Missouri House Speaker forms committee to address 911 issues

With technology rapidly improving but funding for 911 services declining, Missouri House Speaker Steven Tilley, R-Perryville, announced Thursday an interim committee will spend the next few months studying ways to update the state's aging emergency system.

Tilley said in a news release he created the Interim Committee on 911 Access to find ways to bring uniformity to the 911 system. Missouri has 150 public safety answering points, the first contact a person has when calling 911.

Call centers in Missouri are funded by a surcharge on landlines, although a majority of users have moved from landlines to mobile phones.

"The result is a lack of funding that has prevented call centers from upgrading equipment to provide a reliable system," Tilley said in the release.

Missouri is the only state in the nation without a statewide fee for wireless 911 service. The legislature has in recent years, including the most recent session, considered a bill that would place a charge to cellphone users' monthly bills in order to help improve 911 call centers.

A statewide user fee is could be another option, Tilley said, but has been rejected as ballot measures in the past.

The committee will hold four meetings in Jefferson City and will work to submit a report with recommendations to Tilley by Dec. 31.

ehevern@semissourian.com

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