Chapter 9 - Telephone Service
CHAPTER 9 - TELEPHONE SERVICE
ARTICLE 1 - EMERGENCY TELEPHONE SERVICE
16-9-101. Short title.
Thisact is known and may be cited as the "Emergency Telephone ServiceAct".
16-9-102. Definitions.
(a) As used in this act:
(i) "Governing body" means the board of countycommissioners of a county, city council or other governing body of a city, townor county or the board of directors of a special district;
(ii) "Local exchange access company" means afranchised telephone company engaged in providing telecommunications servicesbetween points within a local calling area;
(iii) "Local exchange access line" means any land linetelephone line that connects a telephone subscriber to the local switchingoffice and has the capability of reaching local public safety service agenciesby voice communication;
(iv) "911 emergency reporting system" or "911system" means a telephone system consisting of network, database, servicesand equipment, including operating and personnel costs as specified in W.S.16-9-105, using the single three-digit number 911 for reporting police, fire,medical or other emergency situations and enabling the users of a publictelephone system, other technology or wireless telecommunications system toreach a public safety answering point to report emergencies by dialing 911. 911 emergency reporting systems may include systems consisting of network,database, services and equipment, including operating and personnel costs asspecified in W.S. 16-9-105, using 911 databases and public safety answeringpoints to disseminate warnings to the public of impending hazards, includingstorms, floods, hazardous materials incidents or other emergencies that couldcompromise the public safety. For any 911 emergency reporting system thatoperates a reverse 911 warning system, a quarterly test on the warning systemwill be conducted by calling random numbers. The level of technology forprovision of the 911 emergency reporting system is to be determined by thegoverning body and may include enhanced wireless 911 services, however, the 911system shall include a device for telecommunications for the deaf. EffectiveJanuary 1, 2009, the governing body shall file with the Wyoming public servicecommission a certified statement of its annual gross receipts and detailed anditemized annual expenditures of any taxes collected pursuant to this act from2004 through and including the most recent calendar year;
(v) "911 emergency tax" is a tax on service userswithin the governing body's designated 911 service area set by the governingbody in accordance with this act and assessed on each service user's localexchange access lines and wireless communications access to pay the directlyrelated costs of a 911 system as authorized in accordance with W.S. 16-9-105;
(vi) "Public agency" means any city, town, county,special district or other political subdivision of the state located in wholeor in part within this state providing or having the authority to provide firefighting, law enforcement, ambulance, emergency medical or other emergencyservices;
(vii) "Public safety answering point" means atwenty-four (24) hour local jurisdiction communications facility receiving 911service calls and directly dispatching emergency response services or relayingcalls to the appropriate public or private safety agency or disseminatingwarnings to the public of impending hazards, including storms, floods,hazardous materials incidents or other emergencies that could compromise thepublic safety;
(viii) "Service supplier" means any utility, person orentity providing or offering to provide 911 system equipment, database installation,maintenance or local exchange access, wireless communication access or othertechnological device that under normal operation is designed or routinely usedto access 911 services within the 911 service access area;
(ix) "Service user" means any person within the localgovernment's designated 911 service area who is provided local exchange accesstelephone service, wireless communication access service or other technologicaldevice that under normal operation is designed or routinely used to access 911;
(x) "This act" means W.S. 16-9-101 through 16-9-108;
(xi) "Enhanced wireless 911 service" means anyenhanced 911 service so designated by the Federal Communications Commission,including wireless automatic location identification and automatic numberidentification;
(xii) "Wireless automatic location identification"means the definition supplied by the Federal Communication Commissionregulation that provides for the automatic display on equipment at the publicsafety answering point of the location of the wireless service user initiatinga 911 call to the public safety answering point;
(xiii) "Wireless automatic number identification" meansthe definition supplied by the Federal Communication Commission regulationthat allows the mobile identification number of the wireless service userinitiating a 911 call to the public safety answering point;
(xiv) "Wireless carrier" means a provider of commercialmobile services or any other radio communication service that the FederalCommunications Commission requires to provide wireless 911 service;
(xv) "Wireless communications access" means the radioequipment and assigned mobile identification number used to connect a wirelesscustomer to a wireless carrier for two-way interactive voice or voice capableservices;
(xvi) "Wireless 911 service" means any 911 serviceprovided by a wireless carrier, including enhanced wireless 911 service.
16-9-103. Imposition of tax; liability of user for tax; collection;uncollected amounts; discontinuing service prohibited.
(a) In addition to any other powers for the protection of thepublic health, a governing body may incur any nonrecurring or recurring costsfor the installation, maintenance or operation of a 911 system and may paythese costs by imposing a 911 emergency tax for this service in those portionsof the governing body's jurisdiction for which 911 service is to be provided.
(b) In accordance with the provisions of this subsection, andafter a public hearing the governing body may, by ordinance in the case ofcities and by resolution in the case of counties or special districts, impose amonthly uniform tax on service users within its designated 911 service area inan amount not to exceed seventy-five cents ($.75) per month on each localexchange access line, per wireless communications access or other technologicaldevice that under normal operation is designed or routinely used to access 911.Only one (1) governing body may impose a 911 emergency tax for each 911system. Regardless of the level at which the tax is set, if an assessment ismade on both local exchange access facilities and wireless communicationsaccess, the amount of the tax imposed per local exchange access facility andthe amount of the tax imposed per wireless communications access or access byother technological device that under normal operation is designed or routinelyused to access 911, shall be equal. The proceeds of the 911 emergency taxshall be set aside in an enterprise fund or other separate accounts from whichthe receipts shall be used to pay for the 911 system costs authorized in W.S.16-9-105, and may be imposed at any time following the execution of anagreement with the provider of the service at the discretion of the governingbody.
(c) No 911 emergency tax shall be imposed upon more than onehundred (100) local exchange access lines or their equivalent per customerbilling.
(d) Collection of any 911 emergency tax from a service userpursuant to this chapter shall commence at the time specified by the governingbody in accordance with this act. Taxes imposed under this chapter and requiredto be collected by the service supplier shall be added to and stated separatelyin the billings to the service user.
(e) Every billed service user shall be liable for any 911emergency tax imposed under this chapter until it has been paid to the servicesupplier or governing body.
(f) An action to collect taxes under subsection (d) of thissection may be brought by or on behalf of the public agency imposing the tax. Theservice supplier shall annually provide the governing body a list of theamounts uncollected along with the names and addresses of delinquent serviceusers. The service supplier is not liable for uncollected amounts.
(g) Any 911 emergency tax imposed under this chapter shall becollected at the time charges for the telecommunications are collected underthe regular billing practice of the service supplier.
(h) Service shall not be discontinued to any service user byany service supplier for the nonpayment of any tax under this act.
(j) The 911 emergency tax imposed pursuant to this sectionshall only be imposed upon service users whose address is in those portions ofthe governing body's jurisdiction for which emergency telephone service shallbe provided; however, such 911 emergency tax shall not be imposed upon anystate or local governmental entity.
16-9-104. Remittance of tax to the governing body; administrative fee;establishment of rate of tax.
(a) Any tax imposed under this chapter and the amountscollected are to be remitted quarterly. The amount of the tax collected in one(1) calendar quarter by the service supplier shall be remitted to the governingbody no later than fifteen (15) days after the close of the calendar quarter.On or before the sixteenth day of each month following the preceding calendarquarter, a return for the preceding quarter shall be filed with the governingbody in a form the governing body and service supplier agree upon. The servicesupplier required to file the return shall deliver the return together with theremittance of the amount of the tax payable to the governing body. The servicesupplier shall maintain a record of the amount of each tax collected pursuantto this chapter. The record shall be maintained for a period of one (1) yearafter the time the tax was collected.
(b) The service supplier remitting the taxes collected underthis chapter may deduct and retain one percent (1%) of the taxes collected asthe cost of administration for collecting the taxes.
(c) At least once each calendar year, the governing body shallestablish a rate of tax not to exceed the amount authorized. Amounts collectedin excess of necessary expenditures within any fiscal year shall be carriedforward to subsequent years and shall only be used for the purposes set forthin W.S. 16-9-105. The governing body shall fix the rate, publish notice of itsnew rate and notify by mail every local exchange access company at least ninety(90) days before the new rate becomes effective. The governing body may at itsown expense require an annual audit of the service supplier's books and recordsconcerning the collection and remittance of the tax authorized by this chapter.
16-9-105. Agreements or contract for 911 emergency reporting systems;use of funds collected.
(a) Any governing body imposing the tax authorized by thischapter may enter into an agreement directly with any service supplier to the911 system or may contract and cooperate with any public agency or any otherstate for the administration of a 911 system in accordance with law.
(b) Funds collected from the 911 emergency tax imposed pursuantto this chapter shall be spent solely to pay for public safety answering pointand service suppliers' equipment and service costs, installation costs,maintenance costs, monthly recurring charges and other costs directly relatedto the continued operation of a 911 system including enhanced wireless 911service. Funds may also be expended for personnel expenses necessarily incurredby a public safety answering point. "Personnel expenses necessarilyincurred" means expenses incurred for persons employed to:
(i) Take emergency telephone calls and dispatch themappropriately; or
(ii) Maintain the computer data base of the public safetyanswering point.
(c) Funds collected from the charge pursuant to this chaptershall be credited to a cash account separate from the general fund of thepublic agency, for payments for public safety answering points and servicesupplier costs pursuant to subsection (b) of this section. Any moniesremaining in the cash account at the end of any fiscal year shall remain in theaccount for payments during any succeeding year. If any 911 system isdiscontinued, monies remaining in the account shall, after all payments to theservice supplier pursuant to subsection (b) of this section, be transferred tothe general fund of the public agency or proportionately to the general fund ofeach participating public agency.
16-9-106. Private listing and wireless subscribers, 911 service.
Privatelisting and wireless subscribers in 911 service areas waive privacy afforded bynonlisted or nonpublished numbers to the extent that the name and addressassociated with the telephone number may be furnished to the 911 system, forcall routing, for automatic retrieval of location information and forassociated emergency services.
16-9-107. Confidentiality of information.
Theinformation obtained through a 911 system shall be considered a public recordunder W.S. 16-4-201(a)(v) and access to the information may be denied accordingto law.
16-9-108. Immunity for providers.
No basic emergency service provider orservice supplier and no employee or agent thereof shall be liable to any personor entity for infringement or invasion of the right of privacy of any personcaused or claimed to have been caused, directly or indirectly, by any act oromission in connection with the installation, operation, maintenance, removal,presence, condition, occasion or use of emergency service features, automaticnumber identification or automatic location identification services and theequipment associated therewith, including the identification of the telephonenumber, address or name associated with the telephone used by the personaccessing 911 service, wireless automatic number identification or wirelessautomatic location identification service. A governmental entity, publicsafety agency, local exchange access company, telephone exchange access companyor wireless carrier that provides access to an emergency system or anyofficers, agents or employees thereof is not liable as a result of any act oromission except willful and wanton misconduct or gross negligence in connectionwith developing, adopting, operating or implementing emergency telephoneservice, enhanced wireless 911 service or any 911 system.
ARTICLE 2 - TELECOMMUNICATIONS FOR THE COMMUNICATIONS IMPAIRED
16-9-201. Definitions.
(a) As used in this act, unless the context requires otherwise,the following definitions apply:
(i) "Access line" means the facility that allows thecustomer of a local exchange company or radio communications service providerto access the local or toll network with the exception of dedicated facilitiessuch as a private line;
(ii) "Committee" means the committee ontelecommunications services for the communications impaired established by W.S.16-9-202;
(iii) "Communications impaired" means hearing impairedor speech impaired individuals as defined by the Americans With DisabilitiesAct of 1990, Title IV, Section 401;
(iv) "Division" means the division of vocationalrehabilitation within the department of workforce services;
(v) "Local exchange company" means atelecommunications company that provides telephone access lines to members ofthe general public who are its customers;
(vi) "Message relay system" means a statewide servicethrough which a communications impaired person, using specializedtelecommunications equipment, may send and receive messages to and from a noncommunicationsimpaired person whose telephone is not equipped with specializedtelecommunications equipment and through which a noncommunications impairedperson may, by using voice communication, send and receive messages to and froma communications impaired person;
(vii) "Program" means the program established by W.S.16-9-205;
(viii) "Radio communications service provider" means atelecommunications company that provides radio communication service, radiopaging or cellular service to members of the general public who are itscustomers;
(ix) "Specialized telecommunications equipment" meansa device that, when connected to a telephone, enables or assists a person whois communications impaired to communicate with another person utilizing the telephonenetwork. The term most commonly refers, but is not limited to,telecommunications devices for the deaf (TDDs);
(x) "This act" means W.S. 16-9-201 through 16-9-210.
16-9-202. Committee on telecommunications services for thecommunications impaired; composition; allocation.
(a) There is created a committee on telecommunications servicesfor the communications impaired.
(b) The committee shall consist of seven (7) members. Themembership shall be appointed by the governor and shall consist of one (1)member from each appointment district as provided by W.S. 9-1-218. Not morethan four (4) members shall be of the same political party.
(c) The committee is allocated to the division foradministrative purposes.
16-9-203. Term of office; vacancies; officers; bylaws; compensation;conflict of interest.
(a) Each member of the committee shall serve a term of three(3) years, except that the governor shall appoint two (2) of the initialmembers to serve terms of one (1) year and two (2) of the initial members toserve terms of two (2) years.
(b) A vacancy on the committee shall be filled in the samemanner as the original appointment.
(c) The committee shall choose a chairperson from among itsmembers.
(d) The committee shall establish its own operating procedures.
(e) Members of the committee shall receive no compensation, butshall be reimbursed under W.S. 9-3-102 and 9-3-103 for travel and per diemexpenses incurred in the performance of their duties.
(f) In order to avoid a potential conflict of interest, membersof the committee representing a potential provider of the message relay systemor specialized telecommunications equipment shall abstain from any vote ordecision of the committee regarding the award of contracts for those servicesor equipment by the division.
16-9-204. Power and duties of the committee.
(a) The committee shall advise the division as to theadministration of the program provided for in W.S. 16-9-205. In fulfillingthis duty, the committee shall:
(i) Review and recommend policies and procedures governingadministration of the program and ensure the program is in compliance with anyapplicable state and federal laws or regulations;
(ii) Assist the state in obtaining certification from the federalcommunications commission that the program is in compliance with such rules andregulations;
(iii) Review the division's budget request for administration ofservices under the program;
(iv) Monitor the expenditures of funds for the program;
(v) Monitor the quality of the program and the satisfaction ofthe users;
(vi) Perform any other duties necessary to properly advise thedivision as to the administration of the program.
16-9-205. Program established; purpose; responsibilities of the divisionof vocational rehabilitation.
(a) The division in consultation with the committee, shallestablish and administer a program to provide specialized telecommunicationsequipment and message relay services to persons who are communications impaired. The purpose of the program shall be to:
(i) Furnish specialized telecommunications equipment to meetthe needs of persons who are communications impaired and who might be otherwisedisadvantaged in their ability to obtain such equipment; and
(ii) Provide a message relay system to allow persons who arecommunications impaired to communicate via the telecommunications network withnoncommunications impaired persons.
(b) In carrying out its responsibilities, the division shall:
(i) Develop rules, policies and procedures, as may benecessary, to govern administration of the program and ensure the program is incompliance with any applicable state and federal laws or regulations;
(ii) As part of its request for proposals, include provision foran equipment distribution program and utilize a preexisting state agency meanstest, if available, to determine eligibility for participation in thespecialized telecommunications equipment program;
(iii) Implement the message relay system as described insubsection (a)(ii) of this section within one (1) year following the effectivedate of this act and, to the extent funds generated by the special feespecified in W.S. 16-9-209 are available, implement the specializedtelecommunications equipment distribution program described in subsection(a)(i) of this section within two (2) years following the effective date ofthis act;
(iv) Perform any other duties necessary to properly overseeadministration of the program.
16-9-206. Message relay system; requirements.
(a) The division, after consultation with the committee, shallcontract with a qualified provider to design and implement a message relaysystem that fulfills the purpose described in W.S. 16-9-205. The divisionshall award the contract for this service to the provider based upon price, theinterests of the communications impaired community in having access to ahigh-quality and technologically advanced telecommunications system, and allother factors listed in the committee's request for proposal includingproposals for a specialized telecommunications equipment distribution program.
(b) Except in cases of willful misconduct, gross negligence orbad faith, neither the committee nor the provider of the message relay system,nor the employees of the provider of the message relay system, shall be liablefor any claims, actions, damages or causes of action arising out of orresulting from the establishment, participation in, or operation of the messagerelay system.
(c) The division shall require, under the terms of thecontract, that:
(i) The system be available statewide for operation seven (7)days a week, twenty-four (24) hours per day, including holidays, for bothinterstate and intrastate calls;
(ii) The system relay all messages promptly and accurately;
(iii) The system maintain the privacy of persons using thesystem;
(iv) The provider preserve the confidentiality of all telephonecommunications; and
(v) The system conform to any standards established byapplicable state or federal laws or regulations.
16-9-207. Gifts and grants.
Thecommittee may accept contributions, gifts and grants, in money or otherwise, tothe program established in W.S. 16-9-205. Monetary contributions, gifts andgrants must be deposited in the fund created by W.S. 16-9-208.
16-9-208. Account for telecommunications services for thecommunications impaired.
(a) There is created an account for telecommunications servicesfor the communications impaired. The account shall consist of:
(i) All monetary contributions, gifts and grants received bythe committee as provided in W.S. 16-9-207; and
(ii) All special fee charges billed and collected pursuant toW.S. 16-9-209.
(b) The money in the account is appropriated to the division toimplement this act.
16-9-209. Special fee.
(a) The committee shall annually determine the amount of aspecial fee, not to exceed twenty-five cents ($.25) per access line per month,based upon available cost data and other information, that will cover the costsof providing intrastate message relay service as provided in Section 401 of theAmericans With Disabilities Act of 1990, including the cost of implementing andadministering this act. Funding for the interstate portion of the Wyomingrelay system shall be provided in a manner consistent with rules and ordersadopted by the federal communications commission in implementing the AmericansWith Disabilities Act.
(b) The committee shall notify the public service commission,in writing, of the amount of the monthly access line special fee determined bythe committee. The public service commission shall provide for the inclusionand identification of the special fee on each monthly billing for service fromeach local exchange company and radio communications service provider.
(c) Each customer of a local exchange company or radiocommunications service provider shall be liable for payment to the localexchange company or radio communications service provider of any special feeimposed pursuant to this act. In the case of a customer of a radiocommunications service provider, any fee imposed by this act shall be imposedonly if the customer's place of primary use is in this state as provided by theMobile Telecommunications Sourcing Act, 4 U.S.C. 116 through 126. Theprovisions of the Mobile Telecommunications Sourcing Act shall apply to thissubsection. The local exchange company or radio communications service providershall not be liable for any uncollected charge, nor shall the company have anobligation to take any legal action to enforce the collection of any chargethat is unpaid by its customers.
(d) No customer of a local exchange company shall be requiredto pay the special fee on more than one hundred (100) access lines per accountand no customer of a radio communications service provider shall be required topay the special fee on more than one hundred (100) radio communication servicenumbers per account in Wyoming.
(e) Except as provided in subsection (g) of this section, allspecial fees billed and collected by a local exchange company or radiocommunications service provider shall be transmitted to the state treasurer notlater than the last day of the month following the end of the month in whichthe special fee is collected. All special fees received by the state treasurershall be deposited in the account established by W.S. 16-9-208.
(f) All special fees billed and collected by a local exchangecompany or radio communications service provider shall not be consideredrevenues of the local exchange company or radio communications service providerand are not subject to tax under W.S. 39-15-101 through 39-16-311.
(g) Each local exchange company or radio communications serviceprovider may deduct and retain one percent (1%) of the total charges billed andcollected each month to cover administrative expenses in complying with therequirements of subsections (b) through (e) of this section.
16-9-210. Records; audit.
(a) Each local exchange company or radio communications serviceprovider shall maintain a record of the special fees billed and collectedpursuant to W.S. 16-9-209 for a period of three (3) years from the date ofbilling or collection, respectively.
(b) The committee may require an audit, at division expense, ofthe records of each local exchange company or radio communications serviceprovider to assure proper accounting of all special fees billed and collectedpursuant to W.S. 16-9-209.