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Alaska Statutes.

Title 29. Municipal Government

Chapter 35. Municipal Powers and Duties

Section 131. 911 Surcharge.

AS 29.35.131. 911 Surcharge.

(a) A municipality may, by resolution or ordinance, elect to provide an enhanced 911 system at public safety answering points and may purchase or lease the enhanced 911 equipment or service required to establish or maintain an enhanced 911 system at public safety answering points from a local exchange telephone company or other qualified vendor. The municipality may impose an enhanced 911 surcharge within the enhanced 911 service area. An enhanced 911 surcharge may not exceed $2 per month for each wireless telephone number and $2 per month for each local exchange access line for wireline telephones. The maximum surcharge amount of $2 provided for in this subsection may be increased above that level if the surcharge amount is approved by the voters of the enhanced 911 service area. The amount of surcharge imposed for each wireless telephone number must equal the amount imposed for each local exchange access line for a wireline telephone. An enhanced 911 service area may be all of a city, all of a unified municipality, or all or part of the area within a borough and may include the extraterritorial jurisdiction of a municipality in accordance with AS 29.35.020 . The governing body of a municipality shall review an enhanced 911 surcharge annually to determine whether the current level of the surcharge is adequate, excessive, or insufficient to meet anticipated enhanced 911 system needs. When a municipality imposes an enhanced 911 surcharge or the amount of the surcharge is changed, the municipality shall notify in writing the telephone customers subject to the surcharge and provide an explanation of what the surcharge will be used for.

(b) A local exchange telephone company providing service in a municipality that has imposed an enhanced 911 surcharge shall bill each month and collect the surcharge from customers in the enhanced 911 service area. A wireless telephone company that provides telephone service to wireless telephone customers with billing addresses within the enhanced 911 service area shall impose an enhanced 911 surcharge each month and collect the surcharge from customers in the enhanced 911 service area. A local exchange telephone customer may not be subject to more than one enhanced 911 surcharge on a local exchange access line for a wireline telephone. A wireless telephone customer may not be subject to more than one enhanced 911 surcharge for each wireless telephone number. A customer that has more than 100 local exchange access lines from a local exchange telephone company in the municipality is liable for the enhanced 911 surcharge only on 100 local exchange access lines.

(c) A local exchange telephone company or wireless telephone company shall include the appropriate enhanced 911 surcharge, stated separately and included in the total amount owed, in the bills delivered to its customers. The Regulatory Commission of Alaska may not consider the enhanced 911 surcharge as revenue of the telephone company and has no jurisdiction over an enhanced 911 system. A customer is liable for payment of the enhanced 911 surcharge in the amounts billed by the telephone company until the amounts have been paid to the telephone company.

(d) A local exchange telephone company or wireless telephone company that has collected the enhanced 911 surcharge shall remit the amounts collected to the municipality no later than 60 days after the end of the month in which the amount was collected. From each remittance made in a timely manner under this subsection, the telephone company is entitled to deduct and retain the greater of one percent of the collected amount or $150 as the cost of administration for collecting the enhanced 911 surcharge. In addition, a wireless telephone company is entitled to full recovery of the recurring and nonrecurring costs associated with implementation and operation of Phase I E911 service as allowed under Federal Communications Commission proceedings entitled "Revision of the Commission's Rules to Ensure Compatibility with Enhanced 9-1-1 Emergency Calling Systems" (CC Docket No. 94-102; RM-8143).

(e) A local exchange telephone company or wireless telephone company is not obligated to take legal action to enforce collection of the enhanced 911 surcharge. However, if a telephone company is attempting to collect an unpaid debt from a customer, the telephone company shall also attempt to collect any unpaid enhanced 911 surcharge that the customer owes. If a customer pays a portion of a bill that includes an enhanced 911 surcharge, the amount paid shall be prorated between the telephone company and the enhanced 911 surcharge. The telephone company shall annually provide the municipality with a list of the amounts due for the nonpayment of enhanced 911 surcharges, together with the names and addresses of those customers who carry a balance that can be determined by the telephone company to be for the nonpayment of the enhanced 911 surcharges. The telephone company is not liable for uncollected amounts.

(f) The municipality may, at its own expense, require an annual audit of a local exchange telephone company's or wireless telephone company's books and records concerning the collection and remittance of the enhanced 911 surcharge.

(g) A village, as defined in AS 09.65.070 (e), or a public corporation established by a municipality has the powers granted to a municipality under this section.

(h) [Repealed, Sec. 6 Ch 55 SLA 2005].

(i) A municipality may only use the enhanced 911 surcharge revenue for those costs of the enhanced 911 system that are authorized in this subsection. The surcharge revenue may not be used for any capital or operational costs for emergency responses that occur after the call is dispatched to the emergency responder. The surcharge revenue may not be used for constructing buildings, leasing buildings, maintaining buildings, or renovating buildings, except for the modification of an existing building to the extent that is necessary to maintain the security and environmental integrity of the public safety answering point and equipment rooms. The surcharge revenue may be used for the following costs to the extent the costs are directly attributable to the establishment, maintenance, and operation of an enhanced 911 system:

(1) the acquisition, implementation, and maintenance of public safety answering point equipment and 911 service features;

(2) the acquisition, installation, and maintenance of other equipment, including call answering equipment, call transfer equipment, automatic number identification controllers and displays, automatic location identification controllers and displays, station instruments, 911 telecommunications systems, teleprinters, logging recorders, instant playback recorders, telephone devices for the deaf, public safety answering point backup power systems, consoles, automatic call distributors, and hardware and software interfaces for computer-aided dispatch systems;

(3) the salaries and associated expenses for 911 call takers for that portion of time spent taking and transferring 911 calls;

(4) training costs for public safety answering point call takers in the proper methods and techniques used in taking and transferring 911 calls;

(5) expenses required to develop and maintain all information necessary to properly inform call takers as to location address, type of emergency, and other information directly relevant to the 911 call-taking and transferring function, including automatic location identification and automatic number identification databases.

(j) If a city in an enhanced 911 service area established by a borough incurs costs described under (i) of this section for the enhanced 911 system, before the borough may use revenue from an enhanced 911 surcharge, the borough and city must execute an agreement addressing the duties and responsibilities of each for the enhanced 911 system and establishing priorities for the use of the surcharge revenue. If the Department of Public Safety also provides services as part of the enhanced 911 system or uses the enhanced 911 system in that enhanced 911 service area, the department must be a party to the agreement.

(k) For purposes of (i) of this section, "call taker" means a person employed in a primary or secondary answering point whose duties include the initial answering of 911 or enhanced 911 calls and routing the calls to the agency or dispatch center responsible for dispatching appropriate emergency services and a person in a primary or secondary answering point whose duties include receiving a 911 or enhanced 911 call either directly or routed from another answering point and dispatching appropriate emergency services in response to the call; the term "call taker" is synonymous with the term "dispatcher" in that it is inclusive of the functions of both answering the 911 or enhanced 911 calls and dispatching emergency services in response to the calls.