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Senate Finance panel approves Senate Bill 137 to fund NextGen 911 with $1 surcharge
Summary
The Senate Finance Committee advanced a substitute to Senate Bill 137 that would modernize 911 systems and raise the state 911 surcharge to $1; the measure passed the committee on a 10-0 roll call.
Senator Michael Padilla introduced Senate Bill 137 to update state 911 definitions to align with federal NextGen 911 standards and to raise the state 911 surcharge to fund upgrades.
Nut graf: The committee advanced a substitute to SB137 that sets the surcharge at $1 (a lower figure than an earlier proposed $1.29 indexed to inflation) and instructs funding for technology that will allow text, video and other “multimedia” communications to be handled by public-safety answering points (PSAPs). Supporters told the committee the change is intended to bring New Mexico’s emergency call infrastructure in line with federal NextGen standards.
Senator Michael Padilla, sponsor of SB137, said, “we have not increased our 911 surcharge since 1989. If we were to increase it, based on inflation, that would be a dollar 29, mister chairman.” Padilla told the committee the substitute bill (Senate Finance Committee substitute 877.1) was pared down to essential language after feedback and that the committee needed to act on it.
Tommy Sanchez, director of the Valencia County 911 center, testified in support: “this gives all the public safety answering points the means to handle multimedia communications. It’s like text to 911, video, live data streaming,” and added that the upgrades are “crucial to the safety of our citizens and the safety of our responders.” Julian Senna, GIS supervisor for Santa Fe County, said accurate addresses and road data are essential for NextGen 911 and encouraged passage so PSAPs could “get people into the latest standard of technology.” Jay Santiamas, a lobbyist representing small rural telephone and broadband providers, said rural carriers support the update so calls can be located and routed properly.
Senator Lanier raised a question about the state police not using local 911 systems in one county; Padilla said the funding and changes envisioned by the bill would help regionalize systems and provide for failover routing so calls can be re-routed to the next available PSAP if a local center is overloaded.
The committee adopted the committee substitute and approved the bill on a voice/roll-call sequence. The roll call recorded the following votes: Senator Brandt — yes; Senator Campos — yes; Senator Gonzales — yes; Senator Lanier — yes; Senator Padilla — yes; Senator Steinborn — yes; Senator Trujillo — yes; Senator Woods — yes; Senator Shandoh — yes; Senator Munoz — yes. The committee result was 10 yes, 0 no.
Ending: With the committee-level approval, SB137 moves to the Senate floor; senators and witnesses said the substitute aims to provide funding for NextGen 911 features including text-to-911 and improved call-routing and location data.
