34A.7 - FUNDING -- E911 SERVICE SURCHARGE.

        34A.7  FUNDING -- E911 SERVICE SURCHARGE.
         When an E911 service plan is implemented, the costs of providing
      E911 service within an E911 service area are the responsibility of
      the joint E911 service board and the member political subdivisions.
      Costs in excess of the amount raised by imposition of the E911
      service surcharge provided for under subsection 1 shall be paid by
      the joint E911 service board from such revenue sources allocated
      among the member political subdivisions as determined by the joint
      E911 service board.  Funding is not limited to the surcharge, and
      surcharge revenues may be supplemented by other permissible local and
      state revenue sources.  A joint E911 service board shall not commit a
      political subdivision to appropriate property tax revenues to fund an
      E911 service plan without the consent of the political subdivision.
      A joint E911 service board may approve an E911 service plan,
      including a funding formula requiring appropriations by participating
      political subdivisions, subject to the approval of the funding
      formula by each political subdivision.  However, a political
      subdivision may agree in advance to appropriate property tax revenues
      or other moneys according to a formula or plan developed by an
      alternative chapter 28E entity.
         1.  Local wire-line E911 service surcharge imposition.
         a.  To encourage local implementation of E911 service, one
      source of funding for E911 emergency telephone communication systems
      shall come from a surcharge per month, per access line on each access
      line subscriber, except as provided in subsection 5, equal to the
      lowest amount of the following:
         (1)  One dollar.
         (2)  An amount less than one dollar, which would fully pay both
      recurring and nonrecurring costs of the E911 service system within
      five years from the date the maximum surcharge is imposed.
         (3)  The maximum monetary limitation approved by referendum.
         b.  The surcharge shall be imposed by order of the program
      manager as follows:
         (1)  The program manager shall notify a local exchange service
      provider scheduled to provide exchange access line service to an E911
      service area that implementation of an E911 service plan has been
      approved by the joint E911 service board and by the service area
      referendum and that collection of the surcharge is to begin within
      one hundred days.
         (2)  The program manager shall also provide notice to all affected
      public safety answering points.
         2.  Surcharge collected by local exchange service providers.
         a.  The surcharge shall be collected as part of the access
      line service provider's periodic billing to a subscriber.  In
      compensation for the costs of billing and collection, the local
      exchange service provider may retain one percent of the gross
      surcharges collected.  If the compensation is insufficient to fully
      recover a local exchange service provider's costs for billing and
      collection of the surcharge, the deficiency shall be included in the
      local exchange service provider's costs for ratemaking purposes to
      the extent it is reasonable and just under section 476.6.  The
      surcharge shall be remitted to the E911 service operating authority
      for deposit into the E911 service fund quarterly by the local
      exchange service provider.  The total amount for multiple exchanges
      may be combined.
         b.  A local exchange service provider is not liable for an
      uncollected surcharge for which the local exchange service provider
      has billed a subscriber but not been paid.  The surcharge shall
      appear as a single line item on a subscriber's periodic billing
      entitled, "E911 emergency telephone service surcharge".
         c.  The joint E911 service board may request, not more than
      once each quarter, the following information from the local exchange
      service provider:
         (1)  The identity of the exchange from which the surcharge is
      collected.
         (2)  The number of lines to which the surcharge was applied for
      the quarter.
         (3)  The number of refusals to pay per exchange if applicable.
         (4)  Write-offs applied per exchange if applicable.
         (5)  The number of lines exempt per exchange.
         (6)  The amount retained by the local exchange service provider
      generated from the one percent administration fee.
         d.  Access line counts and surcharge remittances are
      confidential public records as provided in section 34A.8.
         3.  Maximum limit per subscriber billing for surcharge.  An
      individual subscriber shall not be required to pay on a single
      periodic billing the surcharge on more than one hundred access lines,
      or their equivalent, in an E911 service area.  A subscriber shall pay
      the surcharge in each E911 service area in which the subscriber
      receives access line service.
         4.  E911 service fund.  Each joint E911 service board shall
      establish and maintain as a separate account an E911 service fund.
      Any funds remaining in the account at the end of each fiscal year
      shall not revert to the general funds of the member political
      subdivisions, except as provided in subsection 5, but shall remain in
      the E911 service fund.  Moneys in an E911 service fund may only be
      used for nonrecurring and recurring costs of the E911 service plan as
      approved by the program manager, as those terms are defined by
      section 34A.2.
         5.  Use of moneys in fund -- priority and limitations on
      expenditure.
         a.  Moneys deposited in the E911 service fund shall be used
      for the repayment of any bonds issued for the benefit of or loan made
      to the joint E911 service board pursuant to sections 34A.20 through
      34A.22, and as long as any such bond or loan remains unpaid the
      surcharge shall not be reduced or eliminated.  Moneys deposited in
      the fund shall be subject to such terms and conditions as may be
      contained in the relevant bond documents, trust indenture,
      resolution, loan agreement, or other instrument pursuant to which
      bonds are issued or a loan is made, without regard to any limitation
      otherwise provided by law.  The surcharge may be increased, but shall
      not exceed the maximum allowed in subsection 1, upon approval of the
      authority upon such terms and conditions as may be contained in the
      relevant bond documents, trust indenture, resolution, loan agreement,
      or other instrument pursuant to which bonds are issued or a loan is
      made, as deemed necessary or prudent by the authority to secure
      repayment and assure marketability or a reasonable interest rate.
         b.  Moneys deposited in the E911 service fund shall be used
      for the following, in order of priority if paragraph "a" does not
      apply:
         (1)  Money shall first be spent for actual recurring costs of
      operating the E911 service plan.
         (2)  If money remains in the fund after fully paying for recurring
      costs incurred in the preceding year, the remainder may be spent to
      pay for nonrecurring costs, not to exceed actual nonrecurring costs
      as approved by the program manager.
         (3)  If money remains in the fund after fully paying obligations
      under subparagraphs (1) and (2), the remainder may be accumulated in
      the fund as a carryover operating surplus.  If the surplus is greater
      than twenty-five percent of the approved annual operating budget for
      the next year, the program manager shall reduce the surcharge by an
      amount calculated to result in a surplus of no more than twenty-five
      percent of the planned annual operating budget.  After nonrecurring
      costs have been paid, if the surcharge is less than the maximum
      allowed and the fund surplus is less than twenty-five percent of the
      approved annual operating budget, the program manager shall, upon
      application of the joint E911 service board, increase the surcharge
      in an amount calculated to result in a surplus of twenty-five percent
      of the approved annual operating budget.  The surcharge may only be
      adjusted once in a single year, upon one hundred days' prior notice
      to the provider.
         6.  Limitation of actions -- provider not liable on cause of
      action related to provision of 911 services.  A claim or cause of
      action does not exist based upon or arising out of an act or omission
      in connection with a land-line or wireless provider's participation
      in an E911 service plan or provision of 911 or local exchange access
      service, unless the act or omission is determined to be willful and
      wanton negligence.
         7.  Referendum on adjusting maximum of approved surcharge.  If
      a local option E911 service surcharge was approved by referendum
      prior to April 4, 1990, the maximum E911 service surcharge monetary
      limitation may be amended up to a total of one dollar, per month, per
      access line, by another referendum as provided in section 34A.6.  A
      joint E911 service board may adjust its E911 service surcharge within
      the monetary limitation approved by referendum as provided under this
      subsection by a simple majority vote of the voting members.  As a
      result of the adjustment, the E911 service surcharge, per month, per
      access line, on each access line subscriber, except as provided in
      subsection 5, shall not exceed the lowest amount of the following:
         a.  One dollar.
         b.  An amount less than one dollar, which would fully pay both
      recurring and nonrecurring costs of the E911 service system within
      five years from the date of the adjustment.
         c.  The maximum monetary limitation approved by referendum.
      
         Section History: Recent Form
         88 Acts, ch 1177, § 7
         C89, § 477B.7
         89 Acts, ch 168, § 4--6; 90 Acts, ch 1144, § 2--4
         C93, § 34A.7
         98 Acts, ch 1101, § 8, 16; 2004 Acts, ch 1175, §450--452; 2005
      Acts, ch 140, §1