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MINNESOTA TELEPHONE ASSOCIATION Telecommunications Guide January 23, 2002
9-1-1 Legislation Seeks To Make Good
System Better The 9-1-1 emergency system, which has saved numerous lives and a great deal of property, is obviously a good idea. When the law establishing Minnesota’s system was passed in 1977, it required that a seven-county Twin Cities metro system be up and running by 1982 and that the rest of the state have 9-1-1 access by 1987. For the most part, that happened as planned. But things were simpler back then. There was only one 9-1-1 service provider and only one company providing local phone service in each territory. Times have changed. With the explosion of wireless phones and with CLECs (competitive local exchange carriers) providing alternative dial-tone service in many areas, it’s now “more effective to have calls go through a selective router,” according to Jim Beutelspacher, 9-1-1 program director at the Minnesota Department of Administration. As a result, there are now two 9-1-1 service providers (Independent Emergency Services, a consortium of seven state telcos operating in Greater Minnesota, and Qwest) that manage the database of Minnesota telephone numbers and corresponding addresses. The amount of money needed to fund the system also isn’t keeping up. A proposed two-cent increase (from 27 to 29 cents) in the per-line fee that customers pay to fund the program did not receive approval for the 2002 fiscal year budget due to rate freezes. If the fee doesn’t increase this year to 33 or 34 cents to make up for falling behind – and to integrate wireless providers into an enhanced 9-1-1 system – Beutelspacher says something will eventually have to be cut. That something, for example, could be the 10 cents of each fee that the Department of Administration currently sends to counties and other public safety answering points (Indian Reservations, Metropolitan Airport Authority, etc.). That’s because the administration department is not required by law to send the full amount, even though the public safety answering points believe their current reimbursement is only about half what it needs to be. Proposed Legislation One thing that has changed very little is the language in the original law. Though there was a change in 1997 to include wireless carriers, much of the law’s original language is devoted to system implementation, something long since completed. A bill introduced in the 2001 session by Rep. Mike Osskopp, R-Lake City (H.F. 2550), and Sen. Jim Metzen, DFL-South St. Paul (S.F. 2392), would remedy the situation. The bill would also streamline a somewhat cumbersome payment process and reimburse wireless companies and CLECs for all the 9-1-1 costs the law has required them to make. “The bill is a matter of modernization, efficiency and fairness,” says Jerry Knickerbocker, director of legislative and regulatory relations for the Minnesota Telephone Association (MTA). “We’re not trying to fix what’s not broken. We’re trying to make a system that works even better in 2002.” Collaborative Effort The process of creating a fair bill, which has been revised since the last session, involved a valuable collaboration between industry and government. Will Bartley, director of regulatory and legislative affairs for Lakedale Communications, Annandale, chaired the MTA subcommittee that looked at changing 9-1-1 statutes. “The process was mutually beneficial for government and telecommunications companies,” he notes. “We learned a lot about how the state has to conduct its business and the bill will help companies receive reimbursements for 9-1-1 expenses more quickly. We also formed a good rapport with the DOA and solved some other problems that didn’t need to be dealt with through legislation.” Beutelspacher, who provided input on the proposed legislation, agrees. “The meetings we had came a long way with regard to meeting the needs of the 9-1-1 program and the MTA and its members.” One problem the bill tries to fix is the current two-step reimbursement process. While the state administers the program and sets standards, telcos’ 9-1-1 service contracts are with counties. The telcos file tariffs on what they will charge for providing 9-1-1 service with the Public Utilities Commission. When the companies send the DOA what are basically invoices asking to be reimbursed for 9-1-1 expenses, the DOA must send forms to the PUC to check the charges against the tariff on file, even though the DOA also has a copy of the tariff. After checking the tariff, the PUC then sends the invoice back to the administration department for payment. The proposed bill would remove the PUC out of the redundant billing process. “Maybe this payment system was practical in the beginning,” notes Knickerbocker, “but technology has changed a lot since then. Some telcos have had to wait over a year before receiving reimbursement.” Statutory Authority Needed The department of administration and the industry don’t agree on all the changes the bill would make to current statutes. The industry position is that wireless companies and CLECs should be paid for services the law requires them to provide, especially when the law reimburses local phone companies for the same services. The DOA, which first said it didn’t have the legal authority to reimburse wireless and CLECs, agreed to pay them for expenses beginning in July of last year, but not for 9-1-1 costs incurred before then. The department sees CLECs’ costs as “part of the competitive cost to enter the field,” Beutelspacher says. Because the decision to begin payments to CLECs was made by Administration Commissioner David Fisher, the bill proposes making the change into law so future commissioners couldn’t rescind it. On the issue of reimbursing companies from the time they signed up their first customer, the industry points to an opinion from the Office of the Attorney General that says the DOA’s position not to completely reimburse affected telcos could be interpreted as establishing an artificial barrier to entry into competition. Thus, the department would probably lose in court, the OAG opinion says. Regarding wireless providers, Knickerbocker believes reimbursement is a matter of fairness. “The law should treat everybody equally,” he explains. The bill eliminates the unpleasantness and expense of lawsuits by enabling the department to make retroactive payments for expenses incurred before July 1. Any amounts would be determined separately though the legislative appropriations process.
MTA Member Profile: Sleepy Eye Telephone Company Sleepy Eye Telephone Co. is small (there are 19 employees) and it’s been around a while (it began in 1905 when two companies merged). But that doesn’t stop the company from being innovative. It was the first company in the nation to offer voice dialing, a service that helps the sight-impaired, the elderly, motorists, and those looking for convenience. And with a recent upgrade, the company has the latest in digital switching hardware and software. It is also deploying broadband in two of the communities it serves this year. Sleepy Eye Telephone now has 6,555 access lines, about 60 percent in its original service area (Sleepy Eye, Hanska, Evan). The company acquired its remaining lines near Rochester (Goodhue, White Rock, Mazeppa and Bellchester) by buying small companies in 1967 and 1985. The company also offers Internet service (almost one-third its of users chose DSL); cable TV (in Goodhue); wireless products and services (as an agent for Midwest Wireless); and business and voice mail systems outside its local phone service area. In addition to the community involvement of employees (one on a local PUC and two on city councils), a sampling of projects supported by the company includes Sleepy Eye’s community theater, Hanska’s annual Norwegian celebration and school projects in Goodhue. The company also provides free use of a public address system and cell phones to non-profit groups. “While our primary goal is to serve our customers well,” said general manager Bob Weiss, who has been with the company for 30 years, “Sleepy Eye Telephone aims to be a good corporate citizen and a progressive, considerate employer.”
More information about the Minnesota Telephone Association can be found online at www.mnta.org.
(c) 2002 Minnesota Telephone Association
Published by the Minnesota Telephone
Association (MTA) |