BILL ANALYSIS 1
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SENATE ENERGY, UTILITIES AND COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE
ALEX PADILLA, CHAIR
AB 912 - Torres Hearing Date:
July 7, 2009 A
As Amended: June 1, 2009 FISCAL B
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DESCRIPTION
Current law provides that the Warren-911 Emergency Assistance Act
establishes the number "911" as the primary emergency telephone
number of use in the state.
Current law imposes a surcharge on all intrastate telephone users
to fund the 911 emergency telephone system costs.
Current law requires the Department of General Services to annually
determine a surcharge rate sufficient to fund the fiscal year's 911
costs.
Current law caps the surcharge at 0.75% and restricts the use of
the funds collected under the 911 surcharge for the following
purposes:
a) To pay refunds authorized under statute;
b) To pay the State Board of Equalization for the cost of
the administration of the 911 funds;
c) To pay the DGS for its costs in administration of the
911 emergency telephone system; and,
d) To pay service suppliers and communications equipment
companies for the installation and ongoing expenses for
systems necessary to operate the 911 emergency telephone
system.
Federal law requires wireless telephone providers to automatically
route 911 calls from mobile telephones to the appropriate local
public safety answering point (PSAP) and to provide the PSAP
dispatcher with the location of the telephone if the public safety
agency has requested the transfer of wireless calls.
This bill would require that a minimum of 0.50% of all revenues
from intrastate wireline, wireless and VoIP services be allocated
for purposes authorized under current law.
This bill would require that a maximum of 0.25% of all revenues
from intrastate wireline, wireless and VoIP services be allocated,
on a one-time only basis, to Primary Public Safety Answering Points
to recruit and train personnel in receiving enhanced "911" calls.
BACKGROUND
The Warren 911 Emergency Assistance Act - In 1976, the Warren 911
Emergency Assistance Act (911 Act) was enacted in order to reduce
the time required for a citizen to request and receive emergency
aid. Under the Act, the Department of General Services (DGS) was
designated with state oversight responsibilities for the state's
911 system.
The Surcharge - To fund the costs of the state's 911 call system, a
surcharge of not less than 0.5% or more than 0.75%, is imposed on
all intrastate telephone (wireline, wireless, and VoIP) services.
Annually, DGS is required to determine a budget for the 911 system
and adjust the 911 surcharge as necessary. The revenue generated
from the surcharge can only be used for the cost of the 911 system
network, databases, equipment, and software needed for call
delivery. The surcharge is currently set at 0.50% of all
intrastate telephone calls. For year 2006-07, the surcharge
generated $114 million for the state's 911 special fund.
The 911 Call System and the Evolution thereof - When an individual
calls 911 from a landline phone, the call is automatically routed
to the local PSAP. The PSAP has immediate access to the physical
location and phone number of the caller and can directly dispatch
emergency services. However, trends in telecommunications indicate
that more and more telephone users are migrating toward the
wireless option.
911 calls made from a mobile phone are either routed to a
California Highway Patrol dispatch center or a local PSAP,
depending on whether the call location can be identified and
whether the responsible PSAP has agreed to take those calls
directly. When the CHP receives a mobile 911 call that requires a
response from local emergency responders, the CHP will forward the
call to the local PSAP. This secondary routing can result in
critical delays in responding to emergencies.
Wireless Enhanced 911 (W E911) - In addition to delays, for quite
some time, 911 calls made from a wireless phone did not provide the
dispatcher with the caller's telephone number and location, like
wireline calls do. To address this problem, the Federal
Communications Commission (FCC) mandated that wireless service
providers (WSP) deliver this information, after receiving a formal
request from a PSAP. Implementation is defined in two phases:
Phase I requires WSPs to provide the 911 caller's callback number.
Phase II requires WSPs to provide the caller's location. As of
2003, California's six major wireless providers have begun to
provide both phases of W E911 service. Five years ago, no local
primary PSAP answered cell phone calls. Today of the 384 local
primary PSAPs, all but 34 Primary PSAPs answer wireless 911 calls.
COMMENTS
1. Author Concerns - According to the author's office, AB 912
seeks to increase the flexibility of the uses of the State
Emergency Telephone Number Account funds to support
improvement for 9-11 services provided by PSAPs.
Specifically, this bill proposes to expand the use of
surcharge revenues to include costs to recruit and train the
public safety personnel to receive wireless E911 calls. 911
dispatchers perform a crucial function in the public safety
system. Technologies around the receipt of 911 calls from
wireless callers present significant barriers to fast
response. A primary focus of improving 911 capabilities has
become deployment by local agencies of technologies and
procedures for accepting W E911 calls.
The bill requires a maximum of 0.25% of telecommunications
revenues be spent on recruiting and training. Currently DGS
establishes the rate of the 911 surcharge between the
statutory boundaries of 0.5% and 0.75%, which are not altered
by this bill. It appears that the author's intent is for DGS
to evaluate how much additional funding is necessary for that
purpose.
2. Increased 911 Call Volumes and the Migration to Wireless -
In 2005-06, 10.6 million 911 calls were made. Of that number,
2.6 million were wireless 911 calls. In 2007, an estimated 12
million 911 calls were recorded, representing a moderately
significant jump from previous years. The author argues that
this increase has made it difficult for PSAPs to meet the
10-second answering guideline recommended by the National
Emergency Number Association. However, according to DGS, 90%
of all 911 calls were answered within 10 seconds. 95% of all
calls were answered within 20 seconds. With this data, it
does not appear that increased call volumes are negatively
affecting answering times. On the other hand, with wireless
911 calls anticipated to increase, and the response barriers
inherent with wireless, having 100% of 911 calls answered
within 10 seconds seems to be a worthy public safety goal.
3. Appropriate Use of Funds? - Currently the surcharge can
only be used to fund equipment, software and databases needed
to route calls to the 911 PSAPs. The fund may not be used to
fund personnel costs at the dispatch centers. While revenues
from the 911 surcharge have historically been used to fund the
physical 911 call delivery system, it is arguable that the 911
dispatcher him/herself is an intrinsic component of the
overall system.
The telephone companies oppose allowing the 911 surcharge
funds to be used for personnel costs, finding an appropriate
nexus between a surcharge and the physical routing of those
calls to a PSAP, but no nexus with the actual emergency
response process. They contend that there is no evidence that
current funding levels for the 911 system are insufficient.
And they are concerned with this bill lets the proverbial
camel's nose of 911 funding for personnel training and
recruitment under the tent of more general funding for 911
personnel expenses.
While the change proposed in this bill represents a departure
from traditional uses of the surcharge revenues, the author
hopes that this will encourage the 34 PSAPs that do not
receive wireless 911 calls to do so. However, the committee
may wish to consider if a one-time payment to PSAPs is
sufficient enough to achieve the author's goal, let alone
sufficient enough to pay for additional training and
recruitment. This bill could provide an additional $50-$60
million for recruiting and training 911 dispatchers.
Over the years the committee has heard concerns about the
difficulty in retaining 911 dispatchers. High turnover has
been attributed to low pay, stressful work, and poaching among
the public safety agencies. This bill does not deal with the
employee retention issue.
4. Prior Legislation - SB 1757 (Padilla) from last year
increased the cap on the 911 surcharge to 1.0% and authorized
the 911 program to pay for personnel costs under specified
circumstances. That bill was held in the Senate Revenue and
Taxation Committee.
5. Double Referral - This bill has been double referred to
Senate Committee on Revenue and Taxation. Due to time
constraints, if amendments are proposed in Committee these
amendments must be taken in the second Committee.
ASSEMBLY VOTES
Assembly Floor (49-28)
Assembly Appropriations Committee (12-5)
Assembly Utilities and Commerce Committee
(10-4)
POSITIONS
Sponsor:
Author
Support:
Alameda County Sheriff's Office
Amador County Sheriff's Office
Association for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs
California Chapter of the National Emergency Number Association (in
concept)
California State Association of Counties
California State Sheriffs' Association
California Statewide Law Enforcement Association
Communications Workers of America, AFL-CIO District 9
Del Norte County Sheriff's Office
Mariposa County Sheriff's Office
Riverside Sheriffs' Association
Sacramento County Sheriff's Department
San Bernardino County Sheriff's Office
Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office
Shasta County Sheriff's Office
Tuolumne County Sheriff's Office
Ventura County Sheriff's Office
Yolo County Sheriff's Department
Oppose:
AT&T
California Association of Competitive Telecommunications Companies
California Cable and Telecommunications Association
California Communications Association
California's Independent Telephone Companies
CTIA - The Wireless Association
Verizon Wireless
Randy Chinn/Mandy Lee
AB 912 Analysis
Hearing Date: July 7, 2009