This bill aims to amend and modernize the existing provisions related to emergency communication service fees in West Virginia. It updates the language in the law to replace "consumers of local exchange service" with "911 service users," thereby broadening the scope of individuals subject to the 911 fee. The bill allows counties to impose fees on various users, including landline users, voice over internet protocol (VoIP) subscribers, and any other users whose services can be reasonably related to 911 services. Additionally, it specifies that the revenues generated from these fees can only be used for the capital, installation, administration, operation, and maintenance costs associated with enhanced emergency telephone systems and the conversion to city-type addressing.

Furthermore, the bill introduces provisions that allow county commissions to collect the 911 user fee directly or contract with third parties to act as billing agents. It mandates that all local exchange telephone companies in a county must bill the enhanced emergency telephone system fees to their customers and remit the collected fees, with the option to deduct their billing costs. The bill also establishes that the records of county answering points benefiting from these fees will be subject to annual examination by the State Auditor's office, ensuring transparency and accountability in the use of the funds.

Statutes affected:
Introduced Version: 7-1-3cc