An Act To Amend the Surcharge for the E-9-1-1 System
Maine Legislature, Session 124, LD 0264
Committee: Utilities and Energy
Sponsors: CLEARY, SCHATZ, EATON, SUTHERLAND

Legislative Document 
No. 264 
H.P.210 
House of Representatives, January 27,2009 
An Act To Amend the Surcharge for the E-9-1-1 System 
(EMERGENCY) 
Reference to the Committee on Utilities and Energy suggested and ordered printed. 
Presented by Representative CLEARY of Houlton. 
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MILLICENT M. MacFARLAND 
Clerk 
Cosponsored by Representative SCHATZ of Blue Hill and 
Representatives: EATON of Sullivan, SUTHERLAND of Chapman. 
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Emergency preamble. Whereas, acts and resolves of the Legislature do not 
become effective until 90 days after adjournment unless enacted as emergencies; and 
Whereas, the State's E-9-1-1 service provides significant public safety benefits by 
enabling the public to dial 9-1-1 in the event of an emergency and speeding up the 
dispatch of emergency services through automatic caller location information; and 
Whereas, the E-9-1-1 system is funded by a special statewide surcharge on 
telephone lines; and 
Whereas, the E-9-1-1 surcharge is established in statute and had been fixed at 50¢ 
per line per month since 2001; and 
Whereas, the surcharge was reduced from 50¢ to 30¢ in 2008; and 
Whereas, it is necessary to set the E-9-1-1 surcharge as soon as possible to ensure 
that the money contributed by telephone ratepayers to fund the E-9-1-1 system is used for 
that purpose and the surcharge amount going forward is consistent with expenditure 
needs; and 
Whereas, in the judgment of the Legislature, these facts create an emergency within 
the meaning of the Constitution of Maine and require the following legislation as 
immediately necessary for the preservation of the public peace, health and safety; now, 
therefore, 
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows: 
Sec. 1. 25 MRS A §2927, sub-§l-B, as amended by PL 2007, c. 637, §1, IS 
further amended to read: 
I-B. Statewide E-9-1-1 surcharge. The activities authorized under this chapter are 
funded through a special statewide E-9-1-1 surcharge levied on each residential and 
business telephone exchange line, including private branch exchange lines and Centrex 
lines, cellular or wireless telecommunications service customers, including prepaid 
wireless telephone service customers, interconnected voice over Internet protocol service 
customers and semipublic coin and public access lines. The statewide E-9-1-1 surcharge 
may not be imposed on more than 25 lines or numbers per customer billing account, 
except that this limitation does not apply to prepaid wireless telephone services. In the 
case of cellular or wireless telecommunications service customers, the place of residence 
of those customers must be determined according to the sourcing rules for mobile 
telecommunications services as set forth in Title 36, section 2556. The statewide E-9-1-1 
surcharge is Mlf 50¢ per month per line or number or, in the case of prepaid wireless 
telephone services, Mlf 50¢ per month or 30-day increment of service per customer. The 
statewide E-9-1-1 surcharge must be collected from the customer on a monthly basis by 
each local exchange telephone utility, cellular or wireless telecommunications service 
provider and interconnected voice over Internet protocol service provider and be shown 
separately as a statewide E-9-1-1 surcharge on the customer's bill, except that in the case 
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of prepaid wireless telephone service, the collection of the statewide E-9-I-I surcharge is 
governed by subsection I-C. 
Emergency clause. 
In view of the emergency cited in the preamble, this 
legislation takes effect when approved. 
SUMMARY 
This bill increases the statewide E-9-I-I surcharge from 30¢ to 50¢ per month.