BEH. HEALTH CRISIS SURCHARGE & FUND

HB0138b -1- CSHB 138(L&C)
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CS FOR HOUSE BILL NO. 138(L&C)

IN THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA

THIRTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE - FIRST SESSION

BY THE HOUSE LABOR AND COMMERCE COMMITTEE

Offered: 5/13/25
Referred: Finance

Sponsor(s): REPRESENTATIVES MINA, Jimmie, Story, Galvin, Hall, Gray
A BILL

FOR AN ACT ENTITLED

"An Act establishing a behavioral health crisis services surcha r g e ; e s t a b l i s h i n g t h e 1
behavioral health crisis services fund; and providing for an effective date." 2
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 3
* Section 1. AS 43.98 is amended by adding a new section to read: 4
Article 5. Behavioral Health Crisis Services Surcharge. 5
Sec. 43.98.080. Behavioral health cri sis services surcharge; be havioral 6
health crisis services fund. (a) A behavioral health crisis services surcharge of $.98 a 7
month is imposed for each wireless telephone number and for eac h local exchange 8
access line for wireline telephones. 9
(b) A local exchange telephone c ompany that provides service i n the state 10
shall bill each month and collect a behavioral health crisis se r v i c e s s u r c h a r g e f r o m 11
each customer. A wireless telephone company that provides telep hone service to a 12
customer with a billing address in the state shall impose a beh avioral health crisis 13
services surcharge each month and collect the surcharge from the custome r. A local 14
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CSHB 138(L&C) -2- HB0138b
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exchange telephone customer may not be subject to more than one behavioral health 1
crisis services surcharge on a local exchange access line for a wireline telephone. A 2
wireless telephone custo mer may not be subject to more than one behavioral health 3
crisis services surcharge for each wireless telephone number. A customer that has 4
more than 100 local exchange access lines from a local exchange telephone company 5
in the state is liable for the behavioral health crisis service s surcharge only on 100 6
local exchange access lines. 7
(c) A local exchange telephone company or wireless telephone c ompany shall 8
include the appropriate behavioral health crisis services surch arge, stated separately 9
and included in the total amount owed, in the bill delivered to a c u s t o m e r . T h e 10
Regulatory Commission of Alaska may not consider the behavioral h e a l t h c r i s i s 11
services surcharge as revenue of the telephone company and has no jurisdiction over 12
behavioral health crisis services. A customer is liable for pay ment of the surcharge in 13
the amount billed by the telephone company until the amount has b e e n p a i d t o t h e 14
telephone company. 15
(d) A local exchange telephone company or wireless telephone c ompany that 16
has collected the behavioral health crisis services surcharge s hall remit the amount 17
collected to the department not l ater than 60 days after the en d of the month in which 18
the amount was collected. From each remittance made in a timely manner under this 19
subsection, the telephone company is entitled to deduct and ret ain the greater of one 20
percent of the collected amount or $150 as the cost of administ ration for collecting the 21
surcharge. 22
(e) A local exchange telephone company or wireless telephone company is not 23
obligated to take legal action to enforce collection of the beh avioral health crisis 24
services surcharge. However, if a telephone company attempts to collect an unpaid 25
debt from a customer, the tele phone company shall also attempt to collect any unpaid 26
behavioral health crisis services surcharges that the customer owes. If a customer pays 27
a portion of a bill that includes a behavioral health crisis se rvices surcharge, the 28
amount paid is prorated between the telephone company and the s urcharge. The 29
telephone company shall annually provide the department with a list of the amounts 30
due for the nonpayment of behavio ral health crisis services sur charges, together with 31
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HB0138b -3- CSHB 138(L&C)
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the name and address of each customer who carries a balance tha t can be determined 1
by the telephone company to be for the nonpayment of the surcha rge. The telephone 2
company is not liable for an uncollected amount. 3
(f) The department may, at its own expense, require an annual audit of a local 4
exchange telephone company's or wireless telephone company's bo oks and records 5
concerning the collection and remittance of the behavioral heal th crisis services 6
surcharge. 7
(g) The behavioral health crisis services fund is established in the general 8
fund. The Department of Administr ation shall separately account f o r t h e b e h a v i o r a l 9
health crisis services surcharge collected under this section a nd deposit the surcharge 10
into the behavioral health crisis services fund. The fund consi sts of the money 11
deposited by the Department of A dministration under this subsection, donations to the 12
fund, interest earned on the fund, and appropriations made to the fund. The legislature 13
may appropriate the annual estimated balance in the fund to the Department of Health 14
for the purposes of 15
(1) establishing, operating, maintaining, and improving the si ngle 16
three-digit number 988 for repor ting a behavioral health issue or crisis, including 17
personnel costs, technology, and infrastructure enhancements ne cessary to achieve 18
operational and clinical standards and evidence-based best practices; 19
(2) providing services to a person experiencing a behavioral h ealth 20
crisis; 21
(3) recruiting and retaining qu alified behavioral health servi ces 22
personnel; 23
(4) providing specialized train ing related to providing behavi oral 24
health services to at-risk communities, including providing cul turally and 25
linguistically competent behavioral health services; 26
(5) providing behavioral health education and raising public awareness 27
of the single three-digit numbe r 988 and other behavioral healt h crisis services 28
available in the state; 29
(6) collecting, analyzing, a nd reporting data, including seeki ng 30
feedback from behavioral health services recipients and related quality improvement 31
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CSHB 138(L&C) -4- HB0138b
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activities; 1
(7) administration, oversight, and evaluation of the behaviora l health 2
crisis services fund. 3
(h) Nothing in this section creates a dedicated fund. 4
(i) In this section, 5
(1) "local exchange access line" has the meaning given in 6
AS 29.35.137; 7
(2) "local exchange telephone company" has the meaning given i n 8
AS 29.35.137; 9
(3) "wireless telephone" has the meaning given in AS 29.35.137; 10
(4) "wireless telephone company " has the meaning given in 11
AS 29.35.137; 12
(5) "wireline telephone" has the meaning given in AS 29.35.137. 13
* Sec. 2. This Act takes effect July 1, 2026. 14