TITLE: CONCERNING ACCESS TO THE COLORADO STATE PATROL THROUGH THE PROVISION OF TOLL-FREE TELEPHONE SERVICE.

Fiscal Impact Summary	FY 1999/2000	FY 2000/2001
State Revenues General Fund
State Expenditures Cash Fund	$209,400	$209,400
FTE Position Change	0.0 FTE	0.0 FTE
Other State Impact: None
Effective Date: July 1, 1999
Appropriation Summary for FY 1999-2000: Department of Public Safety - $209,400 - HUTF
Local Government Impact: None

This bill requires the Chief of the Colorado State Patrol in the Department of Public Safety to establish a twenty-four hour toll-free telephone service to the patrol's regional communication centers. The expense of the toll-free service is to be paid out of the moneys in the Highway Users Tax Fund (HUTF).

The Colorado State Patrol currently has no toll-free telephone service into the department's eight communications centers. Based upon a study conducted during FY 1996-97, the centers' dispatchers receive approximately 418,800 local and long distance telephone calls per year. This number of telephone calls equates to approximately two phone calls per hour per dispatcher at the eight centers, 24 hours per day.

This bill will establish a toll-free telephone service that is operational every day of the week to allow citizens to contact the patrol's regional communication centers. The department will be able to provide this service with existing equipment and personal services, but will annually incur additional HUTF operating expenditures in the amount of $209,400 (418,800 calls x 5 minutes x $0.10/minute) for the costs of the toll-free telephone calls.

The department may incur additional costs to notify the public of the toll-free services if new or additional telephone numbers are required. The amount of those costs has not been estimated. This fiscal note cannot assess whether the department will be able to absorb the notification costs within existing resources.

This toll-free service to the communications centers is not intended to replace existing "911" or other emergency telephone services. Phone calls placed by the public to "911" emergency services can currently be transferred to the department's communications centers.

This fiscal note would imply the Department of Public Safety will require a Highway Users Tax Fund spending authority of $209,400 and 0.0 FTE for FY 1999-2000.