BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



                                                                  AB 912
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   May 13, 2009

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                                Kevin De Leon, Chair

                    AB 912 (Torres) - As Amended:  April 27, 2009 

          Policy Committee:                               
          UtilitiesVote:10-4

          Urgency:     No                   State Mandated Local Program:  
          No     Reimbursable:               

           SUMMARY  

          This bill allows for a partial reallocation by the Department of  
          General Services (DGS) of revenues to the State Emergency  
          Telephone Number Account (911 surcharge account).  Specifically,  
          this bill:

          1)Specifies that a minimum of 50% of fund revenues, instead of  
            100% of fund revenues must be spent on the six categories of  
            expenditures specified in current law.

          2)Authorizes DGS to allocate up to 25% of fund revenues to  
            Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs) for the one-time costs  
            to recruit and train personnel to handle these calls.

          3)Prohibits monies received by PSAPs pursuant to (2) from  
            supplanting existing funds for these services.

           FISCAL EFFECT  

          Potential reallocation of up to $26 million annually, based on  
          current Emergency Telephone Number Account revenues, to fund  
          PSAP staff recruitment and training related to wireless 911  
          calls.

           COMMENTS  

           1)Background  .  When an individual calls 911 from a landline  
            telephone, the call is automatically routed to a local PSAP,  
            which has immediate access to the caller's physical location  
            and can directly dispatch emergency services. When someone  
            calls 911 from a mobile telephone, the call may either be  








                                                                  AB 912
                                                                  Page  2

            routed to a CHP dispatch center or a local PSAP. When the CHP  
            receives a call that requires a response from local emergency  
            responders, the CHP forwards the call to the appropriate PSAP.  
            This secondary routing, however, can result in critical delays  
            in responding to emergencies. 

            Federal rules require mobile providers to route 911 calls to  
            the local PSAP if the PSAP has the ability to receive these  
            calls and has requested that the mobile provider route do so  
            instead of to the CHP. Five years ago, no local primary PSAP  
            answered cell phone calls. Today, of the 384 local Primary  
            PSAPs, all but 34 of them answer 911 calls placed by a cell  
            phone. Among the 34 Primary PSAPs that do not are Oakland,  
            Long Beach, and Sacramento.

           2)911 Surcharge  .  DGS sets the annual surcharge, which must be  
            between 0.5% and 0.75% of the total amount of intrastate  
            telephone communication usage, and assesses the charge to  
            customers through a separate line item on the telephone bill.  
            The surcharge is currently set at .5% of intrastate telephone  
            calls, and the revenue generated to fund California's 911  
            program totaled about $104 million in 2007-08.  This revenue  
            may only be used for the physical equipment, software, and  
            databases needed to route calls to the dispatch centers and  
            may not be used to fund personnel costs at the dispatch  
            centers.

           3)Recommended Amendments  .  The language needs to more clearly  
            limit the separate allocation for the one-time costs  
            associated with recruitment and training.  In addition, the  
            50% minimum allocation for the six existing expenditure  
            categories is unnecessary and should be deleted. 

           Analysis Prepared by  :    Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081