Bill Caption

Relating to the creation of regional emergency communication districts; authorizing a fee.

Fiscal Notes

The bill would increase revenue from 9-1-1 emergency service fees to regions that create an emergency communication district. In addition, there would be costs to form an emergency communication district; however, the fiscal impact is not anticipated to be significant.Regions that meet the provisions of the bill would establish a regional emergency communication district, which would result in those regions opting to no longer collect fees in order to participate in the state-run 9-1-1 system.

Bill Analysis

HB 3462 would authorize a county or municipality in a region with a population of at less than 1.5 million and composed of counties and municipalities currently operating a 9-1-1 system through a regional planning commission (RPC) to create a regional emergency communication district.The district would be governed by a board of managers with certain powers and duties. The bill sets out provisions relating to the implementation of a 9-1-1 computerized system and sets out the typical 9-1-1 standards for that district. The board would impose a 9-1-1 service fee which may not exceed 50 cents/line/month on service users in the district.

Vote Recommendation Notes

HB 3462 would result in a change in how 911 service tax or fees are collected. The provisions of HB 3462 would allow 911 Emergency Service Districts to operate on a regional basis to increase efficiency, while charging a capped per line fee to better distribute emergency services at the local/regional level. While this technically creates a new special purpose district, the practical reality is that it swaps one taxing special purpose district for another local option. For that reason, we view this as an administrative bill, having no real connection to our liberty principles.