Hagen: Bill ‘detrimental’ to local 911 boards in Iowa
Iowa emergency managers and first response officials, including Webster County Emergency Management Coordinator Dylan Hagen, are urging Gov. Kim Reynolds to veto language in a bill that would require local 911 boards to pay the state for communication equipment upgrades.
The 911 language was included in Senate File 659, a budget bill passed by state lawmakers in the early morning hours of May 14, minutes before the Iowa Legislature adjourned its 2025 session.
The bill states that the state “may request reimbursement from each joint 911 service board for reasonable costs.” It also requires the local 911 service boards to reimburse the Iowa Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management within 30 days.
“Not only was this provision passed in the middle of the night without stakeholder input, the legislature had previously failed to advance it out of a full committee in the House,” said Chris Jasper, president of Iowa National Emergency Number Association (NENA). “There are serious unintended consequences for every Iowan if this law takes effect. Local 911 boards and dispatch centers already operate on razor-thin budgets.”
“Any more funding taken away from the local agencies can be detrimental, as the revenue has not seen an increase in 13 years,” added Hagen.
Currently Iowa’s 911 network is funded through a $1 surcharge that every Iowan pays on their phone bill each month. Sixty percent of the money goes to local 911 boards, known as public safety answering points, or PSAPs, while 40 percent goes to the state.
According to Hagen, a simple 25-cent increase of the 911 surcharge on landline and cell phones would help solve a lot of problems.
“If they take more money from the locals, we will have to start cutting services that are vital to maintaining public safety and that ensure 911 calls are handled properly,” said Hagen. “Any cuts could cause delays in responses from our public safety agencies.”
State Sen. Tim Kraayenbrink, R-Fort Dodge, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, did not respond to a request for comment on the bill.
According to a spokesperson for Reynolds, “the governor is reviewing the bill.”