E-911 Fund Raiding—Enough is Enough!

Last week, a story from The Associated Press raised another red flag on the alarming trend of states raiding E-911 funds to plug budget holes. The article highlights the fact that over the last two years, more than $200 million collected from wireless customers under the premise of an E-911 charge for the purpose of upgrading emergency communications services has been diverted to meet general revenue needs. 

I had the opportunity to discuss the E-911 fund raiding in a recent segment on Fox News Channel. During the interview, I mentioned the FCC’s recently released report to Congress on how states collect and distribute the E-911 taxes and fees. The report found that in 2008 alone, 12 states were guilty of raiding their E-911 funds for other budget purposes. To see a copy of the FCC report, please click here.

While we understand the difficult financial crisis many states are facing, the bottom line is that fund raiding violates the intent for which this money was originally set aside. The end result is that millions of citizens across the country aren’t getting the upgraded, more reliable emergency communications services that they are dutifully paying for every month. 

Enough is enough. 

An editorial in today’s edition of The News Journal in Delaware sums it up best by saying that, “shifting money from one fund to another deceives taxpayers.” The editorial closes with a poignant question, “why can’t we have a little more truth in advertising?”