Lawmakers propose expanding E-911 fee to all phone users

AUGUSTA – Mainers using prepaid cell phones and Internet-based phones likely will pay more for the service as lawmakers consider expanding the fee that helps fund the Emergency-911 phone systems.

“This is a fairness issue,” said Sen. Phil Bartlett, D-Gorham, the co-chairman of the Legislature’s Utilities Committee said last week. “Other users, cell phone and landline users, are already paying the fee.”

On both cell phone bills and home telephone bills, there is a monthly fee of 50 cents that is used to pay for part of the emergency dispatch centers across the state. Businesses also pay the fee, but only for the first five phone lines.

Many voice-over-Internet phone systems have been collecting the fee, but not all. A proposal before the Utilities Committee would require all to collect the fee and would, for the first time, tap into the growing market for prepaid cell phones.

“We were surprised by the growth and use of prepaid cell phones,” Rep. Ken Fletcher, R-Winslow, the lead GOP member of the committee said last week. “It is a matter of fairness, but that is only part of what we have to deal with.”

He said the fee is “no more than a tax,” and he does not believe the funds being generated are getting the proper oversight by the Legislature. He said the fee is just one of many on a phone bill that increases the cost of communicating to individuals and businesses.

Other fees provide funds for schools and libraries to get high-speed Internet access, and some are federal and state taxes that are not dedicated for a specific purpose.

“There is a lot of money in this fund already, and this will bring in even more,” Fletcher said. ” I think we need to do a better job of overseeing where this money is going, how it is being spent.”

The fund has a balance of about $11 million, said Public Utilities Commission Chairman Kurt Adams last week. He agreed with Fletcher that the issues around the fee are complicated.

“The E-911 system is complicated and needs to be upgraded every few years,” he said. “We recently had to upgrade equipment that was no longer being supported by the vendor and the software has had to be improved.”

The state agency that oversees the fund is part of the PUC. Adams said that while the fund has a “healthy balance,” it could change dramatically based on what actions the Legislature takes on public safety answering points, often referred to as a PSAP.

“Based on having no more than 26 PSAPs, and the fee as it is now, we have the funding to go through the next two biennia without an increase being needed,” he said.

That does not include the additional revenue estimated at more than $1 million over the next two years from the proposed expansion of the fee.

“Based on what has happened in the past, we can expect we will have another equipment upgrade needed with those costs in the next three or four years,” Adams said.

Bartlett said it is important that the system be kept up to date, particularly with the changes in cell phone technology and the need to use sophisticated software to pinpoint where a cell phone is located when a 911 call is made.

“If you go back historically, you can see we are entering a period where they are going to need additional money,” he said. “Many feel it is better not to reduce the amount of the fee for a year or two and then have to raise it even higher in a few years.”

Public Advocate Richard Davies said his office still is reviewing the proposal. He said the fee should be expanded to all those using the E-911 system as a matter of equity. But he also agreed with Fletcher that there needs to be a review of the total costs of the system.

“There have been some on the committee that have suggested we can get by with less than 26 PSAPs,” he said. “That would reduce costs, but I am not ready to go there. We need to have a thorough study and another year or so to see what additional revenue this raises.”

He said the prepaid cell phone expansion is one that may generate more revenue than projected, which could mean the current 50 cents a line fee will not have to be increased as soon as some expect.

The committee has several meetings planned on the issue before it will send recommendations on the fee and the related E-911 issues to the full Legislature.