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H.B. No. 1583
AN ACT
relating to the authority of an emergency services district to
obtain information to determine whether the district's 9-1-1
emergency service fee is correctly billed, collected, and remitted.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter A, Chapter 772, Health and Safety
Code, is amended by adding Section 772.002 to read as follows:
Sec. 772.002. INFORMATION RELATING TO COLLECTION AND
REMITTANCE OF 9-1-1 EMERGENCY SERVICE FEE. (a) This section
applies only to a district created under this chapter that collects
a 9-1-1 emergency service fee from a service supplier or business
service user. This section does not apply to an incumbent local
exchange company as defined in Section 51.002, Utilities Code.
(b) The board of managers of a district by order may require
a service supplier or business service user to provide to the
district any information the board requires so long as that
information and the format requested are readily available for the
service provider's records to determine whether the service
provider or business service user is correctly billing and
collecting the 9-1-1 emergency service fee and remitting the fee to
the district. The information required from a service provider
under this subsection may include:
(1) the number of local exchange access lines that the
service provider has in the district; and
(2) the number of those local exchange access lines
that the Commission on State Emergency Communications excluded from
the definition of a local exchange access line or an equivalent
local exchange access line under Section 771.063.
(c) The district shall maintain the confidentiality of
information provided under this section that a service provider or
business service user claims is confidential for competitive
purposes. The confidential information is exempt from disclosure
under Chapter 552, Government Code.
(d) The district may bring suit to enforce this section or
to collect fees billed and collected by a service provider or
business service user but not remitted to the district. In a
proceeding to collect unremitted fees, a sworn affidavit of the
district specifying the amount of unremitted fees is prima facie
evidence that the fees were not remitted and of the amount of the
unremitted fees.
(e) The Public Utility Commission of Texas may impose an
administrative penalty under Subchapter B, Chapter 15, Utilities
Code, against a service provider who is a person regulated under the
Utilities Code if the person:
(1) does not provide information required by a
district under this section; or
(2) bills and collects a 9-1-1 emergency service fee
as required by this chapter but does not remit the fee to the
appropriate district.
SECTION 2. This Act applies only to fees imposed on or after
the effective date of this Act. Fees imposed before that date are
governed by the law in effect on the date the fees were imposed, and
that law is continued in effect for that purpose.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2005.
______________________________ ______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 1583 was passed by the House on May
13, 2005, by a non-record vote; and that the House concurred in
Senate amendments to H.B. No. 1583 on May 27, 2005, by a non-record
vote.
______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 1583 was passed by the Senate, with
amendments, on May 25, 2005, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays
0.
______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
APPROVED: __________________
Date
__________________
Governor