Under existing federal law, the Federal Communications Commission is required to regulate the use of money collected from surcharges imposed for emergency 911 service to prevent diversion of those fees or charges. (47 U.S.C. § 615a-1) Existing federal regulations limit the use of revenue from such fees or charges imposed by authorized taxing jurisdictions to: (1) the support and implementation of emergency 911 service; and (2) the operational expenses of a call center that receives and manages emergency calls, commonly known as a public safety answering point. Existing federal regulations provide certain examples of acceptable uses of such revenue which include, without limitation, the purchase, maintenance or upgrade of buildings or facilities that contain public safety answering points. (47 C.F.R § 9.23) Existing law authorizes a board of county commissioners to impose a surcharge for the enhancement of the telephone system for reporting an emergency or for the purchase and maintenance of portable event recording devices and vehicular event recording devices if the board adopts and reviews, at least annually, a 5-year master plan for the enhancement of the telephone system or the purchase and maintenance of such recording devices. (NRS 244A.7643) If a county imposes such a surcharge, existing law requires that the revenue collected from the surcharge be deposited in a special revenue fund and used only for specified purposes. Existing law prescribes an order of priority for spending the money in the fund for the specified purposes. (NRS 244A.7645) Section 3 of this bill: (1) authorizes the revenue collected from the surcharge to also be used for paying any costs associated with the construction, maintenance or operation of the portion of a facility that contains a telephone system for reporting an emergency and will be physically occupied by and functionally dedicated to the operation of such a telephone system; and (2) prescribes the order of priority for spending the revenue collected from the surcharge for that additional purpose. Under existing law, if the uncommitted balance of such a special revenue fund exceeds a specified monetary threshold at the end of any fiscal year, the board of county commissioners is required to reduce the amount of the surcharge imposed during the next fiscal year by the amount necessary to ensure that the unencumbered balance in the fund at the end of the next fiscal year does not exceed the specified threshold. (NRS 244A.7645) Section 3 increases to $15,000,000 this monetary threshold for such a special revenue fund of a county whose population is 700,000 or more (currently Clark County). Section 3 also increases to $7,500,000 the monetary threshold for such a special revenue fund of a county whose population is 100,000 or more but less than 700,000 (currently only Washoe County).

Statutes affected:
As Introduced: 244A.7641, 244A.7643, 244A.7645, 244A.7648
Reprint 1: 244A.7645
BDR: 244A.7641, 244A.7643, 244A.7645, 244A.7648