House Finance hears bill to add $0.98 phone surcharge to fund 988 and mobile crisis services

Co-chair Foster heard testimony May 15 on House Bill 138, a proposal to add a $0.98 monthly surcharge per wireline and wireless telephone line to create a Behavioral Health Crisis Services Fund to support the 988 crisis line, mobile crisis response teams and crisis stabilization centers.

Hayden Johnson, staff presenting for Representative Jimmy, told the committee the surcharge was designed to produce $6 million to $8 million per year in stable funds for crisis services. "Because this funds more than just the 988 call line, it was determined that the target revenue of $6 to $8 million would be the appropriate amount," Johnson said. Sponsor Sen. Kelly Merrick framed the bill as a revenue-recapture and efficiency measure based on recommendations from the Legislative Finance Division.

The committee heard invited testimony from three witnesses who urged the committee to approve the bill. Susanna Marchek, executive director of Alaska Care Line, said the state’s 988 call center has been a central part of Alaska’s crisis response, answering more than 50,000 contacts last year and resolving about 98 percent of contacts within the call center. Marchek said her organization’s recent budgets have been roughly $2.7 million to $2.8 million and that stable funding would allow competitive wages, more training and planned capacity growth.

Dennis Lasley, vice president of the Anchorage Police Department Employees Association and a 9-1-1 dispatch supervisor, said many calls now routed to police are behavioral-health crises and that the bill would fund appropriate diversion services. "HB138 changes that by creating a predictable funding source to support a statewide crisis response system that's built and designed to last," Lasley said.

Angela Kimball of Inseparable noted national evidence supporting 988 expansion and stable funding models in other states, saying dedicated, predictable revenue enables staffing and 24/7 coverage necessary for a lifeline to work.

Committee members questioned how the $0.98 figure was developed and sought technical details about how the surcharge would apply to wireless customers and to providers with many lines. Johnson said the number was calculated to fund 988 (estimated at $4–5 million) plus complementary services and that some technical questions—such as FCC limits on fees for users outside the state and application to providers with many lines—would be addressed at a subsequent hearing.

Members also asked about whether the fund would be ‘‘dedicated.’’ The bill text includes language that "nothing in this section creates a dedicated fund," and Hayden Johnson deferred to administrative witnesses for statutory detail. Jen Carson, director of the Division of Behavioral Health, told the committee the division does not manage that portion of the lawmaking mechanics and that appropriation mechanics and any legal constraints will be clarified in drafting and future hearings.

The committee set a short amendment deadline for other bills on its agenda and recessed; no final committee action on HB138 was taken on May 15.

Next steps: the bill’s amendment deadline and unresolved technical questions (FCC applicability and whether the fund will operate as a dedicated appropriation or remain subject to annual appropriation) were slated for follow-up at a later hearing.