Pennsylvania Act 2008-72 — PUBLIC SAFETY EMERGENCY TELEPHONE ACT - INTERCONNECTED VOICE OVER INTERNET PROTOCOL SERVICE AND VOIP 911 EMERGENCY SERVICES FUND

Act text

PUBLIC SAFETY EMERGENCY TELEPHONE ACT - INTERCONNECTED VOICE OVER
      INTERNET PROTOCOL SERVICE AND VOIP 911 EMERGENCY SERVICES FUND
                  Act of Jul. 9, 2008, P.L. 948, No. 72               Cl. 35
                             Session of 2008
                               No. 2008-72

     SB 385

                                  AN ACT

     Amending the act of July 9, 1990 (P.L.340, No.78), entitled "An
        act providing for a Statewide emergency telephone number 911
        system; providing for contributions from telephone
        subscribers; providing a penalty; and making a repeal,"
        providing for interconnected Voice over Internet Protocol
        service; and establishing the VoIP 911 Emergency Services
        Fund.

        The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
     hereby enacts as follows:

        Section 1.  Section 2 of the act of July 9, 1990 (P.L.340,
     No.78), known as the Public Safety Emergency Telephone Act, is
     amended by adding definitions to read:
      Section 2.  Definitions.
        The following words and phrases when used in this act shall
     have the meanings given to them in this section unless the
     context clearly indicates otherwise:
        * * *
        "Interconnected Voice over Internet Protocol service
     customer" or "VoIP service customer."  A person who is billed by
     an interconnected Voice over Internet Protocol provider, is the
     end user of VoIP service and who has designated a primary place
     of use within this Commonwealth.
        "Interconnected Voice over Internet Protocol provider" or
     "VoIP provider."  A person engaged in the business of providing
     VoIP service to end-use customers in this Commonwealth,
     including resellers.
        "Interconnected Voice over Internet Protocol service" or
     "VoIP service."  Service as defined by all orders issued by the
     Federal Communications Commission pursuant to the proceeding
     entitled "IP-Enabled Services", (WC Docket No. 04-36; FCC 05-
     116), codified at 47 CFR Part 9 (relating to interconnected
     Voice over Internet Protocol services), any successor proceeding
     and any other FCC order that affects the provision of 911
     service or E-911 service to VoIP service customers or further
     defines interconnected Voice over Internet Protocol service.
        * * *
        "Primary place of use."  The street address representative of
     where the customer's use of the VoIP service primarily occurs.
     For the purpose of VoIP 911 fees, primary place of use is the
     customer's registered location on the date the customer is
     billed.
        * * *
        "Telecommunications carrier."  Any provider of
     telecommunications services as defined by the Telecommunications
     Act of 1996 (Public Law 104-104, 110 Stat. 56).
        * * *
        Section 1.1.  Section 7 of the act is amended by adding a
     subsection to read:
      Section 7.  Collection and disbursement of contribution.
        * * *
        (f)  Prohibition against release of information.--Neither the
     county treasurer, the agency, nor any employee, agent or
     representative of a PSAP or public agency shall divulge any
     information acquired with respect to any wire line telephone
     service provider, its customers, revenues or expenses, trade
     secrets, access line counts, commercial information and such
     other proprietary information while acting or claiming to act as
     such employee, agent or representative, and all such information
     is hereby required to be kept confidential except that
     aggregations of information which do not identify or effectively
     identify numbers of customers, revenues or expenses, trade
     secrets, access lines, commercial information and such other
     proprietary information attributable to any individual wire line
     telephone service provider may be made public.
        Section 2.  Sections 11.7, 11.8 and 11.9 of the act, added
     December 30, 2003 (P.L.384, No.56), are amended to read:
      Section 11.7.  Public disclosure and confidentiality of
                    information.
        (a)  Annual report of the agency.--The annual report of the
     agency shall be a public document.
        (b)  Prohibition against release of information.--Neither the
     State Treasurer, the agency, nor any employee, agent or
     representative of a PSAP or public agency shall divulge any
     information acquired with respect to any wireless provider or
     VoIP provider, its customers, revenues or expenses, trade
     secrets, commercial information and such other proprietary
     information while acting or claiming to act as such employee,
     agent or representative, and all such information is hereby
     required to be kept confidential except that aggregations of
     information which do not identify or effectively identify
     numbers of customers, revenues or expenses, trade secrets,
     commercial information and such other proprietary information
     attributable to any individual wireless provider or VoIP
     provider may be made public.
      Section 11.8.  Wireless provider and VoIP provider records.
        (a)  Access.--Upon request from and pursuant to agreement
     with a PSAP, each wireless provider shall provide E-911 service
     data base information and each VoIP provider shall provide VoIP
     service data base information or automatic location information
     as permitted under the law to the requesting PSAP. Such
     information shall remain the property of the disclosing wireless
     provider or VoIP provider and, except as otherwise provided by
     applicable Federal or State law, shall be used by the PSAP only
     in connection with providing emergency response services to a
     call to a 911 system or to a wireless E-911 system.
        (b)  Violations.--A person commits a misdemeanor of the third
     degree who:
            (1)  Uses or discloses wireless E-911 service data base
        information or VoIP service data base information for
        purposes other than handling a call to a 911 system or to a
        wireless E-911 system without the consent of the wireless
        service customer or VoIP service customer, or as otherwise
        provided by applicable Federal or State law.
            (2)  Knowingly uses the telephone number of a 911 system
        [or], wireless E-911 system or VoIP service data base
        information to avoid any charges for the services of a local
        exchange carrier, competitive local exchange carrier,
        interexchange carrier [or], wireless provider or VoIP
        provider.
        (c)  Privacy waived.--The provisions of 66 Pa.C.S. § 2906
     (relating to dissemination of telephone numbers and other
     identifying information) shall have no application to wireless
     providers or VoIP providers to the extent they are engaged in
     providing wireless E-911 service, 911 service or related
     services.
      Section 11.9.  Immunity.
        (a)  Generally.--No wireless provider or VoIP provider or its
     officers, directors, employees, agents or vendors shall be
     liable to any person for civil damages resulting from or caused
     by such [wireless provider's] provider's, its officers',
     directors', employees', agents' or suppliers' participation in
     or acts, failure or omissions in connection with that
     participation in the development, design, installation,
     operation, maintenance, performance or provision of wireless E-
     911 service or 911 service, except for willful or wanton
     misconduct.
        (b)  Parity of liability.--A wireless provider or VoIP
     provider shall have the same immunity from liability for
     transmission errors or failures, network outages or other
     technical problems that arise in the course of handling
     emergency calls or providing emergency services, including
     wireless E-911 service, as a local exchange carrier enjoys in
     the course of handling such calls or providing such services.
        (c)  Release of information.--No wireless provider or VoIP
     provider or its employees or agents shall be liable to any
     person for releasing wireless service customer information or
     VoIP service customer information to the agency or to any 911
     system or wireless E-911 system, public agency or PSAP as
     required by this act or any law.
        Section  3.  The act is amended by adding a section to read:
      Section 11.14.  Collection and disbursement of VoIP 911 fee.
        (a)  VoIP service customer 911 contribution.--
            (1)  Each VoIP provider or telecommunications carrier, on
        the first monthly billing cycle after the effective date of
        this section, shall collect a $1 fee per month for each
        telephone number or successor dialing protocol assigned by a
        VoIP provider to a VoIP service customer number that has
        outbound calling capability and remit the collection
        quarterly or, at the option of the provider or
        telecommunications carrier, monthly, less the actual
        uncollectibles experienced by the VoIP provider to the county
        treasurer or, in a home rule county, the county official
        responsible for the collection and disbursement of funds or,
        as provided in subsection (d), to the State Treasurer. This
        fee shall be stated separately in the VoIP service customer's
        paper or electronic billing and the fee shall be collected
        apart from and in addition to any fee levied by the VoIP
        provider in whole or in part for the provision of 911
        services or E-911 services.
            (2)  In the case of VoIP service customers purchasing
        multiple dial tone telephone access lines from a VoIP
        provider, the following multipliers shall be applied to
        determine the contribution rate of each customer:
                (i)  For the first 25 lines, each line shall be
            billed at the approved contribution rate.
                (ii)  For lines 26 through 100, each line shall be
            billed at 0.75 of the approved contribution rate.
                (iii)  For lines 101 through 250, each line shall be
            billed at 0.50 of the approved contribution rate.
                (iv)  For lines 251 through 500, each line shall be
            billed at 0.20 of the approved contribution rate.
                (v)  For lines 501 or more, each line shall be billed
            at 0.172 of the approved contribution rate.
            (3)  If a VoIP provider receives a partial payment for a
        monthly bill from a VoIP service customer, the VoIP provider
        may apply the payment against the amount the VoIP service
        customer owes the VoIP provider first and then shall remit to
        the county or the State Treasurer the lesser amount, if any,
        as shall result therefrom.
            (4)  The fees collected and remitted under this
        subsection shall not be subject to taxes or charges levied by
        the Commonwealth or any political subdivision of this
        Commonwealth, nor shall the fees be considered revenue of the
        VoIP provider for any purpose.
            (5)  As reimbursement for administrative costs to cover
        its expenses of billing, collecting and remitting the fees
        during the reporting period, the VoIP provider is allowed to
        retain for reimbursement up to 2% of the total fees collected
        under this subsection, if remitted to the county, or up to 1%
        of the total fees collected if remitted to the State
        Treasurer.
            (6)  To the extent that a VoIP provider obtains
        connections to the public switched telephone network from a
        telecommunications carrier, that telecommunications carrier
        shall not be required to assess or make contributions to any
        911 or E-911 fund in connection with the customers or the
        telephone numbers for which the VoIP provider is responsible
        for collecting and making contributions under this section.
        If, however, the telecommunications carrier is, by agreement
        with the VoIP provider, required to make 911 or E-911
        contributions on behalf of the VoIP provider customer, the
        VoIP provider will not be responsible for collecting and
        making contributions under this section.
        (b)  Reporting by VoIP providers.--With each remittance, a
     VoIP provider and telecommunications carrier shall supply the
     following information to the county treasurer or, in a home rule
     county, the county official responsible for the collection and
     disbursement of funds or, as applicable under subsection (d), to
     the State Treasurer and to the agency:
            (1)  The total fees collected under subsection (a)(1)
        from its VoIP service customers during the reporting period.
        If the telecommunications carrier has remitted the fees to
        the county or the agency pursuant to an agreement with the
        VoIP provider, the VoIP provider must provide notification of
        such reporting agreement along with the telecommunications
        carrier's name and 911 or E-911 account number.
            (2)  All VoIP providers and telecommunications carriers
        shall provide the county or, if remitting to the State
        Treasurer, the agency with such information as it shall
        request, including the primary place of use of each
        interconnected VoIP service customer, in writing in order to
        discharge its obligations under this section, including, but
        not limited to, the collection and deposit of the VoIP fee
        and its administration of the fund. Information supplied by
        VoIP providers pursuant to this section shall remain
        confidential and release of such information shall be
        governed by section 11.7.
        (c)  Collection enforcement.--A VoIP provider has no
     obligation to take any legal action to enforce the collection of
     any fee imposed pursuant to this section.
        (d)  Remittance of fees.--Remittance of fees shall be to the
     county treasurer or, in a home rule county, the county official
     responsible for the collection and disbursement of funds, who
     shall deposit receipts into the Restricted Account established
     under section 7(c). Remittance to counties shall consist of the
     fees collected from VoIP service customers located in that
     county, less any reductions or administrative fees permitted by
     this section. The VoIP provider may instead, at its option,
     remit the fees to the State Treasurer for deposit and
     distribution as provided under subsections (e) and (f).
     Elections shall be by rules established by the agency, which
     shall include appropriate notification to the affected counties
     of the exercise of this option.
        (e)  Establishment of fund.--There is hereby established in
     the State Treasury a nonlapsing restricted interest-bearing
     account to be known as the VoIP 911 Emergency Services Fund. The
     fund shall consist of the fees remitted to the State Treasurer
     pursuant to this section.
        (f)  Distribution of fees.--Moneys in the fund established by
     subsection (e) and the interest it accrues are hereby
     appropriated on a continuing basis to the agency to be disbursed
     by the agency. The agency shall make quarterly disbursements
     from the account to each county by March 31, June 30, September
     30 and December 31 of each year in an amount equal to the amount
     of fees collected from VoIP service customers located in that
     county and for the purpose of assisting counties with the
     implementation of an agency-approved plan adopted under section
     5. The agency may retain up to 1% of the fees for costs incurred
     in administering this subsection.
        Section 4.  This act shall take effect in 120 days.

     APPROVED--The 9th day of July, A. D. 2008.

     EDWARD G. RENDELL