Wisc. Legislators Tamper With 911 Surcharge

A joint committee of the Wisconsin legislature has revised a proposal to increase and modify the state’s 911 surcharge, allowing the funds to be used for projects unrelated to 911 and comm centers. Originally the legislators were considering a bill to increase the surcharge from 16¢ a month on landline phone to 75¢ a month on both landline and cellular lines. The bill would also have created a state 911 plan, advistory board and 911 coordinator. Now, the Joint Finance committee amended the bill to eliminate all the plan, board and coordinator, and to change the name of the fee from “911 fee” to “police and fire protection fee.” The changes were apparently made to avoid any conflict with federal legislation that withholds 911 grant funding from jurisdictions that raid their 911 surcharge funds.