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Minutes for HB2084 - Committee on Utilities
Short Title
Amending the Kansas 911 act.
Minutes Content for Thu, Mar 14, 2019
Chairman Masterson continued the Hearing on HB2084
Proponents cont.
Scott Ekberg, Kansas 911 Coordinating Council stated that the floor amendment to HB2084, which passed the house on a narrow margin, had unintended consequences that must be reversed. Because the amendment only changed the fee increase amount, the amendment would result in 56 of the Kansas 911 Call Centers receiving less 911 fee funding than they currently do. One of the major steps in the migration to NG911 is to change to geospatial call routing. With geospatial call routing, the calls are routed based on the location of the caller's phone.(Attachment 1)
Mr. Ekberg answered questions from members.
Ellen Wernicke, Johnson County Government stated that she supports the original HB2084, but opposes the amendment made by the House. Johnson County Government is not currently on the hosted solution. Johnson County is part of the Mid America Regional Council and operates on a 911 platform common to the MARC region. The 911 fee that is received by our county is used to support our ongoing 911 expenses. The current funding mechanism is not sufficient enough to support 911 capital expenditures and ongoing daily operating expenses of the 911 centers.(Attachment 2)
Troy Briggs, Sheriff, Haskell County Sheriff's Office said it is vital at a minimum to maintain our current level of service. This means maintaining the system as it is currently configured. The "Now" is what the public expects and deserves. Stepping back or moving any direction other than forward would be a lack of responsibility to the public we answer to.(Attachment 3)
Sheriff Briggs answered questions from members.
Neutral testimony
Jay Hall, Kansas Association of Counties said that KAC agrees with the proposal to change the minimum county distribution from $50,000 per year to $60,000 as this shift will help ensure rising costs in the more rural areas are addressed. However, it is unclear if this increase can be financed under the bill as amended by the House.(Attachment 4)
Erik Sartorius, League of Kansas Municipalities testified for Amanda Stanley. He stated, a significant concern of the League, and the primary reason we are neutral, is that oversight of the 911 Coordinating Council's budgetary procedures and structure has appeared insufficient. We agree with the Council that the system is underfunded, which was echoed by the Legislative Post Audit on the system. Frustrating to us, however, is that some of that under funding was self-fulfilling. It is unconscionable that the Council was allowed to commit to a contract for which they did not have funding to meet that commitment.(Attachment 5)
Mr. Sartorius answered questions from members.
Written only testimony
Mike Scott, AT&T;(Attachment 6)
Chairman Masterson closed the hearing on HB2084
No meeting tomorrow March 15, 2019
Adjourned 2:27pm
