Existing law requires the Office of Emergency Services to develop a plan and timeline of target dates for the testing, implementation, and operation of a Next Generation 911 emergency communication system, including text to 911 service, throughout California.

This bill would require the office to provide quarterly reports to the Legislature on the development, implementation, and spending on the Next Generation 911 system, as specified.

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 Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service that provides access to the 911 and 988 emergency systems. Existing law requires the surcharge to be 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 year’s 911 and 988 costs. Existing law prohibits the 911 surcharge from exceeding $0.80 per month.

This bill would instead prohibit the charge from exceeding an unspecified amount per month.