Section 300. Legislative findings and declaration of intent

The legislature
  recognizes the paramount importance of the health, safety and welfare of
  the  citizens of the state and further recognizes that when the lives or
  property of  its  citizens  are  in  imminent  danger  that  timely  and
  appropriate assistance must be rendered.
    The  legislature  recognizes  further  that  such assistance is almost
  always summoned by  telephone  and  that  a  multiplicity  of  emergency
  telephone  numbers  exist  within any one county and that unintentional,
  though avoidable, delays in reaching appropriate emergency aid  can  and
  do occur to the detriment and jeopardy of life and property.
    The  legislature  acknowledges  that the three digit number, 911, is a
  nationally recognized and applied telephone number which may be used  to
  summon  emergency  aid  and  to  eliminate  delays  caused  by  lack  of
  familiarity with emergency numbers and by  understandable  confusion  in
  circumstances of crisis.
    The  legislature  finds  that the enhanced emergency telephone service
  known as E911 provides substantial benefits  beyond  basic  911  systems
  through  the  provision  of  selective  routing and automatic number and
  location  identification  and   that   these   enhancements   not   only
  significantly  reduce  the  response time of emergency services but also
  represent the state of the art in fail-safe emergency  telephone  system
  technology.
    The   legislature   further   finds  that  a  major  obstacle  to  the
  establishment of an E911 system in the various counties within the state
  is the cost of the telecommunication equipment and  services  which  are
  necessary to provide such system.
    The  legislature  further finds and declares that, by the enactment of
  the provisions of this article, it is the intent of the  legislature  to
  fulfill  its obligation to provide for the health, safety and welfare of
  the people of this state by providing counties with a funding  mechanism
  to  assist  in the payment of the costs associated with establishing and
  maintaining  an  E911  system  and  thereby  considerably  increase  the
  potential  for  providing  all  citizens of this state with the valuable
  services inherent in an E911 system.