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