What's happening
The bill authorizes Broome County to impose additional surcharges on phone lines and wireless services to fund enhanced 911 emergency systems.
Why it matters
Directly impacts local phone bills. Residents and businesses in Broome County would see an additional surcharge—up to $1.30 per month per phone line and $1.10 per wireless device or prepaid service—added to their bills, increasing the cost of both landline and wireless communication.
Specifically funds emergency response upgrades. The extra charges are earmarked for updating, operating, and maintaining enhanced 911 (E911) systems, which means the funds cannot be diverted for unrelated county spending, potentially improving public safety response times and technology.
Limits and exemptions protect certain groups. The surcharge cannot be applied to more than 75 lines per customer at a single location, and exemptions are made for lifeline (low-income) customers, public safety agencies, and municipalities that pass their own local law under this section, which may shield the most vulnerable and essential services from added costs.
Sunset provision ensures periodic review. The authorization for these surcharges lasts only ten years, meaning the added costs and their impact will be revisited and subject to renewal or expiration, providing a built-in check against indefinite fee increases.
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Who cares
Headline styles
Broome 911 Surcharge Increase
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
1 Co-sponsor
History
- Signed chap.120
- Delivered to governor
- Returned to assembly
- Passed senateVote 53–9
- 3rd reading cal.1549
- Substituted for S4392
- Referred to local government
- Delivered to senate
- Passed assembly
- Home rule request
- Advanced to third reading cal.261
- Reported
Show 1 earlier action
- Referred to ways and means
Companion bill
The same bill in the other chamber. A bill becomes law when one version passes both houses and the governor signs it, so either number can carry it.
Broome 911 Surcharge Increase
Senate Floor Calendar · Sponsor Fredrick J. Akshar II
Full text
2 pagesUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
6546
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
March 11, 2019
Introduced by M. of A. LUPARDO, CROUCH, FRIEND -- read once and referred to the Committee on Ways and Means
AN ACT to amend the county law and the tax law, in relation to authorizing the county of Broome to impose an additional surcharge to pay for the costs associated with updating the telecommunication equipment and telephone services needed to provide an enhanced 911 emergency telephone system to serve such county; and providing for the repeal of such provisions upon expiration thereof
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. The county law is amended by adding a new section 336 to read as follows:
§ 336. County of Broome enhanced 911 emergency telephone system. 1. Notwithstanding the provisions of any law to the contrary, the county of Broome acting through its local county legislative body, is hereby authorized and empowered to adopt, amend or repeal local laws to impose a surcharge, in addition to the surcharge established and imposed under section three hundred three of this chapter, in an amount not to exceed one dollar and thirty cents per access line per month on the customers of every service supplier within such municipality to pay for the costs associated with obtaining, operating and maintaining the telecommunication equipment and telephone services needed to provide an enhanced 911 (E911) emergency telephone system to serve such county.
2. Any such local law shall state the amount of the surcharge, the date on which the service supplier shall begin to add such surcharge to the billings of its customers and, to the extent practicable, the date on which such E911 service is to begin. Such local law may authorize the service supplier to begin billing its customers for such surcharge prior to the date the E911 system service is to begin.
3. Any service supplier within a municipality which has imposed a surcharge pursuant to the provisions of this section shall be given a
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD09745-02-9
A. 6546 2
minimum of forty-five days written notice prior to the date it shall begin to add such surcharge to the billings of its customers or prior to any modification to or change in the surcharge amount.
4. The surcharge established pursuant to the provisions of this section shall be imposed on a per access line basis on all current bills rendered for local exchange access service within the 911 service area.
5. No such surcharge shall be imposed upon more than seventy-five exchange access lines per customer per location.
6. Lifeline customers, a public safety agency and any municipality which has enacted a local law pursuant to the provisions of this section shall be exempt from any surcharge imposed under this section.
§ 2. Paragraphs (b) and (c) of subdivision 2 of section 186-g of the tax law, as added by section 3 of part EEE of chapter 59 of the laws of 2017, are amended to read as follows:
(b) Such surcharge on wireless communications service provided to a wireless communications customer with a place of primary use in a city or county authorized to impose the surcharge by this subdivision shall be imposed at the rate of thirty cents per month on each wireless communications device in service during any part of the month; provided, however, that the county of Broome may impose an additional surcharge at the rate of one dollar and ten cents per month. The surcharge must be reflected and made payable on bills rendered to the wireless communications customer for wireless communications service.
(c) Such surcharge on the retail sale of each prepaid wireless communications service, whether or not any tangible personal property is sold therewith, shall be imposed at the rate of thirty cents per retail sale within a city or county authorized to impose the surcharge by this subdivision; provided, however, that the county of Broome may impose an additional surcharge at the rate of one dollar and ten cents per retail sale. A sale of a prepaid wireless communications service occurs in such city or county if the sale takes place at a seller's business location in such city or county. If the sale does not take place at the seller's place of business, it shall be conclusively determined to take place at the purchaser's shipping address in such city or county or, if there is no item shipped, at the purchaser's billing address in such city or county, or, if the seller does not have that address, at such address that reasonably reflects the customer's location at the time of the sale of the prepaid wireless communications service.
§ 3. This act shall take effect immediately and shall expire and be deemed repealed ten years after it shall have become a law.
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.