BILL ANALYSIS
AB 912
Page 1
CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB 912 (Torres)
As Amended August 17, 2009
Majority vote
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|ASSEMBLY: |49-28|(June 3, 2009) |SENATE: |22-10|(August 31, |
| | | | | |2009) |
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Original Committee Reference: U. & C.
SUMMARY : Provides that 0.25 % of the charges for intrastate
telecommunications services and Voice over Internet Protocol
(VoIP) service to which an existing surcharge applies may be
used for a one-time payment to primary Public Safety Answering
Points for costs necessary to recruit and train additional
personnel necessary to accept wireless enhanced "911" calls from
within their jurisdiction routed directly to their call centers.
The Senate amendments make technical clarifying changes to the
bill.
EXISTING FEDERAL LAW requires wireless telephone providers to
automatically route 911 calls from mobile telephones to the
appropriate local public safety dispatcher and to provide the
dispatcher with the location of the telephone if the public
safety agency has requested the transfer of wireless calls.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Imposes a surcharge on all intrastate telephone service that
shall be not less than 0.5% and not more than 0.75%, to
provide revenues sufficient to fund 911 emergency telephone
system costs.
2)Provides that the Office of the State Chief Information
Officer (CIO) shall determine the annual 911 budget
requirement, and calculates the surcharge.
3)Provides that all of the funds collected under 911 surcharge
account shall be spent solely for the following purposes:
a) To pay refunds authorized under statute;
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b) To pay the State Board of Equalization for the cost of
the administration of the 911 funds;
c) To pay CIO for its costs in administration of 911
emergency telephone system; and,
d) To pay service suppliers and communications equipment
companies for the installation and ongoing expenses for
systems necessary to operating 911 energy telephone system.
AS PASSED BY THE ASSEMBLY , this bill was substantially similar
to the version passed by the Senate.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, special fund costs of probably several million
dollars for payments to Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs)
for recruitment and training costs, provided from revenue
generated by an incremental increase in the surcharge above
0.5%.
COMMENTS : According to the author's office, the purpose of this
bill is to deliver on the promise of the Warren 911 Act to
create a seamless, responsive universal 911 emergency call
program without regard to the technology used by caller
accessing the system. This bill intends to address that goal by
giving local jurisdictions the resources and incentives they
need to accept 911 calls from mobile telephones so that mobile
calls are not initially routed to the California Highway Portal
(CHP) before being dispatched to local emergency officials.
When an individual calls 911 from a landline telephone, the call
is automatically routed to a local PSAP. The local PSAP has
immediate access to the physical location of the caller and can
directly dispatch emergency services. When an individual calls
911 from a mobile telephone, the call may either be routed to a
CHP dispatch center or a local PSAP. When CHP receives a mobile
911 telephone call that requires a response from local emergency
responders, CHP will forward the call to the appropriate local
PSAP. This secondary routing 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 911
calls and has requested that the mobile provider routes the
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calls to them instead of 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.
The surcharge: CIO 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 0.5% 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.
The bill also allows for up to 25% of the funds collected to be
allocated to PSAPs that receive 911 calls from mobile telephones
and allows these funds to be used for one-time personnel costs.
The author hopes that allowing PSAPs to use a limited amount of
funds for personnel costs will create an incentive for the
thirty-four PSAPs that do not receive the mobile calls today to
begin receiving these calls.
Analysis Prepared by : Edward Randolph / U. & C. / (916)
319-2083
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