Amended in Senate July 15, 2015

Amended in Senate June 22, 2015

California Legislature—2015–16 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 510

Introduced by Assembly Members Rodriguez and Williams

February 23, 2015

An act to begin insert add Section 15277.5 to the Government Code, and to end insert 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. begin delete Emergency end delete begin insert Wireless 911 calls: emergency end insert telephone user surcharge.

begin insert

Existing law establishes the Public Safety Communications Division within the Office of Emergency Services, under the supervision of a chief, to carry out specific duties relating to state needs and plans for public safety communications systems and equipment.

end insert begin insert

This bill would require the division to require its California 911 Emergency Communications Branch to work with the Department of the California Highway Patrol to continue the work of the Routing on Empirical Data (RED) Project by using the technology and procedures employed in that project to assist in determining whether wireless 911 calls should be routed to a local public safety answering point or a California Highway Patrol call center. The bill would require that the project use historical empirical call data to determine the most efficient routing for wireless 911 calls.

end insert

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.

Vote: ²⁄₃. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

begin insert

begin insert SECTION 1. end insert   

end insert

begin insert Section 15277.5 is added to the end insert begin insert Government Code end insert begin insert ,
to read: end insert

begin insert

begin insert 15277.5. end insert   

The division shall require its California 911
Emergency Communications Branch to work with the Department
of the California Highway Patrol to continue the work of the
Routing on Empirical Data (RED) Project by using the technology
and procedures employed in that project to assist in determining
whether wireless 911 calls should be routed to a local public safety
answering point or a California Highway Patrol call center. The
project pursuant to this section shall use historical empirical call
data to determine the most efficient routing for wireless 911 calls.

end insert

begin delete SECTION 1. end delete
begin insert SEC. 2. end insert   

Section 41030 of the Revenue and Taxation Code, as
added by Section 6 of Chapter 885 of the Statutes of 2014, is
repealed.

begin delete SEC. 2. end delete
begin insert SEC. 3. end insert   

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) Commencing with the calculation made October 1, 2015,
to be effective January 1, 2016, the surcharge shall be determined
by 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 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 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.

begin delete SEC. 3. end delete
begin insert SEC. 4. end insert   

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 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 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.

begin delete SEC. 4. end delete
begin insert SEC. 5. end insert   

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 begin insert restart the Routing on Empirical Data (RED) Project
for efficient routing of wireless 911 calls and to end insert fully fund the
“911” emergency telephone number system, it is necessary that
this act take effect immediately.