Rejected by House 3-4-08
SB552 HFA Armstead 3-4 #1
Delegates Armstead, Palumbo, Walters, and Lane move to amend
the bill on page thirty-three, section six-b, line one, by striking
the remainder of the bill and inserting in lieu thereof the
following:
"(a) Beginning on the first day of July, two thousand seven,
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 the first day of June, two
thousand six, 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 three dollars
seventy-five cents 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 the first day of
July, two thousand five, 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
on the first day of July, two thousand five, and for every fiscal
year thereafter, one million dollars 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 the first day of July, two
thousand six, 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 one thousand nine hundred
ninety-seven, 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 on the first day of
July, two thousand five, 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 on the first day
of July, two thousand five, one million dollars 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 one
thousand nine hundred ninety-seven or has enacted a 911 ordinance
within the five years prior to the original effective date of this
section in the year one thousand nine hundred ninety-seven 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 two thousand
five, 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 a pro rata portion of the remainder of the
fee revenues received by the Public Service Commission, based on
that county's percentage of the total number of local exchange
telephone access lines and line equivalents in service in the
state: Provided, however, That after the effective date of this
section, in the year two thousand five, 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 the first day of July, and using data as of the
preceding first day of March. 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 the first day
of June 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), subsection (d) of this section:
Provided, That a county that adopts a 911 ordinance after the
original effective date of this section in the year one thousand
nine hundred ninety-seven or has adopted a 911 ordinance within
five years of the original effective date of this section in the
year one thousand nine hundred ninety-seven 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 portion of the remaining fee revenue, being
disbursed to counties on a pro rata basis: 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 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) 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 the first day of July, two thousand eight, prepaid
wireless calling service is no longer subject to the wireless
enhanced 911 fee."
Adopted
Rejected