(a) The Office of Emergency Services shall determine annually, on or before October 1, to be effective on January 1 of the following year, a surcharge rate pursuant to subdivision (b) that it estimates will produce sufficient revenue to fund the current fiscal year’s 911 costs.
(b) (1) The surcharge rate shall be determined by dividing the costs (including incremental costs) the Office of Emergency Services estimates for the current fiscal year of 911 costs approved pursuant to Article 6 (commencing with Section 53100) of Chapter 1 of Part 1 of Division 2 of Title 5 of the Government Code, less the available balance in the State Emergency Telephone Number Account in the General Fund, by its estimate of the charges for intrastate telephone communications services and VoIP service to which the surcharge will apply for the period of January 1, 2015, to December 31, inclusive, of the next succeeding calendar year, but in no event shall the surcharge rate in any year be greater than three-quarters of 1 percent nor less than one-half of 1 percent.
(2) Commencing with the calculation made October 1, 2015, to be effective January 1, 2016, the surcharge shall be determined by dividing the costs (including incremental costs) the Office of Emergency Services estimates for the current fiscal year of 911 costs approved pursuant to Article 6 (commencing with Section 53100) of Chapter 1 of Part 1 of Division 2 of Title 5 of the Government Code, less the available balance in the State Emergency Telephone Number Account in the General Fund, by its estimate of the charges for intrastate telephone communications services, the intrastate portion of prepaid mobile telephony services, and VoIP service to which the surcharge will apply for the period of January 1 to December 31, inclusive, of the next succeeding calendar year, but in no event shall the surcharge rate in any year be greater than three-quarters of 1 percent or less than one-half of 1 percent. In making its computation of the charges that are applicable to the intrastate portion of prepaid mobile telephony services, the Office of Emergency Services shall use the computation method developed by the Public Utilities Commission and reported to the Office of Emergency Services pursuant to subdivisions (a) and (b) of Section 319 of the Public Utilities Code.
(c) When determining the surcharge rates pursuant to this section, the office shall include the costs it expects to incur to plan, test, implement, and operate Next Generation 911 technology and services, including text to 911 service, consistent with the plan and timeline required by Section 53121 of the Government Code.
(d) The office shall notify the board of the surcharge rate imposed under this part, determined pursuant to this section on or before October 1 of each year, and the surcharge rate applicable to prepaid mobile telephony services determined pursuant to this section for purposes of the prepaid MTS surcharge calculated under Part 21 (commencing with Section 42001) on or before October 15 of each year.
(e) At least 30 days prior to determining the surcharge pursuant to subdivision (a), the Office of Emergency Services shall prepare a summary of the calculation of the proposed surcharge and make it available to the public, the Legislature, the 911 Advisory Board, and on its Internet Web site. The summary shall contain all of the following:
(1) The prior year revenues to fund 911 costs, including, but not limited to, revenues from prepaid service.
(2) Projected expenses and revenues from all sources, including, but not limited to, prepaid service to fund 911 costs.
(3) The rationale for adjustment to the surcharge determined pursuant to subdivision (b), including, but not limited to, all impacts from the surcharge collected pursuant to Part 21 (commencing with Section 42001).
(f) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2020, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2020, deletes or extends that date.
(Amended (as amended by Stats. 2014, Ch. 926, Sec. 2.5) by Stats. 2015, Ch. 25, Sec. 49. (SB 84) Effective June 24, 2015. Repealed as of January 1, 2020, by its own provisions. See later operative version added by Sec. 2.7 of Stats. 2014, Ch. 926.)
Last modified: October 25, 2018