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House approves allowing local 911 fees to cover radio access lines, with billing amendment
Summary
The House passed substitute HB224 to permit local governments to include radio access lines in 911 charges and adopted an amendment to direct billing to the city or county where the phone is located. The amended bill passed 50–21 and will go to the Senate.
The Utah House on Feb. 15 approved substitute House Bill 224 to let local governments include radio access lines in 911 charges, and it adopted an amendment specifying that billing and revenue allocation should go to the city or county in which the phone is located.
Representative Barr outlined that the bill allows local entities to recoup costs for 911 services from radio access lines and that statute requires collected funds to go to 911. Because deregulation prevents phone companies from supplying location data immediately, lawmakers agreed to revisit allocation equity after a year of collections and interim study.
Representative Adair successfully offered a floor amendment to require that the appropriate financial officer of the public agency in the city or county where a phone is located be billed, a change described on the floor as friendly. Several legislators declared conflicts of interest before the vote.
After debate and conflict declarations, substitute HB224 as amended passed the House with 50 affirmative and 21 negative votes and was referred to the Senate.
Next steps: The bill was placed with the Senate for further consideration and sponsors signaled an interim study to refine billing fairness once data are available.
