House Bill hb1263
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Florida House of Representatives - 2002 HB 1263
By Representative Bean
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to emergency telephone service;
3 amending s. 365.171, F.S.; providing for the
4 distribution of a fee collected by the
5 telephone company; amending s. 365.172, F.S.;
6 defining "statewide programs"; revising
7 functions of the Wireless 911 Board; revising
8 provisions for accounting services; revising
9 requirements for imposition of E911 fee;
10 providing application of the federal Mobile
11 Telecommunications Sourcing Act to provide for
12 administration of the fee and to incorporate
13 definitions of terms; revising purpose of the
14 fee; revising provider responsibilities
15 regarding the fees; amending s. 365.173, F.S.,
16 relating to the Wireless Emergency Telephone
17 System Fund; revising distribution of funds;
18 providing for distribution to the statewide 911
19 system director and statewide programs;
20 deleting provisions relating to distribution to
21 rural counties; providing an effective date.
22
23 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
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25 Section 1. Paragraphs (a) and (c) of subsection (13)
26 of section 365.171, Florida Statutes, are amended to read:
27 365.171 Emergency telephone number "911."--
28 (13) "911" FEE.--
29 (a) Following approval by referendum as set forth in
30 paragraph (b), or following approval by a majority vote of its
31 board of county commissioners, a county may impose a "911" fee
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1 to be paid by the local exchange subscribers within its
2 boundaries served by the "911" service. Proceeds from the
3 "911" fee shall be used only for "911" expenditures as set
4 forth in subparagraph 6. The manner of imposing and collecting
5 said payment shall be as follows:
6 1. At the request of the county subscribing to "911"
7 service, the telephone company shall, insofar as is
8 practicable, bill the "911" fee to the local exchange
9 subscribers served by the "911" service, on an individual
10 access line basis, at a rate not to exceed 50 cents per month
11 per line (up to a maximum of 25 access lines per account bill
12 rendered). However, the fee may not be assessed on any pay
13 telephone in this state. A county collecting the fee for the
14 first time may collect the fee for no longer than 36 months
15 without initiating the acquisition of its "911" equipment.
16 2. Fees collected by the telephone company pursuant to
17 subparagraph 1. shall be returned to the county, less the
18 costs of administration retained by the company and the
19 required distribution to the State Technology Office pursuant
20 to paragraph (c). The county shall provide a minimum of 90
21 days' written notice to the telephone company prior to the
22 collection of any "911" fees.
23 3. Any county that currently has an operational "911"
24 system or that is actively pursuing the implementation of a
25 "911" system shall establish a fund to be used exclusively for
26 receipt and expenditure of "911" fee revenues collected
27 pursuant to this section. All fees placed in said fund, and
28 any interest accrued thereupon, shall be used solely for "911"
29 costs described in subparagraph 6. The money collected and
30 interest earned in this fund shall be appropriated for "911"
31 purposes by the county commissioners and incorporated into the
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1 annual county budget. Such fund shall be included within the
2 financial audit performed in accordance with s. 218.39. A
3 report of the audit shall be forwarded to the office within 60
4 days of its completion. A county may carry forward on an
5 annual basis unspent moneys in the fund for expenditures
6 allowed by this section, or it may reduce its fee. However, in
7 no event shall a county carry forward more than 10 percent of
8 the "911" fee billed for the prior year. The amount of moneys
9 carried forward each year may be accumulated in order to allow
10 for capital improvements described in this subsection. The
11 carryover shall be documented by resolution of the board of
12 county commissioners expressing the purpose of the carryover
13 or by an adopted capital improvement program identifying
14 projected expansion or replacement expenditures for "911"
15 equipment and service features, or both. In no event shall the
16 "911" fee carryover surplus moneys be used for any purpose
17 other than for the "911" equipment, service features, and
18 installation charges authorized in subparagraph 6. Nothing in
19 this section shall prohibit a county from using other sources
20 of revenue for improvements, replacements, or expansions of
21 its "911" system. A county may increase its fee for purposes
22 authorized in this section. However, in no case shall the fee
23 exceed 50 cents per month per line. All current "911" fees
24 shall be reported to the office within 30 days of the start of
25 each county's fiscal period. Any fee adjustment made by a
26 county shall be reported to the office. A county shall give
27 the telephone company a 90-day written notice of such fee
28 adjustment.
29 4. The telephone company shall have no obligation to
30 take any legal action to enforce collection of the "911" fee.
31 The telephone company shall provide quarterly to the county a
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1 list of the names, addresses, and telephone numbers of any and
2 all subscribers who have identified to the telephone company
3 their refusal to pay the "911" fee.
4 5. The county subscribing to "911" service shall
5 remain liable to the telephone company for any "911" service,
6 equipment, operation, or maintenance charge owed by the county
7 to the telephone company.
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9 As used in this paragraph, "telephone company" means an
10 exchange telephone service provider of "911" service or
11 equipment to any county within its certificated area.
12 6. It is the intent of the Legislature that the "911"
13 fee authorized by this section to be imposed by counties will
14 not necessarily provide the total funding required for
15 establishing or providing the "911" service. For purposes of
16 this section, "911" service includes the functions of database
17 management, call taking, location verification, and call
18 transfer. The following costs directly attributable to the
19 establishment and/or provision of "911" service are eligible
20 for expenditure of moneys derived from imposition of the "911"
21 fee authorized by this section: the acquisition,
22 implementation, and maintenance of Public Safety Answering
23 Point (PSAP) equipment and "911" service features, as defined
24 in the Florida Public Service Commission's lawfully approved
25 "911" and related tariffs and/or the acquisition,
26 installation, and maintenance of other "911" equipment,
27 including call answering equipment, call transfer equipment,
28 ANI controllers, ALI controllers, ANI displays, ALI displays,
29 station instruments, "911" telecommunications systems,
30 teleprinters, logging recorders, instant playback recorders,
31 telephone devices for the deaf (TDD) used in the "911" system,
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1 PSAP backup power systems, consoles, automatic call
2 distributors, and interfaces (hardware and software) for
3 computer-aided dispatch (CAD) systems; salary and associated
4 expenses for "911" call takers for that portion of their time
5 spent taking and transferring "911" calls; salary and
6 associated expenses for a county to employ a full-time
7 equivalent "911" coordinator position and a full-time
8 equivalent staff assistant position per county for the portion
9 of their time spent administrating the "911" system; training
10 costs for PSAP call takers in the proper methods and
11 techniques used in taking and transferring "911" calls;
12 expenses required to develop and maintain all information (ALI
13 and ANI databases and other information source repositories)
14 necessary to properly inform call takers as to location
15 address, type of emergency, and other information directly
16 relevant to the "911" call-taking and transferring function;
17 and, in a county defined in s. 125.011(1), such expenses
18 related to a nonemergency "311" system, or similar
19 nonemergency system, which improves the overall efficiency of
20 an existing "911" system or reduces "911" emergency response
21 time for a 2-year pilot project that ends June 30, 2003.
22 However, no wireless telephone service provider shall be
23 required to participate in this pilot project or to otherwise
24 implement a nonemergency "311" system or similar nonemergency
25 system. The "911" fee revenues shall not be used to pay for
26 any item not listed, including, but not limited to, any
27 capital or operational costs for emergency responses which
28 occur after the call transfer to the responding public safety
29 entity and the costs for constructing buildings, leasing
30 buildings, maintaining buildings, or renovating buildings,
31 except for those building modifications necessary to maintain
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1 the security and environmental integrity of the PSAP and "911"
2 equipment rooms.
3 7. It is the goal of the Legislature that enhanced
4 "911" service be available throughout the state. Expenditure
5 by counties of the "911" fees authorized by this section
6 should support this goal to the greatest extent feasible
7 within the context of local service needs and fiscal
8 capability. Nothing in this section shall be construed to
9 prohibit two or more counties from establishing a combined
10 emergency "911" telephone service by interlocal agreement and
11 utilizing the "911" fees authorized by this section for such
12 combined "911" service.
13 (c) Any county imposing a "911" fee in accordance with
14 the provisions of this subsection shall allow the telephone
15 company to retain as an administrative fee an amount equal to
16 1 percent of the total "911" fee collected by the telephone
17 company and to distribute three-fourths of 1 percent of the
18 total "911" fee collected by the telephone company to the
19 office for funding the statewide 911 system director functions
20 as defined in subsection (5).
21 Section 2. Paragraph (r) of subsection (3) of section
22 365.172, Florida Statutes, is redesignated as paragraph (s)
23 and a new paragraph (r) is added to said section, paragraph
24 (a) of subsection (5), paragraph (a) of subsection (6),
25 paragraphs (a) and (b) of subsection (8), paragraph (d) of
26 subsection (9), and paragraph (b) of subsection (10) of said
27 section are amended, and paragraph (c) is added to subsection
28 (7) of said section, to read:
29 365.172 Wireless emergency telephone number "E911."--
30 (3) DEFINITIONS.--As used in this section and ss.
31 365.173 and 365.174, the term:
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1 (r) "Statewide programs" means and includes
2 administration and operations of the board; the staff support
3 for statewide E911 service from the office; providing
4 assistance to rural counties for implementation or operating
5 enhanced 911 service within the county; providing for research
6 and development of issues related to defining the most
7 cost-effective and efficient alternatives for implementation
8 of enhancements to the 911 systems; providing for pilot
9 projects, with statewide implications, to improve the accuracy
10 of the information contained in the 911 ALI database, to
11 reduce the cost of database maintenance, and to incorporate
12 new application capability into the database, such as Local
13 Number Portability (LPN); and providing a source of funds to
14 encourage counties and providers to increase the deployment of
15 advanced features into the 911 systems.
16 (s)(r) "Wireless 911 system" or "wireless 911 service"
17 means an emergency telephone system or service that provides a
18 subscriber with the ability to reach an answering point by
19 dialing the digits "911." A wireless 911 system is
20 complementary to a wired 911 system as provided for in s.
21 365.171.
22 (5) THE WIRELESS 911 BOARD.--
23 (a) The Wireless 911 Board is established to
24 administer, with oversight by the office, the fee imposed
25 under subsection (8), including receiving revenues derived
26 from the fee; distributing portions of such revenues to
27 providers, counties, and the office; accounting for receipts,
28 distributions, and income derived by the funds maintained in
29 the fund; develop, manage, and administer the statewide
30 programs to promote the efficient, effective, and timely
31 implementation of statewide enhanced 911 service; and
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1 providing annual reports to the Governor and the Legislature
2 for submission by the office on amounts collected and
3 expended, the purposes for which expenditures have been made,
4 and the status of wireless E911 service in this state. In
5 order to advise and assist the office in carrying out the
6 purposes of this section, the board, which shall have the
7 power of a body corporate, shall have the powers enumerated in
8 subsection (6).
9 (6) AUTHORITY OF THE BOARD; ANNUAL REPORT.--
10 (a) The board shall:
11 1. Administer the E911 fee.
12 2. Implement, maintain, and oversee the fund.
13 3. Review and oversee the disbursement of the revenues
14 deposited into the fund as provided in s. 365.173. The board
15 may establish a schedule for implementing wireless E911
16 service by service area, and prioritize disbursements of
17 revenues from the fund to providers and rural counties as
18 provided in s. 365.173(2)(c)(b) and (d)(c) pursuant to the
19 schedule, in order to implement E911 services in the most
20 efficient and cost-effective manner.
21 4. Review documentation submitted by providers which
22 reflects current and projected funds derived from the E911
23 fee, and the expenses incurred and expected to be incurred, in
24 order to comply with the E911 service requirements contained
25 in the order for the purposes of:
26 a. Ensuring that providers receive fair and equitable
27 distributions of funds from the fund.
28 b. Ensuring that providers are not provided
29 disbursements from the fund which exceed the costs of
30 providing E911 service, including the costs of complying with
31 the order.
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1 c. Ascertaining the projected costs of compliance with
2 the requirements of the order and projected collections of the
3 E911 fee.
4 d. Implementing changes to the allocation percentages
5 or reducing the E911 fee under paragraph (8)(c).
6 5. Review and approve or reject, in whole or in part,
7 applications submitted by providers for recovery of moneys
8 deposited into the fund.
9 6. Hire and retain employees for the purposes of
10 performing administrative functions for the board.
11 7. Make and enter into contracts, pursuant to chapter
12 287, and execute other instruments necessary or convenient for
13 the exercise of the powers and functions of the board.
14 8. Take all necessary and reasonable steps by July 1,
15 2000, to secure appropriate information and reports from
16 providers and otherwise perform all of the functions that
17 would be performed by an independent accounting firm prior to
18 completing the request-for-proposals process under subsection
19 (7).
20 9. Sue and be sued, and appear and defend in all
21 actions and proceedings, in its corporate name to the same
22 extent as a natural person.
23 10. Adopt, use, and alter a common corporate seal.
24 11. Elect or appoint the officers and agents that are
25 required by the affairs of the board.
26 12. The board may adopt rules under ss. 120.536(1) and
27 120.54 to implement this section and ss. 365.173 and 365.174.
28 13. Do all acts and things necessary or convenient to
29 carry out the powers granted in this section, including but
30 not limited to, consideration of emerging technology and
31 related cost savings.
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1 (7) REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS FOR INDEPENDENT ACCOUNTING
2 FIRM.--
3 (c) After July 1, 2003, the board may secure the
4 services of an independent accounting firm via invitation to
5 bid, request for proposals, invitation to negotiate, or
6 professional contracts already established at the Division of
7 Purchasing, Department of Management Services, for certified
8 public accounting firms, or the board may hire and retain
9 professional accounting staff to accomplish these functions.
10 If the board retains staff, the board shall have an
11 independent accounting firm conduct an audit of the board's
12 annual financial status and provide a copy to the Auditor
13 General of the state.
14 (8) WIRELESS E911 FEE.--
15 (a)1. Each provider shall collect a monthly fee
16 imposed on each customer whose place of primary use is in
17 service subscriber who has a service number that has a billing
18 address within this state. The rate of the fee shall be 50
19 cents per month per each service number, beginning August 1,
20 1999. The fee shall apply uniformly and be imposed throughout
21 the state.
22 2. The wireless 911 fee imposed by this section shall
23 be administered in accordance with the Mobile
24 Telecommunications Sourcing Act, 4 U.S.C. ss. 116-126. For
25 purposes of this section, each of the terms and corresponding
26 definitions of such terms set forth in 4 U.S.C. s. 124 shall
27 apply.
28 (b) The fee is established to ensure full recovery for
29 providers and for counties, over a reasonable period, of the
30 costs associated with developing and maintaining an E911
31 system on a technologically and competitively neutral basis
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1 and to provide support for the functions of the statewide 911
2 system director as defined in s. 365.171(5).
3 (9) MANAGEMENT OF FUNDS.--
4 (d) Each provider shall deliver revenues from the fee
5 to the board within 60 days after the end of the month in
6 which the fee was billed and, at the board's request but not
7 more than twice a year, deliver together with a monthly report
8 of the number of billing addresses of wireless subscribers
9 whose place of primary use is in each county. A provider may
10 apply to the board for a refund of, or may take a credit for,
11 any fees remitted to the board which are not collected by the
12 provider within 6 months following the month in which the fees
13 are charged off for federal income tax purposes as bad debt.
14 The board may waive the requirement that the fees and number
15 of wireless subscribers with a place of primary use in each
16 county billing addresses be submitted to the board each month
17 and authorize a provider to submit the fees and number of
18 subscribers billing addresses quarterly if the provider
19 demonstrates that such waiver is necessary and justified.
20 (10) PROVISION OF SERVICES.--In accordance with the
21 order, a provider is not required to provide E911 service
22 until:
23 (b) Funds are available under s. 365.173(2)(c)(b).
24 Section 3. Subsection (2) of section 365.173, Florida
25 Statutes, is amended to read:
26 365.173 Wireless Emergency Telephone System Fund.--
27 (2) Subject to any modifications approved by the board
28 pursuant to s. 365.172(8)(c), the moneys in the fund shall be
29 distributed and used only as follows:
30 (a) Forty-three and three-fourths Forty-four percent
31 of the moneys shall be distributed each month to counties,
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1 based on the population of total number of wireless subscriber
2 billing addresses in each county as reported no later than
3 June 30, annually, by the Florida Association of Counties, for
4 payment of:
5 1. Recurring costs of providing 911 or E911 service,
6 as provided by s. 365.171(13)(a)6.
7 2. Costs to comply with the requirements for E911
8 service contained in the order and any future rules related to
9 the order.
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11 A county may carry forward, for up to 3 successive calendar
12 years, up to 30 percent of the total funds disbursed to the
13 county by the board during a calendar year for expenditures
14 for capital outlay, capital improvements, or equipment
15 replacement, if such expenditures are made for the purposes
16 specified in this paragraph.
17 (b) Three-fourths of 1 percent of the moneys shall be
18 distributed each month to the office for support of the
19 functions of the statewide 911 system director as defined in
20 s. 365.171(5).
21 (c)(b) Fifty-three and one-half Fifty-four percent of
22 the moneys shall be distributed in response to sworn invoices
23 submitted to the board by providers to reimburse such
24 providers for the actual costs incurred to provide 911 or E911
25 service, including the costs of complying with the order. Such
26 costs include costs and expenses incurred by providers to
27 design, purchase, lease, program, install, test, upgrade,
28 operate, and maintain all necessary data, hardware, and
29 software required to provide E911 service. Two Up to 2 percent
30 of the funds allocated to providers shall be retained by the
31 board to be applied to costs and expenses incurred for the
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1 purposes of managing, administering, and overseeing the
2 statewide programs receipts and disbursements from the fund.
3 Any funds retained for such purposes in a calendar year which
4 are not applied to such costs and expenses by March 31 of the
5 following year shall be distributed to providers pursuant to
6 this paragraph. Beginning in state fiscal year 2000-2001, each
7 provider shall submit to the board, by August 1 of each year,
8 a detailed estimate of the capital and operating expenses for
9 which it anticipates that it will seek reimbursement under
10 this paragraph during the ensuing state fiscal year. By
11 September 15 of each year, the board shall submit to the
12 Legislature its legislative budget request for funds to be
13 allocated to providers under this paragraph during the ensuing
14 state fiscal year. The budget request shall be based on the
15 information submitted by the providers and estimated surcharge
16 revenues. Distributions of moneys in the fund by the board to
17 providers must be fair and nondiscriminatory. If the total
18 amount of moneys requested by providers pursuant to invoices
19 submitted to the board and approved for payment exceeds the
20 amount in the fund in any month, providers that have invoices
21 approved for payment shall receive a pro rata share of moneys
22 in the fund and the balance of the payments shall be carried
23 over to the following month or months until all of the
24 approved payments are made. The board may adopt rules
25 necessary to address the manner in which pro rata
26 distributions are made when the total amount of funds
27 requested by providers pursuant to invoices submitted to the
28 board exceeds the total amount of moneys on deposit in the
29 fund.
30 (d)(c) Two percent of the moneys shall be allocated
31 for statewide programs as defined in s. 365.172 used to make
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1 monthly distributions to rural counties for the purpose of
2 providing facilities and network and service enhancements and
3 assistance for the 911 or E911 systems operated by rural
4 counties and for the provision of reimbursable loans and
5 grants by the office to rural counties for upgrading 911
6 systems.
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8 The Legislature recognizes that the wireless E911 fee
9 authorized under s. 365.172 will not necessarily provide the
10 total funding required for establishing or providing the 911
11 service. It is the intent of the Legislature that all revenue
12 from the fee be used as specified in s. 365.171(13)(a)6.
13 Section 4. This act shall take effect October 1, 2002.
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16 HOUSE SUMMARY
17
Revises provisions relating to state emergency
18 communications service. Revises functions of the Wireless
911 Board. Provides for statewide programs. Revises
19 provisions for the E911 fee. Revises distribution of
moneys in the Wireless Emergency Telephone System Fund.
20 See bill for details.
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