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.
