H. B. 2467
(By Delegates Michael, Pettit,
Doyle, Seacrist and Warner)
[Introduced March 10, 1997; referred to the
Committee on Political Subdivisions then Finance.]
A BILL to amend and reenact sections two, four and eight,
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
definitions for local emergency telephone system and
providing for a wireless enhanced 911 fee.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That sections two, four and eight, 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" "Telephone service supplier" means
a public utility, including any public wireless
telecommunications utility, which is engaged in the provision of
telephone service whether primarily by means of 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 such are 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.
§24-6-4. Creation of emergency telephone systems.
(a) Upon the adoption by the public service commission of
a comprehensive plan, the public agency may establish, consistent
with the comprehensive plan, an emergency telephone system within
its respective jurisdiction. Nothing herein contained, however,
shall be construed to prohibit or discourage in any way the
establishment of multi-jurisdiction or regional systems, and any
emergency telephone system established pursuant to this article
may include the territory of more than one public agency, or may
include only a portion of the territory of a public agency. To the extent feasible, emergency telephone systems shall be
centralized.
(b) Every emergency telephone system shall provide access to
emergency services organizations, police, fire fighting, and
emergency medical and ambulance services and may provide access
to other emergency services. Such The system may also provide
access to private ambulance services. The emergency telephone
system shall provide the necessary mechanical equipment at the
established public agency answering point to allow deaf persons
access to the system. In those areas in which a public safety
unit of the state provides emergency services, the system shall
provide access to the public safety unit.
(c) The primary emergency telephone number to the extent
possible, shall be uniform throughout the state.
(d) A telephone company service supplier in the normal
course of replacing or making major modifications to its
switching equipment shall include the capability of providing for
the emergency telephone system and shall bear all costs related
thereto. All charges for other services and facilities provided
by the telephone company, including the provision of distribution
facilities and station equipment, shall be paid for by the public
agency or public safety unit in accordance with the applicable
tariff rates then in effect for such services and facilities. Other costs pursuant to the emergency telephone system shall be
allocated as determined by the applicable comprehensive plan of
the public service commission.
(e) All coin-operated telephones within the state shall be
of a design that will permit a caller to initiate, without first
having to insert a coin (dial tone first or post-pay systems),
local calls to the long distance and directory assistance
operators, calls to the emergency telephone number answering
point, if one has been established in his or her local calling
area, and to other numbers for services as the telephone company
may from time to time make available to the public.
§24-6-6b. Wireless enhanced 911 fee.
(a) Beginning on the first day of July, one thousand nine
hundred ninety-seven, 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, by no later than the first day of June, one
thousand nine hundred ninety-seven, shall issue an order which
directs the wireless telecommunications utilities regarding all
relevant details of wireless enhanced 911 fee collection,
including the determination of who shall be considered an in- state two-way service subscriber and which shall specify how the wireless telecommunications utilities 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 shall initially be
seventy-five cents per month per wireless service to which a
subscriber subscribes.
(c) Every two years from one thousand nine hundred ninety- seven the public service commission shall respecify the wireless
enhanced 911 fee by recalculating the fee such that it shall be
the weighted average rounded to the nearest penny, as 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.
(d) The wireless enhanced 911 fee moneys collected, after
removal of a three percent collection fee which may be kept 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 quarter-yearly and approximately
evenly staggered 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 local exchange
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 a yearly basis, with the
changes effective on the first day of July, and using data as of
the preceding first day of March, which data shall be supplied,
on a county specific basis, and by no later than the first day of
June of each year, to the public service commission by the public
utilities which normally provide local exchange
telecommunications service by means of lines, wires, cables,
optical fibers, etc. extended to subscriber premises;
(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
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 (d) of this section: Provided, That every five years
from the year one thousand nine hundred ninety-seven, all fee
revenue residing in escrow accounts shall be disbursed on the pro
rata basis specified in subdivision (1) subsection (d) of this
section, except omitting data for counties without enhanced 911
ordinances in effect and all escrow accounts shall begin again
with a zero balance.
(e) Failure by a public wireless telecommunications utility
two-way service subscriber to timely pay the wireless enhanced
911 fee is adequate basis for discontinuance of wireless
telecommunications utility service.
§24-6-8. Limitation of liability.
A public agency or a telephone service supplier
participating in an emergency telephone system or a county which
has established an enhanced emergency telephone system, and any
officer, agent or employee of such the public agency, telephone
service supplier, or county is not liable for damages in a civil
action for injuries, death or loss to persons or property arising
from any act or omission, except willful or wanton misconduct, in
connection with developing, adopting or approving any final plan
or any agreement made pursuant to this article, or otherwise bringing into operation or participating in the operation of an
emergency telephone system or an enhanced emergency telephone
system pursuant to this article.
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.