BILL ANALYSIS
SB 911
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Date of Hearing: July 16, 2003
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Darrell Steinberg, Chair
SB 911 (Alpert) - As Amended: June 26, 2003
Policy Committee:
UtilitiesVote:10-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable:
SUMMARY
This bill:
1)Establishes an 11-member State 911 Advisory Board to advise
the Telecommunications Division of the Department of General
Services.
2)Requires the board to advise the division on specified topics,
including technical, operational, and training standards for
the 911 system, funding and reimbursement decisions, and
expediting enhanced 911 technology.
3)Requires the advisory board to meet at least quarterly and
also within 30 days upon a request from a local public agency
regarding a conflict between the agency and the
Telecommunications Division.
4)Authorizes reimbursement of advisory board members for
attending board meetings.
FISCAL EFFECT
Minor special fund costs (Emergency Telephone Number Account)
for DGS to provide staff support to the advisory board and for
reimbursement to board members. There is already an existing
advisory committee that was created administratively.
COMMENTS
1)Background . Since its inception in the mid-1970's, DGS's
Telecommunications Division has administered the state's 911
SB 911
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program. This includes evaluating local 911 systems and
reviewing, approving, and reimbursing local public safety
agencies for the necessary and reasonable costs associated
with the planning, implementation, and maintenance of a
state-approved 911 system. The state 911 program is funded
through a surcharge on telephone service that is statutorily
capped at 0.75 percent of a customer's phone bill. Since
1995, the cap has been set at 0.72 percent. The surcharge
raises about $130 million annually, with about half of the
revenues paying for database services, one quarter for
carrying the telephone call, and one quarter for the
telephones and computers housed in the public safety dispatch
centers.
2)Purpose . This bill establishes in statute an advisory board
of 911 practitioners appointed by the governor. The current
911 advisory committee was created under a former Director of
General Services and the board makeup was not voted on by any
911-user association but determined through application sent
out by the Telecommunication Division. There have been
ongoing disagreements between local entities and the division
regarding 911 implementation and reimbursement. The author
believes that having an appointed board selected by
practitioners that provides an appeals process will ease
tensions within the current board structure.
3)Related Legislation . AB 914 (Reyes), pending in the Senate,
makes numerous technical changes to the 911 statute and
expands the services which may be paid out of the 911 fund to
include a mapping system.
Analysis Prepared by : Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081