Section 11.4. Wireless E-911 Emergency Services Fund.
(a) Establishment of fund.--There is hereby established in the State Treasury a nonlapsing restricted interest-bearing account to be known as the Wireless E-911 Emergency Services Fund. The fund shall consist of the fees collected under subsection (b), funds appropriated by the General Assembly and of funds from any other source, private or public. Moneys in the fund and the interest it accrues is hereby appropriated to the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency to be disbursed by the agency. The moneys in the fund shall be used only for the following costs:
(1) PSAP and wireless provider costs resulting from
compliance with the FCC E-911 Order, including development,
implementation and testing, operation and maintenance of a
Statewide integrated wireless E-911 system. Costs paid from
the fund must be eligible recurring or nonrecurring costs as
determined by the agency in accordance with sections 11.2(a)
and 11.5 for wireless E-911 service provided in accordance
with the FCC E-911 Order or a county plan or amended county
plan approved by the agency.
(2) The agency-approved costs of PSAPs specified in
section 8(b) that relate directly or indirectly to the
provision of wireless E-911 service, to the extent:
(i) the costs are not included in the costs paid
under section 11.4(a)(1) and the approved E-911 costs
provided in section 11.4(a)(1) have been reimbursed; and
(ii) the costs do not exceed the percentage of the
actual ratio of demonstrated wireless calls to
demonstrated total emergency call volume times the amount
of money in the fund, and further:
(A) the amount of the costs that may be
reimbursed is limited to 25% of the fund if a
majority of wireless providers serving the geographic
area covered by the PSAP have been tested and
accepted by the PSAP for wireless E-911 Phase I
service;
(B) the amount of the costs that may be
reimbursed is limited to 50% of the fund if all of
the wireless providers serving the geographic area
covered by the PSAP have been tested and accepted by
the PSAP for wireless E-911 Phase I service;
(C) the amount of the costs that may be
reimbursed is limited to 75% of the fund if a
majority of wireless providers serving the geographic
area covered by the PSAP have been tested and
accepted by the PSAP for wireless E-911 Phase II
service; and
(D) the amount of the costs that may be
reimbursed is limited to 100% of the fund if all of
the wireless providers serving the geographic area
covered by the PSAP have been tested and accepted by
the PSAP for wireless E-911 Phase II service. In the event that, pursuant to an FCC E-911 waiver, a wireless provider is temporarily relieved of its obligation to provide wireless E-911 Phase II service in the geographic area covered by a requesting PSAP, such wireless carrier shall be disregarded in the determinations to be made pursuant to subparagraphs (iii) and (iv) until such time as the wireless carrier's obligation to provide wireless E-911 Phase II service again becomes effective.
(b) Wireless E-911 surcharge.--Each wireless service customer shall pay a fee, to be known as a wireless E-911 surcharge, in an amount of $1 per month for each device that provides wireless service for which that customer is billed by a wireless provider for wireless service or receives prepaid wireless telephone service from a wireless provider. Such fee shall be collected apart from and in addition to any fee levied by the wireless provider in whole or in part for the provision of 911 services.
(1) Wireless providers shall collect the fee on behalf
of the agency as part of their billing process and shall have
no obligation to take any legal action to enforce the
collection of the surcharge. Such action may be brought by or
on behalf of the agency. Annually, upon written request of
the agency, each wireless provider shall provide a list of
the names and addresses of those wireless service customers
carrying a balance that have failed to pay the wireless E-911
surcharge. The wireless provider shall not be liable for such
unpaid amounts.
(2) If a wireless provider receives a partial payment
for a monthly bill from a wireless service customer, the
wireless provider shall apply the payment against the amount
the wireless service customer owes the wireless provider
first and shall remit to the State Treasurer such lesser
amount, if any, as shall result therefrom.
(3) The fees collected under this subsection shall not
be subject to taxes or charges levied by the Commonwealth or
any political subdivision of this Commonwealth, nor shall
such fees be considered revenue of the wireless provider for
any purpose.
(4) In the case of prepaid wireless telephone service,
the monthly wireless 911 surcharge imposed by this section
shall be remitted based upon each prepaid wireless account in
any manner consistent with the provider's existing operating
or technological abilities, such as customer address,
location associated with the MTN, or reasonable allocation
method based upon other comparable relevant data and
associated with Pennsylvania, for each wireless customer with
an active prepaid wireless account and has a sufficient
positive balance as of the last day of each month, if such
information is available.
(c) Remittance of fees.--On a quarterly basis, each wireless provider shall remit the fees collected under subsection (b) to the State Treasurer for deposit into the fund.
(d) Reimbursement of wireless provider and PSAP costs.--
(1) From every such remittance, the wireless provider
shall be entitled to deduct and retain an amount not to
exceed 2% of the gross receipts collected as reimbursement
for the administrative costs incurred by the wireless
provider to bill, collect and remit the surcharge.
(2) Wireless providers and PSAPs shall be entitled to
payment from the fund, in the manner provided in section
11.5(c), for the following costs:
(i) Recurring costs approved by the agency pursuant
to agency rules associated with the development,
implementation, operation and maintenance of wireless E-
911 service in the geographic area served by the
requesting PSAP; and
(ii) Nonrecurring costs approved by the agency
pursuant to agency rules associated with the development,
implementation, operation and maintenance of wireless E-
911 service in the geographic area served by the
requesting PSAP.
(3) In no event shall any costs be paid that are not
related to a wireless provider's or PSAP's compliance with
requirements established by the wireless E-911 State plan,
the FCC E-911 Order or the wireless E-911 provisions of an
agency-approved county plan or amended county plan.
(4) Costs incurred by a PSAP or wireless provider for
wireless E-911 service shall be paid by the agency provided
that the costs comply with the requirements of this section
and section 11.5, were incurred after January 1, 1998, and
are determined by the agency, after application in accordance
with section 11.5(c), to be eligible for payment from the
fund. Any such costs that the agency determines to be
eligible shall be paid as provided in section 11.5. ((4)
amended Nov. 29, 2004, P.L.1382, No.179)
(5) Nothing in this act shall prevent a wireless
provider from recovering its costs of implementing and
maintaining wireless E-911 service directly from its
customers, whether itemized on the customer's bill or by any
other lawful method. No wireless provider that levies such a
separate fee for provision of E-911 wireless service in the
geographic area served by the requesting PSAP may receive a
reimbursement for the same costs.
(e) Reporting by wireless providers.--With each remittance a wireless provider shall supply the following information to the State Treasurer and to the agency:
(1) The total fees collected through the wireless E-911
surcharge from its wireless service customers during the
reporting period.
(2) The total amount retained by it as reimbursement for
administrative costs to cover its expenses of billing,
collecting and remitting the fees collected from the wireless
E-911 surcharge during the reporting period.
(3) Until all nonrecurring costs have been recovered by
a wireless provider, the total amount it has been reimbursed
by the agency for nonrecurring costs associated with the
development, implementation, operation and maintenance of
wireless E-911 service during the reporting period.
(f) Information to be supplied by wireless providers.--All wireless providers shall provide the agency with such information as it shall request in writing in order to discharge its obligations under this section, including, but not limited to, the collection and deposit of the wireless E-911 surcharge and its administration of the fund. Information supplied by wireless providers pursuant to this section shall remain confidential, and release of such information shall be governed by section 11.7.
(g) Prohibition.--No part of the fund, including any excess amount under section 11.6(a), shall be used for any purpose unless expressly authorized by this act.
(h) Surcharge sunset.--The wireless E-911 surcharge fee established in subsection (b) shall terminate on June 30, 2014, unless extended by an act of the General Assembly. ((h) amended June 29, 2009, P.L.45, No.6)
(11.4 added Dec. 30, 2003, P.L.384, No.56)
Compiler's Note: Section 8 of Act 56 of 2004, which added
section 11.4, provided that the wireless E-911 subscriber
surcharge provided in section 11.4 shall take effect with
the first monthly billing cycle of a wireless provider
occurring 90 days after the effective date of Act 56.