AN ACT to amend the duties of the 911 board relating to public safety answering points, as recommended by the joint legislative oversight committee on information technology, and to clarify the collection authority of the department of revenue for the 911 fee on prepaid wireless.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.1.  G.S. 62A‑40 is amended by adding a new subdivision to read:
"(4a)	Back‑up PSAP. – The capability to operate as part of the 911 System and all other features of its associated primary PSAP. The term includes a back‑up PSAP that receives 911 calls only when they are transferred from the primary PSAP or on an alternate routing basis when calls cannot be completed to the primary PSAP."
SECTION 1.2.  G.S. 62A‑42(a) reads as rewritten:
"(a)	Duties. – The 911 Board has the following powers and duties:
(1)	To develop the 911 State Plan. In developing and updating the plan, the 911 Board must monitor trends in voice communications service technology and in enhanced 911 service technology, investigate and incorporate GIS mapping and other resources into the plan, ensure individual PSAP plans incorporate a back‑up PSAP, and formulate strategies for the efficient and effective delivery of enhanced 911 service.
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(4)	To establish policies and procedures to fund advisory services and training for PSAPs, to set operating standards for PSAPs, and back‑up PSAPs and to provide funds in accordance with these policies, procedures, and standards.
…."
SECTION 1.3.  G.S. 62A‑46 reads as rewritten:
"§ 62A‑46.  Fund distribution to PSAPs.
(a)	Monthly Distribution. – The 911 Board must make monthly distributions to primary PSAPs from the amount allocated to the 911 Fund for PSAPs. A PSAP is not eligible for a distribution under this section unless it complies with the requirements of this Article, provides enhanced 911 service, and received distributions from the 911 Board in the 2008‑2009 fiscal year. The Board may reduce, suspend, or terminate distributions under this subsection if a PSAP does not comply with the requirements of this Article. The Board must comply with all of the following:
(1)	Administration. – The Board must notify PSAPs of the estimated distributions no later than December 31 of each year. The Board must determine actual distributions no later than June 1 of each year. The Board must determine a method for establishing distributions that is equitable and sustainable and that ensures distributions for eligible operating costs and anticipated increases for all funded PSAPs. The Board must establish a formula to determine each PSAP's base amount. The formula must be determined and published to PSAPs in the first quarter of the fiscal year preceding the fiscal year in which the formula is used. The Board may not change the funding formula for the base amount more than once every year.
(2)	Reports. – The Board must report to the Joint Legislative Commission on Governmental Operations and the Revenue Laws Study Committee within 45 days of a change in the funding formula. The report must contain a description of the differences in the old and new formulas and the projected distributions to each PSAP from the new formula.
(3)	Formula. – The funding formula established by the Board must consider all of the following:
a.	The population of the area served by a PSAP.
b.	PSAP reports and budgets, disbursement histories, and historical costs.
c.	PSAP operations, 911 technologies used by the PSAP, compliance with operating standards of the 911 Board, level of service a PSAP delivers dispatching fire, emergency medical services, law enforcement, and Emergency Medical Dispatch.
d.	The tier designation of the county in which the PSAP is located as designated in G.S. 143B‑437.08.
e.	Any interlocal government funding agreement between a primary PSAP and a secondary PSAP, if the secondary PSAP was in existence as of June 1, 2010, receives funding under the agreement, and is within the service area of the primary PSAP.
f.	Any other information the Board considers relevant.
(4)	Additional distributions. – In the first quarter of the Board's fiscal year, the Board must determine whether payments to PSAPs during the preceding fiscal year exceeded or were less than the eligible costs incurred by each PSAP during the fiscal year. If a PSAP receives less than its eligible costs in any fiscal year, the Board may increase a PSAP's distribution in the following fiscal year above the base amount as determined by the formula to meet the estimated eligible costs of the PSAP as determined by the Board. The Board may not distribute less than the base amount to each PSAP except as provided in subsection (b1) of this section. The Board must provide a procedure for a PSAP to request a reconsideration of its distribution or eligible expenses.
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(c)	Use of Funds. – A PSAP that receives a distribution from the 911 Fund may not use the amount received to pay for the lease or purchase of real estate, cosmetic remodeling of emergency dispatch centers, hiring or compensating telecommunicators, or the purchase of mobile communications vehicles, ambulances, fire engines, or other emergency vehicles. Distributions received by a PSAP may be used only to pay for the following:
(1)	The lease, purchase, or maintenance of:
a.	Emergency telephone equipment, including necessary computer hardware, software, and database provisioning.
b.	Addressing.
c.	Telecommunicator furniture.
d.	Dispatch equipment located exclusively within a building where a PSAP or back‑up PSAP is located, excluding the costs of base station transmitters, towers, microwave links, and antennae used to dispatch emergency call information from the PSAP or back‑up PSAP.
(1a)	The nonrecurring costs of establishing a 911 system.
(2)	Expenditures for in‑State training of 911 personnel regarding the maintenance and operation of the 911 system. Allowable training expenses include the cost of transportation, lodging, instructors, certifications, improvement programs, quality assurance training, training associated with call taking, and emergency medical, fire, or law enforcement procedures, and training specific to managing a PSAP or supervising PSAP staff. Training outside the State is not an eligible expenditure unless the training is unavailable in the State or the PSAP documents that the training costs are less if received out‑of‑state. Training specific to the receipt of 911 calls is allowed only for intake and related call taking quality assurance and improvement. Instructor certification costs and course required prerequisites, including physicals, psychological exams, and drug testing, are not allowable expenditures.
(3)	Charges associated with the service supplier's 911 service and other service supplier recurring charges. The PSAP providing 911 service is responsible to the voice communications service provider for all 911 installation, service, equipment, operation, and maintenance charges owed to the voice communications service provider. A PSAP may contract with a voice communications service provider on terms agreed to by the PSAP and the provider.
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(e)	Compliance. – A PSAP, or the governing entity of a PSAP, must comply with all of the following in order to receive a distribution under this section:
(1)	A county or municipality that has one or more PSAPs must submit in writing to the 911 Board information that identifies the PSAPs in the manner required by the FCC Order.
(2)	A participating PSAP must annually submit to the 911 Board a copy of its governing agency's proposed or approved budget detailing the revenues and expenditures associated with the operation of the PSAP. The PSAP budget must identify revenues and expenditures for eligible expense reimbursements as provided in this Article and rules adopted by the 911 Board.
(3)	A PSAP must be included in its governing entity's annual audit required under the Local Government Budget and Fiscal Control Act. The Local Government Commission must provide a copy of each audit of a local government entity with a participating PSAP to the 911 Board.
(4)	A PSAP must comply with all requests by the 911 Board for financial information related to the operation of the PSAP.
(4a)	A PSAP must have a plan and means for 911 call-taking in the event 911 calls cannot be received and processed in the primary PSAP. The plan must identify the alternative capability of taking the redirected 911 calls. This subdivision does not require a PSAP to construct an alternative facility to serve as a back‑up PSAP.
(5)	A primary PSAP must comply with the rules, policies, procedures, and operating standards for primary PSAPs adopted by the 911 Board.
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SECTION 1.4.  Sections 1.1 through 1.4 of this act are effective when this act becomes law and apply to distributions made on or after July 1, 2016.
SECTION 2.1.  G.S. 62A‑54(c) reads as rewritten:
"(c)	Administration. – Administration, auditing, requests for review, making returns, collection of tax debts, promulgation of rules and regulations by the Secretary of Revenue, additional taxes and liens, assessments, refunds, and penalty provisions of Article 9 of Chapter 105 of the General Statutes apply to the collection of the 911 service charge for prepaid wireless telecommunications service. An audit of the collection of the 911 service charge for prepaid wireless telecommunications service shall only be conducted in connection with an audit of the taxes imposed by Article 5 of Chapter 105 of the General Statutes. Underpayments shall be subject to the same interest rate as imposed for taxes under G.S. 105‑241.21. Overpayments shall be subject to the same interest rate as imposed for taxes under G.S. 105‑241.21(c)(2). Excessive and erroneous collections of the service charge will be subject to G.S. 105‑164.11. The Department of Revenue shall establish procedures for a seller of prepaid wireless telecommunications service to document that a sale is not a retail transaction, and the procedures established shall substantially coincide with the procedures for documenting a sale for resale transaction under G.S. 105‑164.28. The Secretary of Revenue may retain the costs of collection from the remittances received under subsection (b) of this section, not to exceed five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000) a year of the total 911 service charges for prepaid wireless telecommunications service remitted to the Department. Within 45 days of the end of each month in which 911 service charges for prepaid wireless telecommunications service are remitted to the Department, the Secretary of Revenue shall transfer the total 911 service charges remitted to the Department less the costs of collection to the 911 Fund established under G.S. 62A‑44."
SECTION 2.2.  Section 8 of S.L. 2011‑122, as amended by Section 52 of S.L. 2013‑414,  is repealed.
SECTION 2.3. Notwithstanding G.S. 62A‑54(c), the Department may retain six hundred and forty thousand dollars ($640,000) of the 911 fee service charges for prepaid wireless telecommunications service remitted to the Department in the 2014‑2015 fiscal year.
SECTION 2.4.  Sections 2.1 through 2.4 of this act become effective July 1, 2014. The remainder of this act is effective when it becomes law.
In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 3rd day of July, 2014.

	s/	 Andrew C. Brock
	 Presiding Officer of the Senate

	s/	 Thom Tillis
	 Speaker of the House of Representatives

	s/	 Pat McCrory
	 Governor

Approved 4:00 p.m. this 9th day of July, 2014