State House members discuss fees for 911 calls from mobile phones

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9/13/2011: Radio Story - Missouri's Interim Committee gathered Tuesday morning to work on a plan to improve 911 emergency calls.

9/13/2011: Newspaper Story - Missouri House of Representatives interim committee discussed various ways to improve the state's 911 system.

Intro:	Missourians may have to start paying a tax to make a 9-1-1 call from their cellphones.
RunTime:	0:49
OutCue:	SOC

Wrap: With more Missourians using cellphones, landlines are being disconnected.

That means the tax dollars they paid for home phone services are no longer funding 9-1-1 call centers and those centers are now facing a budget crisis.

A House committee is pushing for the third time to impose the tax on cell phones.

Dexter Republican Representative Billy Pat Wright says it's more important than ever right now to be funding call centers.

Actuality:	WRIGHT4.WAV
Run Time:	00:15
Description: "We're so advanced at saving lives now that what we can do in the future with the deaf and with the handicapped will even be more important. So I think as a state, as the only state not to have taken advantage of this like we should, we have got to move forward."

Committee Chair Chuck Gatschenberger requested a meeting with the governor and House Speaker to discuss the tax.

From the state Capitol, I'm Rebecca Woolf.

Intro:	Missourians may soon have to pay a service fee if they want to dial 911 from their cellphones.
RunTime:	0:49
OutCue:	SOC

Wrap: More and more residents are replacing landlines with cellphones.

The tax dollars residents pay for home phone services fund 9-1-1 call centers.

And without that funding, centers are facing a budget crisis.

That's why legislators in a House committee are discussing for the third time moving the tax from landlines to cell phones.

Dexter Republican Representative Billy Pat Wright says it's important for residents to know why the expansion of the landline tax will create funding.

Actuality:	WRIGHT3.WAV
Run Time:	00:12
Description: "The surcharge should be more thought of as like a flow-through, instead of a new tax because it's really not a new tax. Because you're already paying it on the land line, and when you drop it, there goes the money."

Committee Chair Chuck Gatschenberger requested a meeting with the governor and House Speaker to discuss the tax.

From the state Capitol, I'm Rebecca Woolf.

Intro:	Some Missouri lawmakers are still fighting to put a tax on 9-1-1 calls from cellphones.
RunTime:	0:45
OutCue:	SOC

Wrap: Missourians are replacing landlines with cellphones, creating a budget crisis for 9-1-1 call centers.

That's because the tax dollars residents pay for home phone services are what fund the call centers.

St. Louis Republican Representative Chuck Gatschenberger is leading a committee to try pushing legislation for the third time to move the tax from landlines to cellphones.

Actuality:	GAT.WAV
Run Time:	00:12
Description: "I have a requested a meeting with the person that gave me this position, which is the Speaker of the House, and I have also requested a meeting with the governor to talk about different aspects of this."

Representative Pat Conway says the committee hopes to expand the tax to cover both landlines and cell phones to provide more funding more call centers.

From the state Capitol, I'm Rebecca Woolf.