The Kansas House and Senate agreed March 31 on the final version of a bill that would charge wireless telephone users in the state fees to fund improvements in county 9-1-1 systems.

The fee would add 50 cents a month to wireless telephone bills, The Kansas City Star reported. The funds would be used to upgrade emergency communications systems across the state to make it easier to locate someone making an emergency call on a wireless phone.

Legislative negotiators drafted the final version of the bill – SB153. The House approved the compromise, 83-42, and the Senate passed it, 29-8.

The measure now heads to Gov. Kathleen Sebelius. She is expected to sign it into law.

Enhanced 9-1-1 is a service that allows emergency dispatchers to pinpoint the location and phone number of a person without the caller having to say a word. Such service already is available to callers using land-line phones, who currently pay 75 cents a month to finance dispatch operations.

Under the bill, the wireless fee would be collected starting July 1, with 25 cents remaining in a wireless phone customer’s home county and 25 cents going to rural counties with relatively few wireless phone users.

At $6 a year, the fee is expected to bring in $7.2 million annually, the newspaper reported. The revenue can be used only to purchase, operate and maintain the enhanced 9-1-1 equipment used by law enforcement and emergency personnel.