34A.7A - WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS SURCHARGE -- FUND ESTABLISHED -- DISTRIBUTION AND PERMISSIBLE EXPENDITURES.
34A.7A WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS SURCHARGE -- FUND
ESTABLISHED -- DISTRIBUTION AND PERMISSIBLE EXPENDITURES.
1. a. Notwithstanding section 34A.6, the administrator shall
adopt by rule a monthly surcharge of up to sixty-five cents to be
imposed on each wireless communications service number provided in
this state. The surcharge shall be imposed uniformly on a statewide
basis and simultaneously on all wireless communications service
numbers as provided by rule of the administrator.
b. The program manager shall provide no less than one hundred
days' notice of the surcharge to be imposed to each wireless
communications service provider. The program manager, subject to the
sixty-five cent limit in paragraph "a", may adjust the amount of
the surcharge as necessary, but no more than once in any calendar
year.
c. (1) The surcharge shall be collected as part of the
wireless communications service provider's periodic billing to a
subscriber. The surcharge shall appear as a single line item on a
subscriber's periodic billing indicating that the surcharge is for
E911 emergency telephone service. In the case of prepaid wireless
telephone service, this surcharge shall be remitted based upon the
address associated with the point of purchase, the customer billing
address, or the location associated with the mobile telephone number
for each active prepaid wireless telephone that has a sufficient
positive balance as of the last days of the information, if that
information is available.
(2) In compensation for the costs of billing and collection, the
wireless communications service provider may retain one percent of
the gross surcharges collected.
(3) The surcharges shall be remitted quarterly by the wireless
communications service provider to the program manager for deposit
into the fund established in subsection 2.
(4) A wireless communications service provider is not liable for
an uncollected surcharge for which the wireless communications
service provider has billed a subscriber but which has not been paid.
2. Moneys collected pursuant to subsection 1 shall be deposited
in a separate wireless E911 emergency communications fund within the
state treasury under the control of the program manager. Section
8.33 shall not apply to moneys in the fund. Moneys earned as income,
including as interest, from the fund shall remain in the fund until
expended as provided in this section. Moneys in the fund shall be
expended and distributed in the following priority order:
a. An amount as appropriated by the general assembly to the
administrator shall be allocated to the administrator and program
manager for implementation, support, and maintenance of the functions
of the administrator and program manager and to employ the auditor of
state to perform an annual audit of the wireless E911 emergency
communications fund.
b. The program manager shall allocate twenty-one percent of
the total amount of surcharge generated to wireless carriers to
recover their costs to deliver E911 phase 1 services. If the
allocation in this paragraph is insufficient to reimburse all
wireless carriers for such carrier's eligible expenses, the program
manager shall allocate a prorated amount to each wireless carrier
equal to the percentage of such carrier's eligible expenses as
compared to the total of all eligible expenses for all wireless
carriers for the calendar quarter during which such expenses were
submitted. When prorated expenses are paid, the remaining unpaid
expenses shall no longer be eligible for payment under this
paragraph.
c. The program manager shall reimburse wire-line carriers on
a calendar quarter basis for carriers' eligible expenses for
transport costs between the selective router and the public safety
answering points related to the delivery of wireless E911 phase 1
services.
d. The program manager shall reimburse wire-line carriers and
third-party E911 automatic location information database providers on
a calendar quarterly basis for the costs of maintaining and upgrading
the E911 components and functionalities beyond the input to the E911
selective router, including the E911 selective router and the
automatic location information database.
e. The program manager shall apply an amount up to five
hundred thousand dollars per calendar quarter to any outstanding
wireless E911 phase 1 obligations incurred pursuant to this chapter
prior to July 1, 2004.
f. (1) The program manager shall allocate an amount up to one
hundred fifty-nine thousand dollars per calendar quarter equally to
the joint E911 service boards and the department of public safety
that have submitted an annual written request to the program manager
in a form approved by the program manager by May 15 of each year.
The program manager shall allocate to each joint E911 service board
and to the department of public safety a minimum of one thousand
dollars per calendar quarter for each public safety answering point
within the service area of the department of public safety or joint
E911 service board.
(2) Upon retirement of outstanding obligations referred to in
paragraph "e", the amount allocated under this paragraph "f"
shall be twenty-five percent of the total amount of surcharge
generated per calendar quarter allocated as follows:
(a) Sixty-five percent of the total dollars available for
allocation shall be allocated in proportion to the square miles of
the service area to the total square miles in this state.
(b) Thirty-five percent of the total dollars available for
allocation shall be allocated in proportion to the wireless E911
calls taken at the public safety answering point in the service area
to the total number of wireless E911 calls originating in this state.
(c) Notwithstanding subparagraph divisions (a) and (b), the
minimum amount allocated to each joint E911 service board and to the
department of public safety shall be no less than one thousand
dollars for each public safety answering point within the service
area of the department of public safety or joint E911 service board.
(3) The funds allocated in this paragraph "f" shall be used
for communication equipment located inside the public safety
answering points for the implementation and maintenance of wireless
E911 phase 2. The joint E911 service boards and the department of
public safety shall provide an estimate of phase 2 implementation
costs to the program manager by January 1, 2005.
g. If moneys remain in the fund after fully paying all
obligations under paragraphs "a" through "f", the remainder
may be accumulated in the fund as a carryover operating surplus.
This surplus shall be used to fund future phase 2 network and public
safety answering point improvements and wireless carriers' transport
costs related to wireless E911 services, if those costs are not
otherwise recovered by wireless carriers through customer billing or
other sources and approved by the program manager. Notwithstanding
section 8.33, any moneys remaining in the fund at the end of each
fiscal year shall not revert to the general fund of the state but
shall remain available for the purposes of the fund.
h. The administrator, in consultation with the program
manager and the E911 communications council, shall adopt rules
pursuant to chapter 17A governing the distribution of the surcharge
collected and distributed pursuant to this subsection. The rules
shall include provisions that all joint E911 service boards and the
department of public safety which answer or service wireless E911
calls are eligible to receive an equitable portion of the receipts.
3. a. The program manager shall submit an annual report by
January 15 of each year to the general assembly's standing committees
on government oversight advising the general assembly of the status
of E911 implementation and operations, including both wire-line and
wireless services, the distribution of surcharge receipts, and an
accounting of the revenues and expenses of the E911 program.
b. The program manager shall submit a calendar quarter report
of the revenues and expenses of the E911 program to the fiscal
services division of the legislative services agency.
c. The general assembly's standing committees on government
oversight shall review the priorities of distribution of funds under
this chapter at least every two years.
4. The amount collected from a wireless service provider and
deposited in the fund, pursuant to section 22.7, subsection 6,
information provided by a wireless service provider to the program
manager consisting of trade secrets, pursuant to section 22.7,
subsection 3, and other financial or commercial operations
information provided by a wireless service provider to the program
manager, shall be kept confidential as provided under section 22.7.
This subsection does not prohibit the inclusion of information in any
report providing aggregate amounts and information which does not
identify numbers of accounts or customers, revenues, or expenses
attributable to an individual wireless communications service
provider.
5. For purposes of this section, "wireless communications
service" means commercial mobile radio service, as defined under
sections 3(27) and 332(d) of the federal Telecommunications Act of
1996, 47 U.S.C. § 151 et seq.; federal communications commission
rules; and the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993.
"Wireless communications service" includes any wireless two-way
communications used in cellular telephone service, personal
communications service, or the functional or competitive equivalent
of a radio-telephone communications line used in cellular telephone
service, a personal communications service, or a network access line.
"Wireless communications service" does not include services whose
customers do not have access to 911 or a 911-like service, a
communications channel utilized only for data transmission, or a
private telecommunications system. Section History: Recent Form
98 Acts, ch 1101, §9, 16; 99 Acts, ch 96, §5; 2004 Acts, ch 1175,
§453--455; 2005 Acts, ch 140, §2; 2007 Acts, ch 213, §21; 2009 Acts,
ch 41, §263; 2009 Acts, ch 86, §4