Existing state law requires: (1) the State Board of Health to adopt regulations to impose a surcharge on certain mobile communication services, IP-enabled voice services and landline telephone services; and (2) the Division of Public and Behavioral Health of the Department of Health and Human Services to use the money collected as a result of the surcharge to support the operation of a suicide prevention and behavioral health crisis hotline and the services provided to persons who access the hotline. (NRS 433.708) Section 1 of this bill defines terms used to describe the mobile communication services, IP-enabled voice services and landline telephone services that are subject to the surcharge. Existing law defines “small-scale provider of last resort” to mean an incumbent local exchange carrier that is a provider of last resort of basic network service and business line service to customers through less than 60,000 access lines. (NRS 704.023) Section 2 of this bill clarifies that a small-scale provider of last resort is required to collect the surcharge described in section 1 from its customers and transfer the surcharge to the Division in the same manner as other telecommunication providers.

Statutes affected:
As Introduced: 433.708, 704.040