Cell-phone users will now pay a surcharge for their service so police can track cell-phone 911 calls.
Gov. Jim Doyle signed a bill over the summer creating a fund to purchase technology that can pinpoint the location of cell-phone callers.
“Wisconsin will have a greater capacity to respond to emergencies and provide a safer environment for us all,” Doyle said.
Unlike emergency calls made on land-based lines, dispatchers currently do not have the ability to determine a cell-phone caller’s location, a task especially difficult on highways.
“Valuable time is often wasted trying to find where the person with an emergency is,” Wisconsin State Patrol Lt. Dan Lonsdorf said. “It’s important to locate and help people as quickly as possible.”
A monthly fee tacked onto wireless phone bills will fund the new technology. This fee will begin in 2005. The money will fund grants to wireless companies and local governments to help cover the cost of providing the service.
The amount of the fee for Wisconsin callers has not been determined. Mobile-phone companies and local communities must first turn in a proposed budget for the service to the Public Service Commission, who will then approve the cost. The fee for other states with similar laws ranges from 40 cents to $1.20.
Supporters of the measure said they hope the fee can be held to about 50 cents, but some fear a pair of Doyle’s partial vetoes could increase the cost.
The governor vetoed a limitation that said no more than 5 percent of the total cost of 911 upgrades could be spent on linking local emergency agencies to a centralized dispatch center in a county.
Rep. Scott Jensen, R-Town of Brookfield, said this veto of a cost-constraint mechanism could make the program more expensive.
Doyle also vetoed a requirement that the Department of Administration oversee a program to coordinate purchases and service contracts by local governments.
The new law complies with a federal mandate that requires all states to set up the service within the next few years. The fee will be added to cell-phone bills until 2008.
The Federal Communications Commission said there were about 2 million cell-phone users in Wisconsin in June 2001, representing about 37 percent of the population. If this number rose to the national average of 45 percent by 2005, there would be nearly 2.5 million users.
Assuming there are 2.5 million cell-phone users, the monthly charge for the new technology and service would generate about $17.3 million in the first full year of the program, according to the state Department of Revenue.
“I think this is an important piece of legislation that people will be willing to spend a little more to have this service,” Jensen said. “I think it will save lives.”
The service will be implemented over the next three years and will allow any cell-phone users who dial 911 in Wisconsin to receive emergency assistance.
