Single Point of Contact Wireless Services

Cell Phone Connectivity Interim Study Committee. The bill requires the division of homeland security and emergency management in the department of public safety (division) to develop a single point of contact within the division to:

• Help ensure statewide coverage of the integrated public alert and warning system for wireless emergency alerts and the emergency alert system;
• Provide technical assistance to local jurisdictions on becoming integrated public alert and warning system certified;
• Provide technical assistance, consistent with the language access in emergency communications study, to implement best practices for inclusive alerting; and
• Offer recommendations to improve current wireless alert systems in Colorado that address language and access needs.

Under current law, the Colorado broadband office (office) has certain duties related to broadband in Colorado. The bill requires the office to also perform those duties for wireless services. Under current law, the Colorado broadband office provides technical assistance to grant applicants related to grants to deploy broadband services. The bill expands the technical assistance to grant applicants to include assistance related to grants to deploy wireless service. The bill requires an emergency alert sent by the state or a county, municipality, or alerting authority to be sent in a predominant minority language if the county has at least 2,000 citizens who are 18 years of age or older and who speak the predominant minority language and speak English less than very well, as defined by the United States bureau of the census American community survey or comparable census data.

The state, counties, municipalities, and alerting authorities are encouraged to use available technology to issue emergency alerts in as many languages as possible in the same method as an English alert.

Each alerting authority that is required to send emergency alerts in a predominant minority language is encouraged to conduct community outreach to inform people with limited English proficiency of the availability of language interpretation and translation options for emergency alerts. Alerts must comply with the bill by July 1, 2027.

The bill allows the 911 services enterprise to distribute grants to local alerting authorities to implement language and accessibility services for emergency alerts.

The bill redefines "prepaid wireless telecommunications services" as a service that is paid in advance, is sold in predetermined units of time or dollars that decline with use in a known amount or provides unlimited use of the service for a fixed period of time, and allows a service user to access 911 emergency service. The bill imposes the 911 prepaid wireless charge and 988 surcharge to prepaid wireless telecommunication services.

(Note: Italicized words indicate new material added to the original summary; dashes through words indicate deletions from the original summary.)

(Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)