The 9-1-1 charge on your bill: how much it can be and what it pays for

It is that small line on your phone bill that says “9-1-1” and almost nobody looks at. It is not the carrier’s invention: Act 20-2017 authorizes it, caps it, requires it to appear itemized and says exactly what the money may be spent on. The same chapter carries two other things worth knowing: that the 9-1-1 call itself cannot be charged to you, and that cellular carriers must offer text messages to 9-1-1.

The charge is made against each line on the telephone account and payment is the responsibility of the product’s end user, uniformly within each subscriber category. The Act distinguishes two categories with different ceilings: on one side residential subscribers and non-profit and religious organizations; on the other commercial, professional and governmental subscribers. And it clarifies that the rates apply equally to every cellular line, prepaid or postpaid, to VoIP lines and to any other line interconnected to the telephone system.

Information pending verification.

Information pending verification.

1. 1

   Step 1: Look for the itemized charge: the Act requires showing it

   Article 3.05(e) is direct: “The 9-1-1 Services charge shall be identified separately on each telephone service bill.” It cannot be hidden inside another line item. If you have several lines on the same account, the charge is made “against each line on the telephone account”: it is per line, not per account.

2. 2

   Step 2: The ceiling: fifty cents, or one dollar

   Article 3.05(d) sets two monthly ceilings per main telephone line: no more than fifty cents ($0.50) for residential subscribers, non-profit and religious organizations; and no more than one dollar ($1.00) for commercial, professional and governmental subscribers. And it adds that those rates “shall be equally applicable to each cellular telephone line, prepaid or postpaid, telephone lines with voice over IP (VoIP) technology and to any other communication line interconnected to the telephone system that allows generating and receiving telephone calls.” We say it precisely: it is a ceiling. The actual charge is set by the Bureau with the Secretary’s approval, and this Act does not publish what it is today.

3. 3

   Step 3: The emergency call is not charged

   This is what most people do not know, and it sits in the same sentence that creates the charge. Article 3.05(b) ends: “Emergency calls to the 9-1-1 Service shall not carry individual charges for the use of the telephone facilities for that purpose.” The monthly charge sustains the system; the call itself is not billed to you.

4. 4

   Step 4: Where the money goes, and where it cannot go

   Article 3.05(f) requires the telephone company to deposit what it collects, within no more than thirty (30) days after the subscriber’s payment, “in a special account that shall be separate from the rest of the Department’s operational funds and from the General Fund.” And it adds an express prohibition: “It is expressly prohibited by law to transfer, move, relocate, reassign or deposit any fund or credit from 9-1-1 Service charges for any purpose not consistent with federal legislation and regulation.” Article 3.06(c) allocates: no more than 10% for contingency reserve; no more than 10% for expansion and equipment replacement; not less than 55% for the Bureau’s regular operations; and not less than 25% to pay for the service of companies, private or public, activated through 9-1-1 to provide ambulance services, as well as for agreements with municipalities to buy ambulances and train personnel.

5. 5

   Step 5: They see your number and your address

   Article 3.07(c) says it plainly: “Telephone companies shall supply the Call Reception Centre with the telephone numbers and location addresses of subscribers who call 9-1-1 for each call received.” That information is provided in computerized form compatible for transmission to the call-attention centre and to unit dispatch. That is also why the Master Street Address Guide (MSAG) exists, a geographic information system with street names, public ways, sectors and reference points.

6. 6

   Step 6: The call is recorded and calling is consenting

   Article 3.08 expressly authorizes “tracing, identifying by origin number and recording all telephone calls made to the 9-1-1 System,” and provides that those recordings “shall be prima facie admissible in any civil or criminal proceeding in accordance with the rules applicable to a public document.” And it closes: “Making a telephone call to the 9-1-1 System shall constitute and be understood as a release and express consent by the person making the call to it being traced, identified by origin number, recorded and used.”

7. 7

   Step 7: Text message to 9-1-1: the duty exists

   Article 3.10 imposes two distinct duties. On the Bureau: it “shall have the duty to develop the protocols necessary for implementing a system that allows citizens to request emergency services by a short message (Short Message Service-SMS) or other type of text message.” And on the carriers: “cellular telephone service companies must offer their subscribers a text-message-based system as part of the emergency communications service in accordance with what the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) establishes.” The Act sets no deadline for either, and we did not read the FCC rules, so we do not tell you how to send one or from which carriers it works.

8. 8

   Step 8: The annual education campaign

   Article 3.11 orders the Bureau, in coordination with the Health Department and the other Bureaus, to conduct “an annual educational campaign through the media, to orient and educate the public about the importance and advisability of properly using the 9-1-1 Call Attention Centre, as well as identifying when a real emergency exists requiring activation of this system.”

The system is run by the 9-1-1 Emergency Systems Bureau, attached to the Department of Public Safety, under a Commissioner appointed by the Governor with the Senate’s advice and consent. The call-reception centres are, under the Act, “the public’s first point of contact with the 9-1-1 Service.” The charge is collected by your telephone company, which then deposits it into the special account the Department determines. This Act creates no procedure to dispute the charge, so we publish none.

• Believing the carrier invented the charge: Article 3.05 of Act 20-2017 authorizes it and it has a legal ceiling.
• Reading the fifty cents as the rate in force: it is the maximum; the actual charge is set by the Bureau with the Secretary’s approval.
• Thinking it only applies to the home phone: the ceiling applies equally to every cellular line, prepaid or postpaid, and to VoIP lines.
• Not checking that it appears itemized: the Act requires it identified separately on each bill.
• Believing calling 9-1-1 costs you money: the Act says the emergency call carries no individual charges.
• Assuming the call is private: it is traced, identified by origin number and recorded, and calling is understood as express consent.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Departamento de Seguridad Pública de Puerto Rico (DSP)

  DSP

  bvirtualogp.pr.gov