00 SENATE BILL NO. 196 01 "An Act establishing a behavioral health crisis services surcharge; establishing the 02 behavioral health crisis services fund; and providing for an effective date." 03 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 04  * Section 1. AS 43.98 is amended by adding a new section to read: 05 Article 5. Behavioral Health Crisis Services Surcharge.  06 Sec. 43.98.080. Behavioral health crisis services surcharge; behavioral  07 health crisis services fund. (a) A behavioral health crisis services surcharge of $.98 a 08 month is imposed for each wireless telephone number and for each local exchange 09 access line for wireline telephones. 10 (b) A local exchange telephone company that provides service in the state 11 shall bill each month and collect a behavioral health crisis services surcharge from 12 each customer. A wireless telephone company that provides telephone service to a 13 customer with a billing address in the state shall impose a behavioral health crisis 14 services surcharge each month and collect the surcharge from the customer. A local 01 exchange telephone customer may not be subject to more than one behavioral health 02 crisis services surcharge on a local exchange access line for a wireline telephone. A 03 wireless telephone customer may not be subject to more than one behavioral health 04 crisis services surcharge for each wireless telephone number. A customer that has 05 more than 100 local exchange access lines from a local exchange telephone company 06 in the state is liable for the behavioral health crisis services surcharge only on 100 07 local exchange access lines. 08 (c) A local exchange telephone company or wireless telephone company shall 09 include the appropriate behavioral health crisis services surcharge, stated separately 10 and included in the total amount owed, in the bill delivered to a customer. The 11 Regulatory Commission of Alaska may not consider the behavioral health crisis 12 services surcharge as revenue of the telephone company and has no jurisdiction over 13 behavioral health crisis services. A customer is liable for payment of the surcharge in 14 the amount billed by the telephone company until the amount has been paid to the 15 telephone company. 16 (d) A local exchange telephone company or wireless telephone company that 17 has collected the behavioral health crisis services surcharge shall remit the amount 18 collected to the department not later than 60 days after the end of the month in which 19 the amount was collected. From each remittance made in a timely manner under this 20 subsection, the telephone company is entitled to deduct and retain the greater of one 21 percent of the collected amount or $150 as the cost of administration for collecting the 22 surcharge. 23 (e) A local exchange telephone company or wireless telephone company is not 24 obligated to take legal action to enforce collection of the behavioral health crisis 25 services surcharge. However, if a telephone company attempts to collect an unpaid 26 debt from a customer, the telephone company shall also attempt to collect any unpaid 27 behavioral health crisis services surcharges that the customer owes. If a customer pays 28 a portion of a bill that includes a behavioral health crisis services surcharge, the 29 amount paid is prorated between the telephone company and the surcharge. The 30 telephone company shall annually provide the department with a list of the amounts 31 due for the nonpayment of behavioral health crisis services surcharges, together with 01 the name and address of each customer who carries a balance that can be determined 02 by the telephone company to be for the nonpayment of the surcharge. The telephone 03 company is not liable for an uncollected amount. 04 (f) The department may, at its own expense, require an annual audit of a local 05 exchange telephone company's or wireless telephone company's books and records 06 concerning the collection and remittance of the behavioral health crisis services 07 surcharge. 08 (g) The behavioral health crisis services fund is established in the general 09 fund. The Department of Administration shall separately account for the behavioral 10 health crisis services surcharge collected under this section and deposit the surcharge 11 into the behavioral health crisis services fund. The fund consists of the money 12 deposited by the Department of Administration under this subsection, donations to the 13 fund, interest earned on the fund, and appropriations made to the fund. The legislature 14 may appropriate the annual estimated balance in the fund to the Department of Health 15 for the purposes of 16 (1) establishing, operating, maintaining, and improving the single 17 three-digit number 988 for reporting a behavioral health issue or crisis, including 18 personnel costs, technology, and infrastructure enhancements necessary to achieve 19 operational and clinical standards and evidence-based best practices; 20 (2) providing services to a person experiencing a behavioral health 21 crisis; 22 (3) recruiting and retaining qualified behavioral health services 23 personnel; 24 (4) providing specialized training related to providing behavioral 25 health services to at-risk communities, including providing culturally and 26 linguistically competent behavioral health services; 27 (5) providing prevention services tailored to populations that 28 experience higher rates of suicide than the rest of the state; 29 (6) providing behavioral health education and raising public awareness 30 of the single three-digit number 988 and other behavioral health crisis services 31 available in the state; 01 (7) collecting, analyzing, and reporting data, including seeking 02 feedback from behavioral health services recipients and related quality improvement 03 activities; 04 (8) administration, oversight, and evaluation of the behavioral health 05 crisis services fund. 06 (h) Nothing in this section creates a dedicated fund. 07 (i) In this section, 08 (1) "local exchange access line" has the meaning given in 09 AS 29.35.137; 10 (2) "local exchange telephone company" has the meaning given in 11 AS 29.35.137; 12 (3) "wireless telephone" has the meaning given in AS 29.35.137; 13 (4) "wireless telephone company" has the meaning given in 14 AS 29.35.137; 15 (5) "wireline telephone" has the meaning given in AS 29.35.137. 16  * Sec. 2. This Act takes effect July 1, 2025.