Senate Study Bill 3145 - Introduced SENATE FILE _____ BY (PROPOSED COMMITTEE ON STATE GOVERNMENT BILL BY CHAIRPERSON DANIELSON) A BILL FOR An Act relating to the distribution and permissible 1 expenditures of the emergency communications service 2 surcharge and the name of the surcharge fund. 3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA: 4 TLSB 6010XC (3) 86 gh/rj
S.F. _____ Section 1. Section 34A.7A, subsection 2, Code 2016, is 1 amended to read as follows: 2 2. Moneys collected pursuant to subsection 1 and section 3 34A.7B, subsection 2 , shall be deposited in a separate E911 4 emergency communications fund to be known as the Tom Hancock 5 emergency communications service surcharge memorial fund within 6 the state treasury under the control of the program manager. 7 Section 8.33 shall not apply to moneys in the fund. Moneys 8 earned as income, including as interest, from the fund shall 9 remain in the fund until expended as provided in this section . 10 Moneys in the fund shall be expended and distributed in the 11 following priority order: 12 a. An amount as appropriated by the general assembly to the 13 director shall be allocated to the director and program manager 14 for implementation, support, and maintenance of the functions 15 of the director and program manager and to employ the auditor 16 of state to perform an annual audit of the E911 emergency 17 communications fund. 18 b. (1) The program manager shall allocate to each joint 19 E911 service board and to the department of public safety a 20 minimum of one thousand dollars per calendar quarter for each 21 public safety answering point within the service area of the 22 department of public safety or joint E911 service board that 23 has submitted an annual written request to the program manager 24 in a form approved by the program manager by May 15 of each 25 year. 26 (2) The amount allocated under this paragraph “b” shall be 27 sixty percent of the total amount of surcharge generated per 28 calendar quarter allocated as follows: 29 (a) Sixty-five percent of the total dollars available for 30 allocation shall be allocated in proportion to the square miles 31 of the service area to the total square miles in this state. 32 (b) Thirty-five percent of the total dollars available for 33 allocation shall be allocated in proportion to the wireless 34 E911 calls taken at the public safety answering point in 35 -1- LSB 6010XC (3) 86 gh/rj 1/ 6
S.F. _____ the service area to the total number of wireless E911 calls 1 originating in this state. 2 (c) Notwithstanding subparagraph divisions (a) and (b), the 3 minimum amount allocated to each joint E911 service board and 4 to the department of public safety shall be no less than one 5 thousand dollars for each public safety answering point within 6 the service area of the department of public safety or joint 7 E911 service board. 8 (3) The funds allocated in this paragraph “b” shall be used 9 for emergency communication equipment utilized by the public 10 safety answering points for the implementation and maintenance 11 of E911 services. 12 b. c. From July 1, 2013, until June 30, 2026, the program 13 manager shall allocate ten percent of the total amount of 14 surcharge generated to wireless carriers to recover their costs 15 to deliver E911 phase 1 services. If the allocation in this 16 paragraph is insufficient to reimburse all wireless carriers 17 for such carrier’s eligible expenses, the program manager 18 shall allocate a prorated amount to each wireless carrier 19 equal to the percentage of such carrier’s eligible expenses as 20 compared to the total of all eligible expenses for all wireless 21 carriers for the calendar quarter during which such expenses 22 were submitted. When prorated expenses are paid, the remaining 23 unpaid expenses shall no longer be eligible for payment under 24 this paragraph. 25 c. d. The program manager shall reimburse communications 26 service providers on a calendar quarter basis for carriers’ 27 eligible expenses for transport costs between the selective 28 router and the public safety answering points related to the 29 delivery of wireless E911 phase 1 services. 30 d. e. The program manager shall reimburse wire-line 31 carriers and third-party E911 automatic location information 32 database providers on a calendar quarterly basis for the 33 costs of maintaining and upgrading the E911 components and 34 functionalities beyond the input to the E911 selective router, 35 -2- LSB 6010XC (3) 86 gh/rj 2/ 6
S.F. _____ including the E911 selective router and the automatic location 1 information database. 2 e. (1) The program manager shall allocate to each joint 3 E911 service board and to the department of public safety a 4 minimum of one thousand dollars per calendar quarter for each 5 public safety answering point within the service area of the 6 department of public safety or joint E911 service board that 7 has submitted an annual written request to the program manager 8 in a form approved by the program manager by May 15 of each 9 year. 10 (2) The amount allocated under this paragraph “e” shall be 11 forty-six percent of the total amount of surcharge generated 12 per calendar quarter allocated as follows: 13 (a) Sixty-five percent of the total dollars available for 14 allocation shall be allocated in proportion to the square miles 15 of the service area to the total square miles in this state. 16 (b) Thirty-five percent of the total dollars available for 17 allocation shall be allocated in proportion to the wireless 18 E911 calls taken at the public safety answering point in 19 the service area to the total number of wireless E911 calls 20 originating in this state. 21 (c) Notwithstanding subparagraph divisions (a) and (b), the 22 minimum amount allocated to each joint E911 service board and 23 to the department of public safety shall be no less than one 24 thousand dollars for each public safety answering point within 25 the service area of the department of public safety or joint 26 E911 service board. 27 (3) The funds allocated in this paragraph “e” shall be 28 used for communication equipment utilized by the public safety 29 answering points for the implementation and maintenance of E911 30 services. 31 f. (1) If moneys remain in the fund after fully paying 32 all obligations under paragraphs “a” , “b” , “c” , “d” , and “e”, 33 the remainder may be accumulated in the fund as a carryover 34 operating surplus. shall be expended and distributed in the 35 -3- LSB 6010XC (3) 86 gh/rj 3/ 6
S.F. _____ following priority order: 1 (a) The program manager, in consultation with the E911 2 communications council, shall allocate an amount, not to exceed 3 one hundred thousand dollars per fiscal year, for development 4 of public awareness and educational programs related to the 5 use of 911 by the public, educational programs for personnel 6 responsible for the maintenance, operation, and upgrading of 7 local E911 systems, and the expenses of members of the E911 8 communications council for travel, monthly meetings, and 9 training. 10 (b) The program manager shall allocate remaining surplus 11 shall be used moneys equally as follows: 12 (i) To public safety answering points to fund future network 13 and public safety answering point improvements and for the 14 receipt and disposition of 911 calls, including hardware and 15 software for an internet protocol-enabled next generation 16 network , and wireless . 17 (ii) Costs related to access the state’s interoperable 18 communications system. 19 (iii) Costs related to the receipt and disposition of 911 20 calls. 21 (iv) Wireless carriers’ transport costs related to wireless 22 E911 services, if those costs are not otherwise recovered by 23 wireless carriers through customer billing or other sources and 24 approved by the program manager in consultation with the E911 25 communications council. 26 (2) Notwithstanding section 8.33 , any moneys remaining in 27 the fund at the end of each fiscal year shall not revert to the 28 general fund of the state but shall remain available for the 29 purposes of the fund. 30 g. The director, in consultation with the program manager 31 and the E911 communications council, shall adopt rules pursuant 32 to chapter 17A governing the distribution of the surcharge 33 collected and distributed pursuant to this subsection . The 34 rules shall include provisions that all joint E911 service 35 -4- LSB 6010XC (3) 86 gh/rj 4/ 6
S.F. _____ boards and the department of public safety which answer 1 or service wireless E911 calls are eligible to receive an 2 equitable portion of the receipts. 3 EXPLANATION 4 The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with 5 the explanation’s substance by the members of the general assembly. 6 This bill relates to the distribution and permissible 7 expenditures of the E911 emergency communications service 8 surcharge. 9 Under current Code section 34A.7A, a monthly surcharge 10 is imposed on all communications service providers in Iowa. 11 Moneys collected pursuant to the surcharge are deposited in 12 a fund and are distributed by the E911 program manager in a 13 priority order as listed in Code section 34A.7A(2), paragraphs 14 “a” through “f”. 15 The bill establishes a higher priority of funding for 16 the contents of Code section 34A.7A(2), paragraph “e”, which 17 relates to funding to be provided to joint E911 service boards 18 and to the department of public safety (DPS), and increases the 19 amount of moneys allocated for funding under this paragraph 20 from 46 percent to 60 percent of the total amount of surcharge 21 generated. The bill also specifies that the funds allocated to 22 such joint E911 boards and to DPS shall be used for “emergency” 23 communication equipment to receive and dispose of 911 calls. 24 The bill amends Code section 34A.7A(2), paragraph “f”, which 25 relates to the distribution of any moneys remaining after 26 fully paying all prioritized obligations under the previous 27 paragraphs, by establishing a new priority order for the 28 expenditure and distribution of such remaining moneys. First 29 in this priority order is an amount, not to exceed $100,000 per 30 year, to be allocated for the development of public awareness 31 and educational programs relating to the use and maintenance 32 of E911 systems and for the expenses of members of the E911 33 communications travel for meetings and training. Second in 34 this priority order is for any remaining moneys to be allocated 35 -5- LSB 6010XC (3) 86 gh/rj 5/ 6
S.F. _____ equally to the following: public safety answering points to 1 fund future network improvements; costs related to access the 2 Iowa interoperable communications system; costs related to the 3 receipt and disposition of 911 calls; and wireless carriers’ 4 transport costs for wireless E911 services, if applicable. 5 The bill changes the name of the E911 emergency 6 communications fund established in Code section 34A.7A(2) to 7 the “Tom Hancock emergency communications service surcharge 8 memorial fund”. 9 -6- LSB 6010XC (3) 86 gh/rj 6/ 6