SB 279 Text

COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
Senate Bill No. 279
(By Senators Wooton, Love and Bailey)
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[Originating in the Committee on the Judiciary;
reported February 7, 1996.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section two, article six, chapter twenty-four of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended; and to further amend said article by adding thereto a new section, designated section six-b, all relating to local emergency telephone systems; defining and redefining terms; authorizing public wireless telecommunications utilities to provide local emergency telephone services; providing for an enhanced 911 fee; authorizing the public service commission to establish amount of fees and to disburse the same to counties; setting forth method for fee calculation and disbursement; providing for annual recalculation of fee and disbursement; creating escrow account for counties which have not adopted enhanced 911 ordinance; providing for the disbursement of escrowed funds upon adoption of ordinance; providing for the distribution of remaining escrow funds; and authorizing the discontinuance of service for failure to pay fee.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section two, article six, chapter twenty-four of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended and reenacted; and that said article be further amended by adding thereto a new section, designated section six-b, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 6. LOCAL EMERGENCY TELEPHONE SYSTEM.

§24-6-2. Definitions.

As used in this article, unless the context clearly requires a different meaning:
(1) "County answering point" means a facility to which enhanced emergency telephone system calls for a county are initially routed for response, and where county personnel respond to specific requests for emergency service by directly dispatching the appropriate emergency service provider, relaying a message to the appropriate provider or transferring the call to the appropriate provider.
(2) "Emergency services organization" means the organization established under article five, chapter fifteen of this code.
(3) "Emergency service provider" means any emergency services organization or public safety unit.
(4) "Emergency telephone system" means a telephone system which through normal telephone service facilities automatically connects a person dialing the primary emergency telephone number to an established public agency answering point, but does not include an enhanced emergency telephone system.
(5) "Enhanced emergency telephone system" means a telephone system which automatically connects the person dialing the primary emergency number to the county answering point and in which the telephone network system automatically provides to personnel receiving the call, immediately on answering the call, information on the location and the telephone number from which the call is being made, and upon direction from the personnel receiving the call routes or dispatches such call by telephone, radio or any other appropriate means of communication to emergency service providers that serve the location from which the call is made.
(6) "Public agency" means the state, and any municipality, county, public district or public authority which provides or has authority to provide fire-fighting, police, ambulance, medical, rescue or other emergency services.
(7) "Public safety unit" means a functional division of a public agency which provides fire-fighting, police, medical, rescue or other emergency services.
(8) ~~"Telephone company"~~ or "telephone service supplier" means a public utility, including a public wireless telecommunications utility, which is engaged in the provision of telephone service by means of either wire or wireless facilities.
(9) "Comprehensive plan" means a plan pertaining to the installing, modifying or replacing of telephone switching equipment; telephone utilities' response in a timely manner to requests for emergency telephone service by a public agency; telephone utilities' responsibility to report to the public service commission; charges and tariffs for the services and facilities provided by telephone utilities; and access to emergency telephone system by emergency service organizations.
(10) "Technical and operational standards" means those standards of telephone equipment and processes necessary for the implementation of the comprehensive plan as defined in subdivision (9) above.
(11) "Public wireless telecommunications utility" means any entity, including cellular carriers and personal communications service carriers, as defined by the federal communications commission, which provides, to the public within the state, switched two-way telecommunications service which subscribers access by means of radio equipment.
§24-6-6b. Wireless enhanced 911 fee.
(a) Beginning on the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred ninety-six, all public wireless telecommunications utilities, as defined in section two of this article, shall, on a monthly basis, collect from each of their in-state two-way service subscribers a wireless enhanced 911 fee. The public service commission shall, no later than the first day of June, one thousand nine hundred ninety-six, issue an order directing the public wireless telecommunications utilities to identify subscribers of in-state two-way telecommunications services and specifying how such utilities will address fee collection shortages resulting from uncollected fees. The public service commission shall solicit the views of the public wireless telecommunications utilities prior to issuing the order.
(b) The wireless enhanced 911 fee shall be calculated by the public service commission according to the following formula:
(1) The fee shall be the weighted average, as of the first day of March, one thousand nine hundred ninety-six, of all of the enhanced 911 fees imposed by the counties which have adopted an enhanced 911 ordinance;
(2) The fee shall be recalculated, effective the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred ninety-seven, and on an annual basis thereafter.
(c) The wireless enhanced 911 fee moneys collected, after removal of a two percent collection fee which may be retained by the public wireless telecommunications utilities, shall be sent, on a monthly basis, to the public service commission. The public service commission shall, on a quarterly basis, disburse the fee revenue in the following manner:
(1) Each county shall receive a pro rata portion, based on that county's percentage of the total number of telephone access lines and line equivalents in service in the state, of the fee revenues received by the public service commission. The public service commission shall recalculate the county disbursement percentages on an annual basis, with the changes effective on the first day of July of each year, and using data as of the preceding first day of March, which data shall be supplied, on a county specific basis, by no later than the first day of June of each year, to the public service commission by the public utilities which normally provide telecommunications service by means of lines, wires, cables, optical fibers, etc. extended to subscriber premises;
(2) Counties which have adopted an enhanced 911 ordinance shall receive their share of the wireless enhanced 911 fee revenue for use in the same manner as the enhanced 911 fee revenues received by those counties pursuant to their enhanced 911 ordinances;
(3) The public service commission shall deposit the wireless enhanced 911 fee revenue for each county which has no adopted an enhanced 911 ordinance into an escrow account which shall be established for that county. Any county with such an escrow account may, immediately upon adopting an enhanced 911 ordinance, receive the moneys which have accumulated in the escrow account for use as specified in subdivision (2), subsection (c) of this section. Every five years all fee revenues on deposit in escrow accounts shall be disbursed on the pro rata basis specified in subdivision (1) subsection (c) of this section, except that data for counties which have not adopted an enhanced 911 ordinance shall be omitted from such calculation, and all escrow accounts shall be reestablished with a zero balance.
(d) Failure by a public wireless telecommunications utility two-way telecommunications service subscriber to timely pay the wireless enhanced 911 fee shall be adequate basis for the discontinuation of public wireless telecommunications utility service.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to create a wireless enhanced 911 fee.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would be added. §24-6-6b is new; therefore, strike-throughs and underscoring have been omitted.

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