O'Rielly, Rosenworcel Suggest Expanding Federal Crackdown on State Misuse of 911 Fees

said state and local 911 fees on consumer phone bills are supposed to help upgrade emergency calling systems. "But too many states are stealing these funds and using them for other purposes, like filling budget gaps, purchasing vehicles, or worse," they wrote in an opinion piece in The Hill. They said the FCC found "five states and territories suctioned almost $130 million from their 9-1-1 systems and another seven didn’t even bother to respond to our inquiry to examine their diversion practices. None of this is acceptable." They said federal public safety programs shouldn't be available to states that engage in 911 fee diversion, an effort that has begun in a $115 million 911 grant program under the 2012 Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act. NTIA and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which are running the program, are barred from making grants available to jurisdictions that divert 911 fees, they said. "This can serve as a template for any other funds provided at the federal level, including in new infrastructure legislation," they wrote. "We may need to be more creative in order to build the right mechanisms to prevent fee diversion. This could include, for instance, precluding representatives from states that repeatedly divert 9-1-1 fees from participating on advisory panels and task forces that inform the emergency calling work of the FCC, NTIA and NHTSA. We also may need to examine more aggressive actions at the FCC’s disposal." NARUC and the National Counsel of State Legislatures didn't comment.