WEST virginia Legislature
2017 regular session
Introduced
House Bill 2729
By Delegates Frich, Storch, Butler, Householder, Ellington, Blair and Anderson
[Introduced February 28,
2017; Referred
to the Committee on Finance.]
A BILL to amend and reenact §24-6-6b of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to giving the West Virginia State Police an additional 15¢ from the wireless enhanced 911 fee to be used for the operation of its forensic laboratory.
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 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 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 on July 1, 2005, the wireless enhanced 911 fee shall include 10¢ 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
beginning on July 1, 2017, the wireless enhanced 911 fee shall include 15¢ to
be distributed to the West Virginia State Police to be used for the operation
of its forensic laboratory: Provided, however further,
That for the fiscal year beginning on July 1, 2005, and for every fiscal year
thereafter, $1 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 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. 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 on 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 March 1
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 on July 1, 2005,
the wireless enhanced 911 fee shall include 10¢ 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 on July 1, 2005, $1,000,000 $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: And provided further, That beginning on
July 1, 2017, the wireless enhanced 911 fee shall include 15¢ to be distributed
to the West Virginia State Police to be used for the operation of its forensic
laboratory.
(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 on July 1, and using data as of the preceding 1st day of
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 (2) 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.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to give the West Virginia State Police an additional 15¢ from the wireless enhanced 911 fee to be used for the operation of its forensic laboratory.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from a heading or the present law and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.