BILL NUMBER: AB 510 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 22, 2015
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Members Rodriguez and Williams
FEBRUARY 23, 2015
An act to add and repeal Section 53122 of the Government
Code, relating to emergency services. repeal and amend
Section 41030 of the Revenue and Taxation Code, relating
to emergency services, and declaring the urgency thereof, to take
effect immediately.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 510, as amended, Rodriguez. Emergency services: 911
emergency communication system. telephone user
surcharge.
The Emergency Telephone Users Surcharge Act generally imposes a
surcharge on amounts paid by every person in the state for intrastate
telephone service to provide revenues sufficient to fund "911"
emergency telephone system costs, and requires the Office of
Emergency Services to annually determine the surcharge rate, subject
to a specified formula, that it estimates will produce sufficient
revenue to fund the current fiscal year's 911 costs, as specified.
This bill would instead impose the surcharge at a flat monthly
rate of between $0.15 and $0.75, determined annually by the office.
This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as
an urgency statute.
The Warren-911-Emergency Assistance Act requires a local public
agency to adopt a plan to implement a 911 emergency telephone
response system, and establishes the State 911 Advisory Board to
advise on specified subjects relating to the state's 911 emergency
telephone response system.
Existing law requires the Office of Emergency Services to
determine annually, on or before October 1, a surcharge rate that it
estimates will produce sufficient revenue to fund the current fiscal
year's 911 costs, as specified.
Existing law also requires the office to develop a plan and
timeline of target dates for testing, implementing, and operating a
Next Generation 911 emergency communication system, including text to
911 service, throughout this state. Existing law requires the
office, in determining the surcharge rate, to additionally include
costs it expects to incur, consistent with the plan and timeline, to
plan, test, implement, and operate Next Generation 911 technology and
services, including text to 911 service. Existing law requires the
office, at least one month before determining the surcharge rate, to
prepare a summary of the calculation of the proposed surcharge and
make it available to the Legislature and the 911 Advisory Board, and
on the office's Internet Web site.
This bill would require the office, by January 1, 2017, to
conduct a comprehensive review of California's 911 emergency
communications system, including all public safety answering points,
available technology, funding needs, and telephone and equipment
limitations, and provide a report on its findings to the Legislature,
to include specified information and recommendations.
Vote: majority 2/3 . Appropriation:
no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 41030 of the Revenue
and Taxation Code , as added by Section 6 of Chapter 885
of the Statutes of 2014, is repealed.
41030. (a) The Office of Emergency Services shall determine
annually, on or before October 1, a surcharge rate that it estimates
will produce sufficient revenue to fund the current fiscal year's 911
costs. The surcharge rate shall be determined by dividing the costs
(including incremental costs) the Office of Emergency Services
estimates for the current fiscal year of 911 plans approved pursuant
to Section 53115 of the Government Code, less the available balance
in the State Emergency Telephone Number Account in the General Fund,
by its estimate of the charges for intrastate telephone
communications services and VoIP service to which the surcharge will
apply for the period of January 1 to December 31, inclusive, of the
next succeeding calendar year, but in no event shall the surcharge
rate in any year be greater than three-quarters of 1 percent nor less
than one-half of 1 percent.
(b) This section shall become operative on January 1, 2020.
SEC. 2. Section 41030 of the Revenue
and Taxation Code , as amended by Chapter 926 of the
Statutes of 2014, is amended to read:
41030. (a) The Office of Emergency Services shall determine
annually, on or before October 1, to be effective on January 1 of the
following year, a surcharge rate pursuant to subdivision (b) that it
estimates will produce sufficient revenue to fund the current fiscal
year's 911 costs.
(b) (1) The surcharge rate shall be determined by dividing the
costs (including incremental costs) the Office of Emergency Services
estimates for the current fiscal year of 911 costs approved pursuant
to Article 6 (commencing with Section 53100) of Chapter 1 of Part 1
of Division 2 of Title 5 of the Government Code, less the available
balance in the State Emergency Telephone Number Account in the
General Fund, by its estimate of the charges for intrastate telephone
communications services and VoIP service to which the surcharge will
apply for the period of January 1, 2015, to December 31, inclusive,
of the next succeeding calendar year, but in no event shall the
surcharge rate in any year be greater than three-quarters of 1
percent nor less than one-half of 1 percent.
(2)
(b) Commencing with the calculation made October 1,
2015, to be effective January 1, 2016, the surcharge shall be
determined by dividing the costs (including incremental
costs) the Office of Emergency Services using
estimates for the current fiscal year of 911 costs approved pursuant
to Article 6 (commencing with Section 53100) of Chapter 1 of Part 1
of Division 2 of Title 5 of the Government Code, less the
available balance in the State Emergency Telephone Number Account in
the General Fund, by its estimate of the charges for intrastate
telephone communications services, the intrastate portion of prepaid
mobile telephony services, and VoIP service to which the surcharge
will apply Code for the period of January 1 to
December 31, inclusive, of the next succeeding calendar year, but in
no event shall the surcharge rate in any year be greater
than three-quarters of 1 percent or less than one-half of 1 percent.
In making its computation of the charges that are applicable to the
intrastate portion of prepaid mobile telephony services, the Office
of Emergency Services shall use the computation method developed by
the Public Utilities Commission and reported to the Office of
Emergency Services pursuant to subdivisions (a) and (b) of Section
319 of the Public Utilities Code. less than fifteen
cents ($0.15) per month or greater than seventy-five cents ($0.75)
per month.
(c) When determining the surcharge rates pursuant to this section,
the office shall include the costs it expects to incur to plan,
test, implement, and operate Next Generation 911 technology and
services, including text to 911 service, consistent with the plan and
timeline required by Section 53121 of the Government Code.
(d) The office shall notify the board of the surcharge rate
determined pursuant to this section and the surcharge rate applicable
to prepaid mobile telephony services by October 15 of each year.
(e) At least 30 days prior to determining the surcharge pursuant
to subdivision (a), the Office of Emergency Services shall prepare a
summary of the calculation of the proposed surcharge and make it
available to the public, the Legislature, the 911 Advisory Board, and
on its Internet Web site. The summary shall contain all of the
following:
(1) The prior year revenues to fund 911 costs, including, but not
limited to, revenues from prepaid service.
(2) Projected expenses and revenues from all sources, including,
but not limited to, prepaid service to fund 911 costs.
(3) The rationale for adjustment to the surcharge determined
pursuant to subdivision (b), including, but not limited to, all
impacts from the surcharge collected pursuant to Part 21 (commencing
with Section 42001).
(f) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1,
2020, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted
statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2020, deletes or extends
that date.
SEC. 3. Section 41030 of the Revenue
and Taxation Code , as added by Chapter 926 of the
Statutes of 2014, is amended to read:
41030. (a) The Office of Emergency Services shall determine
annually, on or before October 1, a surcharge rate that it estimates
will produce sufficient revenue to fund the current fiscal year's 911
costs. The surcharge rate shall be determined by dividing
the costs (including incremental costs) the Office of Emergency
Services estimates for the current fiscal year of 911 costs approved
pursuant to Article 6 (commencing with Section 53100) of Chapter 1 of
Part 1 of Division 2 of Title 5 of the Government Code, less the
available balance in the State Emergency Telephone Number Account in
the General Fund, by its estimate of the charges for intrastate
telephone communications services and VoIP service to which the
surcharge will apply for the period of January 1 to
December 31, inclusive, of the next succeeding calendar year, but in
no event shall the surcharge rate in any year be greater
than three-quarters of 1 percent nor less than one-half of 1 percent.
less than fifteen cents ($0.15) per month or greater
than seventy-five cents ($0.75) per month.
(b) When determining the surcharge rate, the office shall include
the costs it expects to incur to plan, test, implement, and operate
Next Generation 911 technology and services, including text to 911
service, consistent with the plan and timeline required by Section
53121 of the Government Code.
(c) At least one month before determining the surcharge rate
pursuant to subdivision (a), the office shall prepare a summary of
the calculation of the proposed surcharge and make it available to
the Legislature and the 911 Advisory Board, and on the office's
Internet Web site.
(d) This section shall become operative on January 1, 2020.
SEC. 4. This act is an urgency statute necessary
for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety
within the meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go
into immediate effect. The facts constituting the necessity are:
In order to fully fund the "911" emergency telephone number
system, it is necessary that this act take effect immediately.
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares
all of the following:
(a) There are gaps in public safety protection. Also, accurate
caller location information is vital for 911 calls and the safety of
Californians.
(b) Problems with the current 911 systems include: (1) misrouting
a call to an entirely incorrect public safety answering point (PSAP),
sometimes in a different city or region, and (2) delivery of
inaccurate caller location information to the proper PSAP.
(c) In many areas, approximately 70 to 80 percent of 911 calls are
made by wireless devices, and in many cases the exact location of
the caller is not immediately known. Calls are generally forwarded to
a California Highway Patrol PSAP. The caller is queried, the
location determined, and the call transferred to a local dispatch
center. This often results in delays in the arrival of emergency
medical services responders and the provision of important medical
care. On some occasions errors in this process have resulted in
serious injury or death.
(d) The 911 system is technology dependent, which over the years
has steadily improved. There are, however, significant problems with
the 911 system and planning, and recent developments in technology
and decisions made by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
require the state to reassess policies and practices.
(e) On January 29, 2015, the FCC voted to adopt rules to help
emergency responders to better locate wireless callers to 911. The
FCC press release stated:
"These updates to the Commission's Enhanced 911 (E911) rules
respond to Americans' increasing use of wireless phones to call 911,
especially from indoors, where traditional 911 location technologies
often do not work effectively or at all. The new rules take advantage
of technological developments that will allow for more accurate
location information to be transmitted with indoor 911 calls.
The Commission's E911 rules require wireless providers to
automatically transmit to 911 call centers information on the
location of wireless 911 callers, within certain parameters for
accuracy. These rules, which were adopted in 1996 and underwent their
last major revision in 2010, enabled wireless providers to meet this
accuracy standard based solely on the measured performance of
outdoor wireless 911 calls. However calling habits are changing. Many
Americans are replacing landlines with wireless phones, with more
than two out of five U.S. households now relying solely on wireless.
Most 911 calls are currently made from wireless phones, and most
wireless calls are made from indoors. This increases the likelihood
that wireless 911 calls will come from indoor environments where
traditional location accuracy technologies, optimized for outdoor
calling, may not work.
To close this gap in performance, the Commission today updated its
E911 rules to include requirements focused on indoor location
accuracy. The new rules are intended to help first responders locate
Americans calling for help from indoors, including challenging
environments such as large multi-story buildings, where responders
are often unable to determine the floor or even the building where
the 911 call originated.
The new rules establish clear and measurable timelines for
wireless providers to meet indoor location accuracy benchmarks, both
for horizontal and vertical location information. The Commission
noted that no single technological approach will solve the challenge
of indoor location, and no solution can be implemented overnight. The
new requirements therefore enable wireless providers to choose the
most effective solutions and allow sufficient time for development of
applicable standards, establishment of testing mechanisms, and
deployment of new location technology.
The new rules were informed by extensive input from stakeholders,
including public safety organizations, wireless providers, technology
vendors, state and local governments, and public interest groups.
The Commission emphasized that its ultimate objective in this
proceeding is for all Americans - whether they are calling 911 from
urban or rural areas, from indoors or outdoors - to receive the
support they need in times of emergency. Today's action takes
affirmative steps to make that happen."
(f) It is imperative that the State of California perform a review
of its 911 emergency communications system policies and procedures,
to make changes that reflect technology available now and in the near
future, and to make plans to improve the 911 system in order to
protect lives.
SEC. 2. Section 53122 is added to the
Government Code, to read:
53122. (a) The Office of Emergency Services shall, by January 1,
2017, conduct a comprehensive review of California's 911 emergency
communications system, including all public safety answering points,
available technology, funding needs, and telephone and equipment
limitations, and provide a report on its findings to the Legislature.
The report shall provide information regarding the accuracy of calls
made by mobile devices made in different areas of the state and
shall include office recommendations for future investment in
services and coordination with private and public groups needed to
improve service and accuracy.
(b) (1) A report to be submitted pursuant to subdivision (a) shall
be submitted in compliance with Section 9795.
(2) Pursuant to Section 10231.5, this section is repealed on
January 1, 2020.