HB 461: "An Act relating to enhanced 911 surcharges and to emergency services dispatch systems of municipalities, certain villages, and public corporations established by municipalities."
00 HOUSE BILL NO. 461 01 "An Act relating to enhanced 911 surcharges and to emergency services dispatch 02 systems of municipalities, certain villages, and public corporations established by 03 municipalities." 04 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 05 * Section 1. AS 09.65.070(d) is amended to read: 06 (d) An action for damages may not be brought against a municipality or any of 07 its agents, officers, or employees if the claim is based on 08 (1) [IS BASED ON] a failure of the municipality, or its agents, 09 officers, or employees, when the municipality is neither owner nor lessee of the 10 property involved, to 11 (A) [TO] inspect property for a violation of any statute, 12 regulation, or ordinance, or a hazard to health or safety; 13 (B) [TO] discover a violation of any statute, regulation, or 14 ordinance, or a hazard to health or safety if an inspection of property is made;
01 or 02 (C) [TO] abate a violation of any statute, regulation, or 03 ordinance, or a hazard to health or safety discovered on property inspected; 04 (2) [IS BASED UPON] the exercise or performance or the failure to 05 exercise or perform a discretionary function or duty by a municipality or its agents, 06 officers, or employees, whether or not the discretion involved is abused; 07 (3) [IS BASED UPON] the grant, issuance, refusal, suspension, delay, 08 or denial of a license, permit, appeal, approval, exception, variance, or other 09 entitlement, or a rezoning; 10 (4) [IS BASED ON] the exercise or performance during the course of 11 gratuitous extension of municipal services on an extraterritorial basis; 12 (5) [IS BASED UPON] the exercise or performance of a duty or 13 function upon the request of, or by the terms of an agreement or contract with, the 14 state to meet emergency public safety requirements; or 15 (6) [IS BASED ON] the exercise or performance of a duty in 16 connection with an emergency services dispatch system or enhanced 911 emergency 17 system and is not based on an intentional act of misconduct or on an act of gross 18 negligence. 19 * Sec. 2. AS 29.10.200(37) is amended to read: 20 (37) AS 29.35.131 (emergency services dispatch system and 21 enhanced 911 system); 22 * Sec. 3. AS 29.35.131(a) is amended to read: 23 (a) A municipality may, by resolution or ordinance, elect to provide an 24 emergency services dispatch system or an enhanced 911 system at public safety 25 answering points, may purchase or lease the enhanced 911 equipment or service 26 required to establish or maintain an enhanced 911 system at public safety answering 27 points from a local exchange telephone company or other qualified vendor, and may 28 impose an enhanced 911 surcharge, in an amount to be determined by the 29 municipality, on all local exchange access lines that provide telephone service to 30 wireline telephones in the area to be served by the enhanced 911 system. A 31 municipality that provides services under an enhanced 911 system may also by
01 resolution or ordinance impose an enhanced 911 surcharge on each wireless telephone 02 number that is billed to an address within the enhanced 911 service area. For a 03 municipality with a population of 100,000 or more, an enhanced 911 surcharge may 04 not exceed 50 cents per month for each wireless telephone number or 50 cents per 05 month for each local exchange access line for wireline telephones, and an additional 06 $1.35 for emergency services dispatch if that is also provided. For a municipality 07 with fewer than 100,000 people, an enhanced 911 surcharge may not exceed 85 [75] 08 cents per month for each wireless telephone number or 85 [75] cents per month for 09 each local exchange access line for wireline telephones, and an additional $2.15 for 10 emergency services dispatch if that is also provided. An enhanced 911 or 11 emergency services dispatch service area may be all of a city, all of a unified 12 municipality, or all or part of the area within a borough and may include the 13 extraterritorial jurisdiction of a municipality in accordance with AS 29.35.020. The 14 governing body of a municipality shall review an enhanced 911 surcharge and an 15 emergency services dispatch surcharge annually to determine whether the current 16 level of the surcharge is adequate, excessive, or insufficient to meet anticipated 17 [ENHANCED 911] system needs. The municipality may only use the enhanced 911 18 surcharge for the enhanced 911 system. The municipality may only use the 19 emergency services dispatch surcharge for the actual labor and equipment used 20 to provide emergency services dispatch. If, within an emergency services 21 dispatch service area, more than one dispatch center is operated, the emergency 22 service dispatch surcharge shall be apportioned on a per call basis among 23 dispatch centers on an annual basis. 24 * Sec. 4. AS 29.35.131(b) is amended to read: 25 (b) A local exchange telephone company providing service in a municipality 26 that has imposed an enhanced 911 surcharge or an emergency services dispatch 27 surcharge shall bill each month and collect the surcharge from customers in the 28 enhanced 911 or emergency services dispatch service area. A wireless telephone 29 company that provides telephone service to wireless telephone customers with billing 30 addresses within the enhanced 911 or emergency services dispatch service area shall 31 impose the [AN ENHANCED 911] surcharge each month and collect the surcharge
01 from customers in the enhanced 911 or emergency services dispatch service area. A 02 local exchange telephone customer may not be subject to more than one enhanced 911 03 surcharge and more than one emergency services dispatch surcharge on a local 04 exchange access line for a wireline telephone. A wireless telephone customer may not 05 be subject to more than one enhanced 911 surcharge and more than one emergency 06 services dispatch surcharge for each wireless telephone number. A customer that 07 has more than 100 local exchange access lines from a local exchange telephone 08 company in the municipality is liable for the enhanced 911 surcharge and for the 09 emergency services dispatch surcharge only on 100 local exchange access lines. 10 * Sec. 5. AS 29.35.131(c) is amended to read: 11 (c) A local exchange telephone company or wireless telephone company shall 12 include the appropriate enhanced 911 surcharge and emergency services dispatch 13 surcharge, stated separately and included in the total amount owed, in the bills 14 delivered to its customers. The Regulatory Commission of Alaska may not consider 15 the enhanced 911 surcharge or emergency services dispatch surcharge as revenue of 16 the telephone company and has no jurisdiction over an enhanced 911 system. A 17 customer is liable for payment of the enhanced 911 surcharge and the emergency 18 services dispatch surcharge in the amounts billed by the telephone company until the 19 amounts have been paid to the telephone company. 20 * Sec. 6. AS 29.35.131(d) is amended to read: 21 (d) A local exchange telephone company or wireless telephone company that 22 has collected the enhanced 911 surcharge or the emergency services dispatch 23 surcharge shall remit the amounts collected to the municipality no later than 60 days 24 after the end of the month in which the amount was collected. From each remittance 25 made in a timely manner under this subsection, the telephone company is entitled to 26 deduct and retain the greater of one percent of the collected amount or $150 as the cost 27 of administration for collecting the enhanced 911 surcharge, and an additional 28 amount of one percent of the collected amount of the emergency services dispatch 29 surcharge or $150 as the cost of administration for collecting the emergency 30 services dispatch surcharge. In addition, a wireless telephone company is entitled to 31 full recovery of the recurring and nonrecurring costs associated with implementation
01 and operation of Phase I E911 service as allowed under Federal Communications 02 Commission proceedings entitled "Revision of the Commission's Rules to Ensure 03 Compatibility with Enhanced 9-1-1 Emergency Calling Systems" (CC Docket No. 94- 04 102; RM-8143). 05 * Sec. 7. AS 29.35.131(e) is amended to read: 06 (e) A local exchange telephone company or wireless telephone company is not 07 obligated to take legal action to enforce collection of the enhanced 911 surcharge or 08 the emergency services dispatch surcharge. However, if a telephone company is 09 attempting to collect an unpaid debt from a customer, the telephone company shall 10 also attempt to collect any unpaid [ENHANCED 911] surcharge that the customer 11 owes. If a customer pays a portion of a bill that includes a [AN ENHANCED 911] 12 surcharge, the amount paid shall be prorated between the telephone company and the 13 [ENHANCED 911] surcharge. The telephone company shall annually provide the 14 municipality with a list of the amounts due for the nonpayment of [ENHANCED 911] 15 surcharges, together with the names and addresses of those customers who carry a 16 balance that can be determined by the telephone company to be for the nonpayment of 17 the [ENHANCED 911] surcharges. The telephone company is not liable for 18 uncollected amounts. 19 * Sec. 8. AS 29.35.131(f) is amended to read: 20 (f) The municipality may, at its own expense, require an annual audit of a 21 local exchange telephone company's or wireless telephone company's books and 22 records concerning the collection and remittance of the enhanced 911 surcharge or the 23 emergency services dispatch surcharge. 24 * Sec. 9. AS 29.35.133(a) is amended to read: 25 (a) The establishment, funding, use, operation, or maintenance of enhanced 26 911 or emergency services dispatch systems and all activities associated with those 27 actions are specifically found to be within the ambit of AS 09.50.250(1) and 28 AS 09.65.070(d)(6). Except for intentional acts of misconduct or gross negligence, a 29 service supplier, local exchange telephone company, or wireless telephone company 30 and their employees and agents are also immune from tort liability that might 31 otherwise be incurred in the course of installing, training, maintaining, or providing
01 enhanced 911 systems or transmitting or receiving calls on the system. 02 * Sec. 10. AS 29.35.137 is amended by adding a new paragraph to read: 03 (12) "emergency services dispatch" means a service offered by a 04 municipality that provides continuous day and night dispatch of emergency medical, 05 police, fire, or rescue services using enhanced 911 facilities.