House Bill 1266

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 19-5-303, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO REQUIRE ENHANCED 911 SERVICES (E-911) TO INCLUDE THE DISPLAY OF A CALLER'S COUNTY AND CITY WHEN SUCH CALLER DIALS E-911; TO AMEND SECTION 19-5-319, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, IN CONFORMITY THERETO; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:

SECTION 1. Section 19-5-303, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

19-5-303. For purposes of Sections 19-5-301 through 19-5-317, the following words and terms shall have the following meanings, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:

(a) "Exchange access facilities" shall mean all lines provided by the service supplier for the provision of local exchange service as defined in existing general subscriber services tariffs.

(b) "Tariff rate" shall mean the rate or rates billed by a service supplier as stated in the service supplier's tariffs and approved by the Public Service Commission, which represent the service supplier's recurring charges for exchange access facilities, exclusive of all taxes, fees, licenses or similar charges whatsoever.

(c) "District" shall mean any communications district created pursuant to Sections 19-5-301 et seq., or by local and private act of the State of Mississippi.

(d) "Service supplier" shall mean any person providing exchange telephone service to any service user throughout the county.

(e) "Service user" shall mean any person, not otherwise exempt from taxation, who is provided exchange telephone service in the county or state.

(f) "E911" shall mean Enhanced Universal Emergency Number Service or Enhanced 911 Service, which is a telephone exchange communications service whereby a Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) designated by the county or local communications district may receive telephone calls dialed to the telephone number 911. E911 Service includes lines and equipment necessary for the answering, transferring and dispatching of public emergency telephone calls originated by persons within the serving area who dial 911. Enhanced 911 Service shall include the displaying of the name, address, county and municipality from where the caller is placing the call, and other pertinent caller information as may be supplied by the service supplier.

(g) "Basic 911" shall mean a telephone service terminated in designated Public Safety Answering Points accessible by the public through telephone calls dialed to the telephone number 911. Basic 911 is a voice service and does not display address or telephone number information.

(h) "Shared tenant services (STS)" shall mean any telephone service operation supplied by a party other than a regulated local exchange telephone service supplier for which a charge is levied. Such services shall include, but not be limited to, apartment building systems, hospital systems, office building systems and other systems where dial tone is derived from connection of tariffed telephone trunks or lines connected to a private branch exchange telephone system.

(i) "Private branch exchange (PBX)" shall mean any telephone service operation supplied by a party other than a regulated local exchange telephone service supplier for which a charge is not levied. Such services are those where tariffed telephone trunks or lines are terminated into a central switch which is used to supply dial tone to telephones operating within that system.

(j) "Off-premise extension" shall mean any telephone connected to a private branch exchange or a shared tenant service which is in a different building or location from the main switching equipment and, therefore, has a different physical address.

(k) "Centrex" or "ESSX" shall mean any variety of services offered in connection with any tariffed telephone service in which switching services and other dialing features are provided by the regulated local exchange telephone service supplier.

(l) "Commercial mobile radio service" or "CMRS" shall mean commercial mobile radio service under Sections 3(27) and 332(d) of the Federal Telecommunications Act of 1996, 47 USCS Section 151 et seq., and the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993, Public Law 103-66. The term includes the term "wireless" and service provided by any wireless real time two-way voice communication device, including radio-telephone communications used in cellular telephone service, personal communication service, or the functional or competitive equivalent of a radio-telephone communications line used in cellular telephone service, a personal communication service, or a network radio access line. The term does not include service whose customers do not have access to 911 or to a 911-like service, to a communication channel suitable only for data transmission, to a wireless roaming service or other nonlocal radio access line service, or to a private telecommunications system.

(m) "Telecommunicator" shall mean any person engaged in or employed as a telecommunications operator by any public safety, fire or emergency medical agency whose primary responsibility is the receipt or processing of calls for emergency services provided by public safety, fire or emergency medical agencies or the dispatching of emergency services provided by public safety, fire or emergency medical agencies and who receives or disseminates information relative to emergency assistance by telephone or radio.

(n) "Public safety answering point (PSAP)" shall mean any point of contact between the public and the emergency services such as a 911 answering point or, in the absence of 911 emergency telephone service, any other point of contact where emergency telephone calls are routinely answered and dispatched or transferred to another agency.

(o) "Local exchange telephone service" shall mean all lines provided by a service supplier as defined in existing general subscriber tariffs.

SECTION 2. Section 19-5-319, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

19-5-319. (1) Automatic number identification (ANI), automatic location identification (ALI) and geographic automatic location identification (GeoALI) information that consist of the name, address, which shall include the county and municipality from where the caller is placing the call, and telephone number of telephone or wireless subscribers shall be confidential, and the dissemination of the information contained in the 911 automatic number and location data base is prohibited except for the following purpose: the information will be provided to the Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) on a call-by-call basis only for the purpose of handling emergency calls or for training, and any permanent record of the information shall be secured by the Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) and disposed of in a manner which will retain that security, except upon court order or subpoena from a court of competent jurisdiction or as otherwise provided by law.

(2) All emergency telephone calls and telephone call transmissions received pursuant to Section 19-5-301 et seq., and all recordings of the emergency telephone calls, shall remain confidential and shall be used only for the purposes as may be needed for law enforcement, fire, medical rescue or other emergency services. These recordings shall not be released to any other parties without court order or subpoena from a court of competent jurisdiction.

(3) PSAP and emergency response entities shall maintain and, upon request, release a record of the date of call, time of call, the time the emergency response entity was notified, and the identity of the emergency response entity. The emergency response entity shall maintain and, upon request, release a record of the date and time the call was received by the emergency response entity and the time the emergency response entity arrived on the scene. Requests for release of records must be made in writing and must specify the information desired. Requestors shall pay the cost of providing the information requested in accordance with the Mississippi Public Records Act of 1983, Section 25-61-1 et seq. The identity of any caller or person or persons who are the subject of any call, or the address, phone number or other identifying information about any such person, shall not be released except as provided in subsection (2) of this section.

SECTION 3. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2006.