AB 1836: Disaster Response-Emergency Operations Account: allocation of funds: notification: Emergency Telephone Users Surcharge Act.

(1)Existing law, the California Disaster Assistance Act, establishes, until January 1, 2019, the Disaster Response-Emergency Operations Account in the Special Fund for Economic Uncertainties and continuously appropriates its revenue for allocation by the Director of Finance to state agencies for disaster response operation costs incurred as a result of a proclamation by the Governor of a state of emergency. Existing law authorizes expenditure of those funds for activities that occur within 120 days after the proclamation.

This bill would delete the January 1, 2019, repeal date, would permit expenditure of those funds for an additional period, not to exceed 120 days, and would require notification to be provided to the Chairperson of the Joint Legislative Budget Committee and the chairpersons of the fiscal committees in each house if it is anticipated that the continuation of activities beyond the 120-day period will be required, as specified.

By deleting the repeal date and by extending the 120-day limitation, this bill would authorize additional expenditure from a continuously appropriated account, thereby making an appropriation.

(2)The Emergency Telephone Users Surcharge Act generally imposes a surcharge on amounts paid by every person in the state for intrastate telephone communication service and VoIP service that provides access to the 911 emergency system. Under the act, the surcharge is imposed at a percentage rate not less than 0.5% nor more than 0.75% of those charges that the Office of Emergency Services annually estimates, pursuant to a specified formula, will produce sufficient revenue to fund the current fiscal years 911 costs, including the costs it expects to incur to plan, test, implement, and operate Next Generation 911 technology and services, as specified. Existing law requires the surcharge to be collected by a service supplier, and remitted to, and administered by, the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration. Existing law makes certain violations of the Emergency Telephone Users Surcharge Act a crime.

The Prepaid Mobile Telephony Service Surcharge Collection Act establishes a prepaid MTS surcharge, as defined, based upon a percentage of the sales price of each retail transaction that occurs in this state for prepaid mobile telephony services, as defined, that is imposed in lieu of any charges imposed pursuant to the Emergency Telephone Users Surcharge Act and specified Public Utility Commission surcharges. That act requires the prepaid MTS surcharge to be annually calculated by the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration by October 15 of each year, by using the emergency telephone user surcharge rate reported by the Office of Emergency Services and specified Public Utility Commission surcharges. The Prepaid Mobile Telephony Service Surcharge Collection Act requires, on and after January 1, 2016, and before January 1, 2020, the prepaid MTS surcharge imposed by that act on a prepaid consumer to be collected by a seller from each prepaid consumer at the time of each retail transaction in this state.

This bill would amend the Emergency Telephone Users Surcharge Act to instead impose, on and after January 1, 2019, a surcharge amount on the purchase of an access line in this state. This bill would impose a monthly surcharge amount per access line, at an amount not less than $0.20 but not greater than $0.80, based on the Office of Emergency Services estimate of the number of access lines to which the surcharge will be applied per month for a calendar year period that it estimates, pursuant to a specified formula, will produce sufficient revenue to fund the current fiscal years 911 costs.

This bill, on and after January 1, 2019, and before January 1, 2020, in lieu of the monthly surcharge imposed by this bill, would impose a surcharge paid for prepaid mobile telephony services, as part of the prepaid MTS surcharge imposed pursuant to the Prepaid Mobile Telephony Services Surcharge Collection Act, at the rate of 0.75% of the charges for mobile telecommunications services.

This bill, on and after January 1, 2020, would subject the purchase of prepaid mobile telephony services to the monthly surcharge imposed by this bill, to be paid by prepaid consumers and collected by sellers, as defined. This bill would require the Office of Emergency Services to determine an amount which is equivalent to the monthly surcharge rate imposed on the purchase of all other access lines in this state, as specified. The bill would require the surcharge to be remitted to, and administered by, the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration, in accordance with the Emergency Telephone Users Surcharge Act. By expanding the scope of crimes imposed by the Emergency Telephone Users Surcharge Act, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

Existing law requires amounts to be paid to the state pursuant to the Emergency Telephone Users Surcharge Act to be deposited into the State Emergency Telephone Number Account, and are required, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to be spent solely for specified purposes, including payment for the installation of, and ongoing expenses for, a basis system.

This bill would define a basis system to be 911 systems, including, but not limited to, Next Generation 911, and the subsequent technologies, and interfaces needed to deliver 911 voice and data information from the 911 caller to the emergency responder.

(3)The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.

This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.

(4)This bill would include a change in state statute that would result in a taxpayer paying a higher tax within the meaning of Section 3 of Article XIIIA of the California Constitution, and thus would require for passage the approval of ²/₃ of the membership of each house of the Legislature.

(5)This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as a bill providing for appropriations related to the Budget Bill.