amounts due for the nonpayment of enhanced 911 29 [EMERGENCY] surcharges, together with the names and addresses of those 30 customers who carry a balance that can be determined by the telephone company to 31 be for the nonpayment of the enhanced 911 [EMERGENCY] surcharges. The
01 [LOCAL EXCHANGE] telephone company is not liable for uncollected amounts. 02 * Sec. 6. AS 29.35.131(f) is amended to read: 03 (f) The municipality may, at its own expense, require an annual audit of a 04 local exchange telephone company's or wireless telephone company's books and 05 records concerning the collection and remittance of the enhanced 911 surcharge. 06 * Sec. 7. AS 29.35.133(a) is amended to read: 07 (a) The establishment, funding, use, operation, or maintenance of enhanced 08 911 systems and all activities associated with those actions are specifically found to be 09 within the ambit of AS 09.50.250(1) and AS 09.65.070(d)(6). Except for intentional 10 acts of misconduct or gross negligence, a service supplier, local exchange telephone 11 company, or wireless [MOBILE] telephone company [, INCLUDING A CELLULAR 12 SERVICE COMPANY,] and their employees and agents [,] are also immune from tort 13 liability that might otherwise be incurred in the course of installing, training, 14 maintaining, or providing enhanced 911 systems or transmitting or receiving calls on 15 the system. 16 * Sec. 8. AS 29.35.137(1) is amended to read: 17 (1) ["911 SERVICE AREA" OR] "enhanced 911 service area" means 18 the area within a municipality's jurisdiction that has been designated to receive 19 enhanced 911 service; the designation of an area to receive an enhanced 911 system 20 under AS 29.35.131(a) does not designate the area as a "service area" for purposes of 21 art. X, sec. 5, Constitution of the State of Alaska; 22 * Sec. 9. AS 29.35.137(3) is amended to read: 23 (3) "enhanced 911 system" [OR "SYSTEM"] means a telephone 24 system consisting of network, database, and enhanced 911 equipment that uses the 25 single three digit number, 911, for reporting a police, fire, medical, or other 26 emergency situation, and that enables the users of a public telephone system to reach a 27 public safety answering point to report emergencies by dialing 911; an enhanced 911 28 system includes the personnel required to acquire, install, operate, and maintain the 29 system and its facilities and to dispatch the calls generated by the system; 30 * Sec. 10. AS 29.35.137 is amended by adding new paragraphs to read: 31 (9) "wireless telephone" means a telephone that is not a wireline
01 telephone and includes cellular and mobile telephones; each wireless telephone 02 number is considered to be a separate wireless telephone; 03 (10) "wireless telephone company" means a telephone utility that 04 provides telephone service for wireless telephone customers who receive monthly or 05 periodic bills sent to an address within a designated enhanced 911 service area; 06 (11) "wireline telephone" means a telephone that uses a local exchange 07 access line.