State Constitution Impedes Fixing New Jersey 911 Fee Leak, Lawmaker Says
New Jersey should stop diverting 911 fee revenue to unrelated purposes, said a New Jersey state lawmaker with a bill that addresses fees but is criticized by FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly and others for not stopping diversion altogether (see 1803210050). In an interview, Assemblywoman Valerie Huttle (D) said lawmakers can’t fully shut off the leak unless there’s a change to the New Jersey Constitution. The New Jersey Assembly Homeland Security and State Preparedness Committee has a hearing Thursday at 10 a.m. on Huttle’s 911 diversion bill (AB-2371) and three other 911 bills.
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Huttle’s 911 diversion bill would require at least 10 percent of 911 revenue to go to public safety answering points (PSAPs). But a recent FCC report found New Jersey diverted 89 percent ($108.1 million) of its 911 fee revenue to unrelated purposes in 2016 (see 1802230012). AB-2371 won’t solve the problem, but would stop the problem from getting worse, Huttle said. The New Jersey Constitution treats the 911 fees the same as any other sales or income fee or tax required to go into the general fund. Assembly and Senate budget and appropriations committees decide how to spend money from the general fund.
The assemblywoman “would love to see the entire funds go where they’re supposed to go,” rather than for general funding, she said. She agreed with O’Rielly’s concerns about 911 fee diversion. “Without the money from the state, counties and municipalities, we have to rely on property taxes to fund and maintain our 911 system,” she said. “It’s certainly not fair, but without a constitutional amendment, these funds will continue to be diverted as needed and demanded by the budget.” Asked if she would support a constitutional change, Huttle said she “would tend to look at that in favor,” but “we have a new governor and a new budget,” so “let’s see where we’re at.”
Huttle also seeks to increase the amount of revenue that could be used for 911, she said. Her other bill to be heard at Thursday’s hearing (AB-3743) would impose a 90-cent 911 fee at the point of sale when buying prepaid wireless telephone service. “That is closing the loophole on prepaid wireless cellphones” to create additional funds, Huttle said. Other New Jersey 911 bills to be heard Thursday would fund and require next-generation 911 (AB-3742) and increase standards at PSAPs and dispatch points (AB-122). Taking Huttle’s bills and the other two 911 bills in a “package” will help give adequate funding for upgrades and maintenance, she said.
The New Jersey Wireless Association “heard the state constitutional amendment idea several times,” and the group’s support “would be dependent on the language of the amendment,” NJWA President Rob Ivanoff emailed. “Legislators typically do not like to tie their hands with specificity on how money is to be budgeted.” If Assembly and Senate leaders “would direct their appropriations and budget committees to allocate 50% of the 911 fees for use by the local 911 centers (through state aid or a grant process), a constitutional amendment is not needed,” Ivanoff said. It’s unclear if the bills up for hearing “can force the budget and appropriations committees to spend the [911] fees in this manner,” he said.
New Jersey has been diverting 911 funds since 2006, a “travesty,” the NJWA said in reply comments last week in FCC docket 09-14. The state “has not contributed any of these collected funds, since 2009, to any of the PSAPs that answer the vast majority of 911 calls, thus increasing the burden on the local taxpayers that support these PSAPs,” NJWA said. The group supported the FCC more clearly defining 911 fee diversion for states.
O’Rielly plans to visit New Jersey and other fee-diverting states, his aide Brooke Ericson said. He last month addressed a Rhode Island 911 summit (see 1803200052). In a letter last week responding to a March 25 editorial in the Providence Journal, O’Rielly urged Rhode Island to stop diverting 911 money. “Beyond deceiving consumers, the practice of using funds for 911 call centers as piggy banks for other state spending places the public’s safety at greater risk," he said. He said he's encouraged by support from Rhode Island state leaders: “I plan to closely follow this situation until fully it is corrected.”