COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
Senate Bill No. 383
(By Senators Browning, Fanning, Jenkins, K. Facemyer, Stollings,
Boley, White, Kessler, Hall, Williams, D. Facemire, Snyder,
Sypolt, Oliverio, Minard, Yost, Plymale and Edgell)
____________
[Originating in the Committee on the Judiciary;
reported February 26, 2010.]
____________
A BILL to amend and reenact §24-6-6b of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to increasing the amount allocated
from the wireless enhanced 911 fee to be deposited into the
Enhanced 911 Wireless Tower Access Assistance Fund and
distributed by the Public Service Commission to subsidize the
construction of wireless towers; providing that certain grant
information be available for public inspection; and providing
definitions.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §24-6-6b of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 6. LOCAL EMERGENCY TELEPHONE SYSTEM.
§24-6-6b. Wireless enhanced 911 fee.
(a) All CMRS providers as defined in section two of this article shall, on a monthly basis or otherwise for good cause and
as directed by order of the Public Service Commission, collect from
each of their in-state two-way service subscribers a wireless
enhanced 911 fee. As used in this section "in-state two-way
service subscriber"
shall have has the same meaning as that set
forth in the rules of the Public Service Commission. No later than
June 1, 2006, the Public Service Commission shall, after the
receipt of comments and the consideration of evidence presented at
a hearing, issue an updated order which directs the CMRS providers
regarding all relevant details of wireless enhanced 911 fee
collection, including the determination of who is considered an
in-state two-way service subscriber and which shall specify how the
CMRS providers shall deal with fee collection shortfalls caused by
uncollectible accounts. The Public Service Commission shall
solicit the views of the wireless telecommunications utilities
prior to before issuing the order.
(b) The wireless enhanced 911 fee is $3 per month for each
valid retail commercial mobile radio service subscription, as that
term is defined by the Public Service Commission in its order
issued under subsection (a) of this section.
Provided, That
Beginning July 1, 2005, the wireless enhanced 911 fee shall include
ten cents to be distributed to the West Virginia State Police to be
used for equipment upgrades for improving and integrating their
communication efforts with those of the enhanced 911 systems.
Provided, however, That For the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2005,
and for every fiscal year thereafter
until June 30, 2010, $1 million of the wireless enhanced 911 fee shall be distributed by
the Public Service Commission to subsidize the construction of
towers.
For the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2010, and for every
fiscal year thereafter, $2 million of the wireless enhanced 911 fee
shall be distributed by the Public Service Commission to subsidize
the construction of towers. The moneys shall be deposited in a
fund administered by the West Virginia Public Service Commission,
entitled Enhanced 911 Wireless Tower Access Assistance Fund, and
shall be
expended spent in accordance with an enhanced 911 wireless
tower access matching grant order adopted by the Public Service
Commission. The commission order shall contain terms and
conditions designed to provide financial assistance loans or grants
to state agencies, political subdivisions of the state and wireless
telephone carriers for the acquisition, equipping and construction
of new wireless towers, which would provide enhanced 911 service
coverage and which would not be available otherwise due to marginal
financial viability of the applicable tower coverage area.
Provided further, That The grants shall be allocated among
potential sites based on application from county commissions
demonstrating the need for enhanced 911 wireless coverage in
specific areas of this state.
A grant application from a county
commission to the Public Service Commission shall contain a copy,
available for public inspection, of all written agreements between
the county commission and a wireless telephone carrier related to
the construction and use of the proposed tower, including a
required written agreement on the rate of the rental fees to be charged by the county commission to the wireless telephone carrier
for its use
of a wireless tower subsidized to any extent under this
section. To the extent an agreement is entered into subsequent to
the filing of an application, within thirty days of the execution
of the agreement, the applicant shall file the subsequent agreement
with the Public Service Commission. Any tower constructed with
assistance from the fund created by this subdivision shall be
available for use by emergency services, fire departments and
law-enforcement agencies communication equipment, so long as that
use does not interfere with the carrier's wireless signal. And
provided further, That The Public Service Commission shall
promulgate rules in accordance with article three, chapter
twenty-nine-a of this code to effectuate the provisions of this
subsection. The Public Service Commission is specifically
authorized to promulgate emergency rules. And provided further,
That For the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2006, and for every
fiscal year thereafter, five percent of the wireless enhanced 911
fee money received by the Public Service Commission shall be
deposited in a special fund established by the Division of Homeland
Security and Emergency Management to be used solely for the
construction, maintenance and upgrades of the West Virginia
Interoperable Radio Project and any other costs associated with
establishing and maintaining the infrastructure of the system. Any
funds remaining in this fund at the end of the fiscal year shall
automatically be reappropriated for the following year.
(c) Beginning in the year 1997, and every two years thereafter, the Public Service Commission shall conduct an audit of
the wireless enhanced 911 fee and shall recalculate the fee so that
it is the weighted average rounded to the nearest penny, as of the
first day of March of the respecification year, of all of the
enhanced 911 fees imposed by the counties which have adopted an
enhanced 911 ordinance: Provided, That the wireless enhanced 911
fee may never be increased by more than twenty-five percent of its
value at the beginning of the respecification year: Provided,
however, That the fee may never be less than the amount set in
subsection (b) of this section. Provided further, That Beginning
July 1, 2005, the wireless enhanced 911 fee shall include ten cents
to be distributed to the West Virginia State Police to be used for
equipment upgrades for improving and integrating their
communication efforts with those of the enhanced 911 systems: And
Provided further, That beginning July 1, 2005, and for every fiscal
year thereafter until June 30, 2010, $1 million of the wireless
enhanced 911 fee shall be distributed by the Public Service
Commission to subsidize the construction of wireless towers as
specified in said subsection (b) of this section. Beginning July
1, 2010, and for every fiscal year thereafter, $2 million of the
wireless enhanced 911 fee shall be distributed by the Public
Service Commission to subsidize the construction of wireless towers
as specified in subsection (b) of this section.
(d) The CMRS providers shall, after retaining a three-percent
billing fee, send the wireless enhanced 911 fee moneys collected,
on a monthly basis, to the Public Service Commission. The Public Service Commission shall, on a quarterly and approximately evenly
staggered basis, disburse the fee revenue in the following manner:
(1) Each county that does not have a 911 ordinance in effect
as of the original effective date of this section in the year 1997
or has enacted a 911 ordinance within the five years prior to the
original effective date of this section in the year 1997 shall
receive eight and one-half tenths of one percent of the fee
revenues received by the Public Service Commission: Provided, That
after the effective date of this section, in the year 2005, when
two or more counties consolidate into one county to provide
government services, the consolidated county shall receive one
percent of the fee revenues received by the Public Service
Commission for itself and for each county merged into the
consolidated county. Each county shall receive eight and one-half
tenths of one percent of the remainder of the fee revenues received
by the Public Service Commission: Provided, however, That after
the effective date of this section, in the year 2005, when two or
more counties consolidate into one county to provide government
services, the consolidated county shall receive one percent of the
fee revenues received by the Public Service Commission for itself
and for each county merged into the consolidated county. Then,
from any moneys remaining, each county shall receive a pro rata
portion of that remainder based on that county's population as
determined in the most recent decennial census as a percentage of
the state total population. The Public Service Commission shall
recalculate the county disbursement percentages on a yearly basis, with the changes effective July 1, and using data as of the
preceding March 1. The public utilities which normally provide
local exchange telecommunications service by means of lines, wires,
cables, optical fibers or by other means extended to subscriber
premises shall supply the data to the Public Service Commission on
a county specific basis no later than June 1 of each year;
(2) Counties which have an enhanced 911 ordinance in effect
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 does not have an
enhanced 911 ordinance in effect into an escrow account which it
has established for that county. Any county with 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 two of this subsection. Provided, That
A county that adopts a 911 ordinance after the original effective
date of this section in the year 1997 or has adopted a 911
ordinance within five years of the original effective date of this
section in the year 1997 shall continue to receive one percent of
the total 911 fee revenue for a period of five years following the
adoption of the ordinance. Thereafter, each county shall receive
that county's eight and one-half tenths of one percent of the
remaining fee revenue, plus that county's additional pro rata portion of the fee revenues then remaining, based on that county's
population as determined in the most recent decennial census as a
percentage of the state total population: Provided, however, That
every five years from the year 1997, all fee revenue residing in
escrow accounts shall be disbursed on the pro rata basis specified
in subdivision (1) of this subsection, except that data for
counties without enhanced 911 ordinances in effect shall be omitted
from the calculation and all escrow accounts shall begin again with
a zero balance.
(e) CMRS providers have the same rights and responsibilities
as other telephone service suppliers in dealing with the failure by
a subscriber of a CMRS provider to timely pay the wireless enhanced
911 fee.
(f) Notwithstanding the provisions of section one-a of this
article, for the purposes of this section, the term "county" means
one of the counties provided in section one, article one, chapter
one of this code.
(g) From any funds distributed to a county pursuant to this
section, a total of three percent shall be set aside in a special
fund to be used exclusively for the purchase of equipment that will
provide information regarding the x and y coordinates of persons
who call an emergency telephone system through a commercial mobile
radio service. Provided, That Upon purchase of the necessary
equipment, the special fund shall be dissolved and any surplus
shall be used for general operation of the emergency telephone
system as may otherwise be provided by law.
(h) Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this code,
beginning July 1, 2008, prepaid wireless calling service is no
longer subject to the wireless enhanced 911 fee.
(i) For purposes of this section, "tower" or "wireless tower"
means a wireless communication tower, together with any related
equipment necessary to provide, establish or enhance wireless
communication services.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to increase the annual
allocation of moneys from the wireless enhanced 911 fee to be
distributed by the Public Service Commission into the Enhanced 911
Wireless Tower Assistance Fund to subsidize the construction of
wireless towers from $1 million to $2 million.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.
Email
Webmaster | © 2024 West Virginia Legislature **
