SACRAMENTO – Today, the California State Assembly, by a vote of 61-1, approved Assembly Bill 1976, legislation by Assemblyman John J. Benoit (R-Bermuda Dunes) that strengthens fines for fraudulent 911 telephone calls. Assemblyman Benoit obtained and released recordings of actual 911 calls made by people with non-emergencies— tying up emergency lines with requests for an email address, advice on serving papers and evicting tenants, and a request by a man locked out of his house— illustrating abuse of the 911 system and further need for this new law.
"911 is a critical emergency service that has provided life-saving support to Americans all over the country," said Assemblyman Benoit. "There are 500,000 calls a day made to 911 and almost half of those calls are not about life-saving emergencies. My bill strengthens penalties for false 911 callers so we can guard the use of 911 systems for genuine life-saving emergencies."
There are about 500,000 calls to 911 in the United States every day, about 183 million every year. In California, the 911 calls made from cellular phones are answered by the California Highway Patrol. When call volume increases substantially, up to 37 percent of cellular phone calls made to the CHP go unanswered. In Los Angeles, it´s been reported that 5 percent of all 911 calls went unanswered and 27 percent of the calls took ten or more seconds to answer. In the San Francisco Bay Area, 23 percent of 911 calls made by cellular phones went unanswered.
According to the California Performance Review, in 2003, of 8 million cell phone calls made to 911 lines, between 20-45 percent of those calls were for non-emergencies. In Sacramento, officials estimate between 50-80 percent of 911 calls weren´t true emergencies. Under current law, offenders are given warnings on the first two offenses, fined $50 on the third, fined $100 on the fourth offense, and fined $200 on subsequent offenses.
AB 1976 strengthens this punishment by removing the second warning and imposing a $50 fine for the second offense, a $100 fine for a third offense, and a $250 fine for every subsequent offense. With this proactive approach in use, we will let possible serial offenders know that their actions will not be tolerated. This legislation ensures that those who continue to make non-emergency phone calls to 911 understand that they will be held responsible for the costs that they inflict on our 911 system.
"911 is a critical emergency service that has provided life-saving support to Americans all over the country," said Assemblyman Benoit. "There are 500,000 calls a day made to 911 and almost half of those calls are not about life-saving emergencies. My bill strengthens penalties for false 911 callers so we can guard the use of 911 systems for genuine life-saving emergencies."
There are about 500,000 calls to 911 in the United States every day, about 183 million every year. In California, the 911 calls made from cellular phones are answered by the California Highway Patrol. When call volume increases substantially, up to 37 percent of cellular phone calls made to the CHP go unanswered. In Los Angeles, it´s been reported that 5 percent of all 911 calls went unanswered and 27 percent of the calls took ten or more seconds to answer. In the San Francisco Bay Area, 23 percent of 911 calls made by cellular phones went unanswered.
According to the California Performance Review, in 2003, of 8 million cell phone calls made to 911 lines, between 20-45 percent of those calls were for non-emergencies. In Sacramento, officials estimate between 50-80 percent of 911 calls weren´t true emergencies. Under current law, offenders are given warnings on the first two offenses, fined $50 on the third, fined $100 on the fourth offense, and fined $200 on subsequent offenses.
AB 1976 strengthens this punishment by removing the second warning and imposing a $50 fine for the second offense, a $100 fine for a third offense, and a $250 fine for every subsequent offense. With this proactive approach in use, we will let possible serial offenders know that their actions will not be tolerated. This legislation ensures that those who continue to make non-emergency phone calls to 911 understand that they will be held responsible for the costs that they inflict on our 911 system.
