New Jersey Senator Wants Voters to End 911 Fee Diversion

TRENTON -- A state senator wants to amend New Jersey’s constitution to stop about 90 percent of 911 fee revenue from being used for unrelated purposes. "It's high time that we say enough is enough,” said Sen. Michael Testa (R) alongside county and wireless officials at a Friday news conference.

The constitutional amendment to mandate funds be used for 911 would require three-fifths majorities in the Senate and Assembly, then approval by voters, according to state constitution Article IX. Testa will propose a second resolution in the Senate urging Gov. Phil Murphy (D) to fully fund 911 systems. Murphy doesn't comment on specific or pending legislation, a spokesperson said. Senate Majority Leader Stephen Sweeney (D) and Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin (D) didn’t comment.

"When customers see a 90 cents surcharge for the 911 system on their monthly phone bills, they expect those fees to fund the emergency response systems," but instead, 90 percent goes to "black hole of the state budget,” said Testa. The 911 system is more important than recreational marijuana, which will be on the 2020 ballot, said Testa. “You’re going to see hundreds if not thousands of individuals outside this statehouse demanding that they have the very basic service which was supposed to be in a dedicated fund.”

Wireless and county officials have tried for years to end such diversion, which has occurred under four administrations, said New Jersey Wireless Association President Rob Ivanoff. It's the only state where none of the money goes to county systems, and the 10 percent not diverted goes to maintaining the state’s antiquated system, which doesn’t support smartphones' IP-based capabilities, Ivanoff said.

Diversion has led to “double taxation” because counties and municipalities have been forced to rely on local property taxpayer dollars to maintain and operate 911, said New Jersey Association of Counties President Marie Hayes. He's a Republican Cape May County freeholder.

A 2018 New Jersey legislative effort to increase the amount of fee without ending diversion didn’t go anywhere (see 1804050042). Testa said he can’t “fathom” why the state would increase the fee when 90 percent is diverted. Possible loss of federal 911 grants hasn’t moved New Jersey state leaders to stop diverting millions of dollars (see 2001070025).

West Virginia lawmakers introduced a bill last week promoting next-generation 911 even though that state was also recorded as a fee diverter in the FCC’s last report. Commissioner Mike O’Rielly told us Tuesday he will soon write the state about diversion (see 2001210028). HB-4516 would update the law’s definitions and create a commission to study NG-911 and send reports to the legislature and governor. “Modernizing West Virginia’s 911 system to include new and evolving capabilities of broadband voice and data communications is essential,” said the bill by Del. Gary Howell and six other Republicans.

In also-diverting New York, county officials sounded the alarm about a 911 dispatching bill that passed the Senate 59-0 Thursday. New York requires all public buildings with multi-line telephone systems to allow calls to 911 to directly connect to a public safety answering point. S-7171 would provide an exception for certain public universities to route calls to on-campus answering points. Sponsor Sen. John Brooks (D) didn’t comment.

“While some campuses may have ‘dispatchers,’ most do not and are answered by a campus security officer,” emailed New York State 911 Advisory Committee Chair Wesley Jones, Chenango County Sheriff’s chief dispatcher. “There’s no way to know their training in answering emergency calls and most importantly, providing pre-arrival instructions, such as CPR and child birth instruction.” The bill directly conflicts with the federal Kari’s Law that’s effective Feb. 16, Jones said. "Kari’s Law and Ray Baum’s Act require all multi-line phone systems" to "enable direct dial to 9-1-1, direct routing to a 911 center, and a detailed ‘dispatchable location’ to decrease response time.”