BILL ANALYSIS
AB 914
Page 1
Date of Hearing: May 8, 2003
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON REVENUE AND TAXATION
Ed Chavez, Chair
AB 914 (Reyes) - As Amended: May 6, 2003
Majority vote. Fiscal Committee.
SUBJECT : Emergency Telephone Users Surcharge: Rate Increase
SUMMARY : Requires local public safety agencies,
telecommunications providers, and the Department of General
Services (DGS) to expand the capabilities of California's 911
emergency system and allows DGS to reimburse local public safety
agencies and telecommunications providers for the upgrades.
Specifically, this bill :
1)Contains findings and declarations regarding the need to
update the 911 emergency reporting system to incorporate
various forms of telecommunications technologies.
2)States that the purpose of this bill is to establish the
telecommunications emergency response system as the primary
emergency telecommunications system for use in California, and
to encourage units of local government and combinations of
these units to develop and improve emergency communication
procedures and facilities in order to quickly respond to
persons calling "911" seeking emergency services.
3)Renames the "Warren 911 Emergency Assistance Act" the
"Telecommunications Emergency Response System Act" (the Act).
Makes substantive changes to the Warren 911 Emergency
Assistance Act, as follows:
a) Defines "public safety answering point" (PSAP) as a
telecommunications center capable of receiving requests for
emergency services by means of multiple telecommunications
sources including 911 circuits and dispatching the
necessary emergency services resources in response to a
request.
b) Defines "reporting system" as a telecommunications
service that automatically connects a person who uses
another telecommunications service, including 911 circuits,
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to an established PSAP through telecommunications service
facilities and is capable of automatically identifying the
caller's number, automatically locating the caller, holding
the incoming call, reconnecting on the same telephone line,
clearing a telephone line, automatically call routing, or
any combination of these capabilities.
c) Provides for the establishment of the 911 Committee and
specifies that this committee shall include one
representative from the California Chapter of the National
Emergency Numbering Association, one representative from
the California State Sheriff's Association, one
representative from the California Police Chief's
Association, and one representative from the California
Fire Chief's Association.
d) Requires every local public agency to establish and have
in operation a reporting system and connectivity to the
telecommunications emergency response system, or to be part
of the telecommunications emergency response system. All
reporting systems must be approved by the 911 Committee.
Requires all PSAPs to have access to operators who speak
languages other than English.
e) Requires the Telecommunications Division within DGS,
with the advice and assistance of the Attorney General, to
provide funding to local public agencies to establish and
maintain a telecommunications emergency response system.
f) Provides that the 911 Committee shall, among its other
duties, be responsible for evaluating requests from local
agencies for state assistance and making recommendations to
the Chief of the Telecommunications Division within DGS
regarding local agency reimbursement.
g) Requires the 911 Committee to establish and review
technical and operational standards for the
telecommunications emergency response system by December
31, 2004.
h) Provides that the National Emergency Number Association
(NENA) Standards for Recommended Formats and Protocols For
Data Exchange and NENA Recommended Standards for Local
Exchange Carriers, ALI Service Providers, and 911 Service
Jurisdictions shall be adopted by reference and required
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for all agencies, vendors, and telecommunications service
providers having any connectivity to the telecommunications
emergency response system. No funds may be provided to any
agency, vendor, or service provider that the 911 Committee
determines is noncompliant.
i) Requires the 911 Committee to review and update
technical and operational standards for public agency
systems on a continuous basis.
j) Requires the 911 Committee to report annually to the
Legislature regarding the progress made in implementing the
systems required by the Act. These reports are required to
contain the 911 Committee's recommendations for additional
legislation and funding.
4)Renames the "Emergency Telephone Users' Surcharge Act" the
"Emergency Telecommunications Surcharge Act". Makes
substantive changes to the Emergency Telephone Users'
Surcharge Act, as follows:
a) Updates the uses to which revenue in the State Emergency
Telephone Number Account may be put to include a
geographically-referenced statewide base mapping system, a
regionalized master street address guide, and an automatic
location identification database client server system.
These uses replace current law references to a basic system
with telephone central office identification and a system
employing automatic call routing.
b) Provides that the surcharge is a fee (rather than a tax)
levied by the state.
EXISTING LAW provides for an Emergency Telephone Users'
Surcharge to fund local governments' costs to implement and
operate the 911 emergency telephone system. The surcharge,
which is applied to intrastate calls, varies between a rate of
0.5% and 0.75%, depending on funding needs. On or before each
September 1, DGS determines the rate it estimates will produce
sufficient revenue to fund the current fiscal year's costs.
Charges for lifeline services and for services from public
coin-operated telephones are exempt from the surcharge. The
surcharge is collected from consumers by telephone companies and
is remitted to the Board of Equalization. The Communications
Division within DGS establishes minimum technical and
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operational standards for local systems and approves the funding
necessary to implement and operate each system.
FISCAL EFFECT : None. The Emergency Telephone Users' Surcharge
is set at a rate necessary to fully fund the 911 program.
COMMENTS :
1)This comprehensive measure is intended to update the Warren
911 Emergency Services Act and the Emergency Telephone Users
Surcharge Act to clarify that the existing 911 system, which
is based on calls being directed to PSAPs by the public switch
telephone network, is part of a telecommunications network
rather than simply a call termination point. This bill
requires the creation of a client-server network that will
allow PSAPs to access geo-reference maps, overlay them with
location information from wireless carriers, and pinpoint the
location of 911 calls made from cellular phones. This bill
would provide funding for these upgrades through the existing
Emergency Telephone Users' Surcharge.
2)In 1972, the Legislature passed the Warren 911 Emergency
Assistance Act, which provided a single, three-digit emergency
telephone number through which emergency services could be
obtained, regardless of jurisdictional boundaries. In time,
the original system was enhanced to allow a caller's address
to be displayed at the call answering point. The Warren 911
Emergency Assistance Act provided funding to local agencies
for the necessary hardware to handle emergency calls and to
the telephone service providers for building and maintaining
the emergency reporting network.
While the enhanced system was a tremendous improvement to
emergency reporting in its time, it has grown increasingly
inadequate. Currently, the 911 system is able to locate a
caller from a landline phone by pulling up that caller's vital
information. This information is transmitted to one of over
500 PSAPs by way of an Automatic Number Identification (ANI)
and Automatic Location Identification (ALI). The ANI/ALI
information is provided over the regular phone network.
However, as cell phone usage and technological improvements in
wireless communication have grown over the last three decades,
the 911 system has, for the most part, remained unchanged.
Currently, only the Torrance Police Department has the ability
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to locate wireless 911 calls. All other jurisdictions are
unable to locate calls made from cellular phones, because
either the receiving entity or the transmitting entity cannot
send ANI/ALI information. This problem is further compounded
by the fact that while an emergency can move rapidly
throughout multiple jurisdictions, California's PSAPs have no
common communications capability.
Today in the United States there are more than 90 million
wireless phone users who make more than 115,000 emergency
calls a day. A February 2003 Consumers Report survey noted
that one in three people who own a cellular phone say they
bought it mainly for safety reasons. The report also
highlighted that out of 11,500 nationwide subscribers
contacted in the fall of 2002, 1,880 said they tried to call
911 using a cell phone. One-third of Consumer Reports
California respondents said they encountered some difficulty
getting through to 911. Individuals in California had the
highest percentage of unsuccessful calls to 911 (12%).
3)This bill requires every local public agency to establish and
have in operation a reporting system and connectivity to the
telecommunications emergency response system, or to be part of
the telecommunications emergency response system. However,
this bill lacks a definition for the term "telecommunications
emergency response system".
4)This measure was heard by the Assembly Utilities and Commerce
Committee on May 5, 2003 and passed by a vote of 13-0.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California Chapter of the National Emergency Number Association
California State Sheriff's Association
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Eileen Roush / REV. & TAX. / (916)
319-2098