Senators Assail CTIA Lobbying States Against Some 988 Levies
Three Democratic senators criticized CTIA for lobbying efforts on states' implementation of the 988 suicide prevention hotline. "Telecom lobbyists appear to be pressing state legislatures to reduce the size of the fees assessed and the scope of the services to which the fees could apply, well beyond -- and in some cases contrary to -- the guardrails already written into law," Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley of Oregon and Chris Murphy of Connecticut wrote CEO Meredith Baker Thursday.
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Washington, Colorado and Nevada instituted caps on their 988 fees, per the National Alliance on Mental Illness. Angela Kimball, NAMI national director-advocacy and public policy, said CTIA and telecom industry staffers regularly testify before states, or contact legislative staff, to reduce the size of 988 user fees or limit their use to call center operations instead of also for mobile crisis teams and crisis stabilization. She said optimally states would instead first assess their crisis system needs, setting charges accordingly. “Instead, we are seeing artificial caps on the total fee amount that don’t necessarily correlate to what the need and cost will be,” she said.
Kimball said monthly fees range from 30 cents per wireless subscriber to Washington's initial 24 cents, moving to 40 cents after a year. She said Oregon and New York proposed fee structures that subsequently were eliminated from proposed legislation.
CTIA Vice President-State Legislative Affairs Gerard Keegan testified in April before the Nevada Senate Health and Human Services Committee that the association "does not oppose the use of 988 fees to pay for the direct costs for crisis center services as noted but wants to ensure the fee is kept within reason and justified by data showing the costs to fund equipment, communications services, and the direct costs for crisis center personnel." It recommended 988 fee funds "be limited to funding equipment, communications services, and direct costs for crisis hotline center personnel for 988 call taking and appropriate call routing." Also that month, he told the Colorado Senate Finance Committee that CTIA was concerned a funding bill didn't cap the fee. Just like 911 fees don't fund first responders, he said, "the 988 fee should fund the crisis centers for call taking and routing. The 988 fee should not fund the response (mobile crisis support teams, intervention and stabilization services, outreach teams, follow- up services, etc.). Funding for the response (mobile crisis teams, stabilization, outreach, etc.) should come from general revenue."
“The wireless industry is supportive of 9-8-8, and providers pulled out all the stops to implement this critical resource a full year ahead of the mandated launch," CTIA emailed Thursday. It blogged it's "proud of our member companies who have stepped up and partnered with policymakers to deliver this critical service as quickly as possible.”
CTIA efforts if successful “would limit the ability of states to establish and maintain the call centers staffed by trained individuals, mobile crisis teams, and crisis stabilization services that are all fundamental to breaking the cycle of suicide,” the senators wrote. "We urge CTIA and its member companies to rethink its efforts around state-level implementation of the National Suicide Hotline Designation Act."