Senate Bill 409, also known as the 911 bill, was passed out of committee in the Missouri Senate on March 17. The bill would allow cities and counties to enact a voter approved tax to help provide funds to support 911 services in their area and across the state of Missouri.
Wayne Wallingford is the Senator for Missouri’s 27the District. He is the sponsor of the bill. He believes the bill is important for Missouri.
"It’s very important because to me it’s a public safety issue. We pass a lot of bills that will hopefully help people or give them a better opportunity or tax break or you name it and those are all things that are important but to me this is a public safety issue because every day throughout Missouri citizens face emergency situations. But those people, their first instinct is to dial those three numbers that have come to symbolize “I need help,” “9-1-1.” And, of course, that person expects within minutes of making a call emergency personnel will arrive on the scene and everything’s gonna be great. Well, that’s how the system is intended to work but I hate to tell you that isn’t what happens all the time," Wallingford said.
One of the reasons why Missouri has fallen so far behind in 911 services is that the funding for 911 that used to come from landline phone usage has shrunk over the years. The 911 services were supported by the fees that were paid on landline phones but as those become used less and less, cell phones haven’t been picking that up because there isn’t a fee for 911 services attached to them.
Senate Bill 409 will help to address many of the issues that impact Missouri’s 911 service. Senator Wallingford said the bill will do a few things.
Wallingford said, "It’s going to raise funding so that we can support the 911 technology and get it into all the different counties." Wallingford said that there are areas in the state that have no 911 call center and other areas have more than one. He said one of the goals of the bills to equalize 911 coverage across the entire state and eliminate duplication of services.
If approved, Senate Bill 409 will allow cities and counties the ability to impose, with approval by a majority of the local voters, a monthly fee that would appear on a user’s cell phone bill. The money collected would go into the Missouri 911 Trust Fund.
Wallingford said, "There is no fee that is going to imposed without the local voters saying yes, this is important to us. We have families and children and when I press 911 I want to know that my distress call is going to be answered immediately. But it has to go to the local voters for approval."
He said that if approved the county or city could place up to a maximum of $1.50 on a user's bill to fund the 911 services. There would be a 3% fee attached to pre-paid cell phones which Wallingford said now account for more than 25% of cell phone sales.
"So that’s a fourth of your phones that could rely on 911 but they’re not actually contributing to it. So, they get the advantage of having it there when they need it but they’re not really helping provide that," he said.
The funds collected would be used to upgrade equipment which is out of date. It would fund training for call center employees, secure mapping and addressing equipment and create a statewide 911 plan that’s overseen by a special board.
Response to the bill was overwhelmingly positive with over 25 groups speaking in favor of it during hearings that were held in Jefferson City. Senator Wallingford believes this is the most important bill moving through the Missouri Senate. His goal is to improve Missouri’s 911 service for the benefit of all Missourians.
He said, "And I even hate to say it but Missouri’s current 911 system is disjointed, it’s fragmented and it’s years behind where it should be and it’s actually one of the worst in the country and I love this state. I don’t want us to be on the bottom of some list, particularly the public safety list. I want us to be at the top and we aren’t."
Wallingford noted that right now 17 counties in the state have no 911 call center and at least two of those are in the 27th district. He believes that if you were to travel around the state and ask any Missouri resident about the 911 system he doubts many would say it’s poor, that you can’t get through and that dispatchers can’t find you if you call.
“I think everyone accepts that we have a great 911 system. So, that isn’t necessarily true,” Wallingford said.
Wallingford expects the bill will be voted on later this spring.
