Topeka ? The House tentatively approved a bill Wednesday to fund improvements in county 911 systems with a new, 50-cent monthly fee on wireless phones.

The fee would raise at least $7.8 million a year, proponents said. The money would be used to upgrade counties’ emergency phone systems to make it easier to locate someone making a 911 call on a cell phone.

House members advanced the bill on a voice vote, with final action scheduled today. The Senate passed a version last year and would have to decide whether to accept the House’s version or seek a compromise.

Currently, personnel in most Kansas counties’ dispatch centers are shown the number but not the location of a cell phone on which a 911 call is made — information automatically provided on calls made from traditional phones.

In addition, 911 calls made on cell phones sometimes are mistakenly routed to other counties or even across state lines, supporters of the legislation said.

Proponents of the bill said wireless phone companies had the technology to deliver information about a caller’s location but most counties lack the equipment to receive it.

Rep. Carl Krehbiel, R-Moundridge, called the bill “great for public safety.”

But some legislators said even a relatively small monthly fee would add up over time for consumers.

“It will keep taxing and taxing and taxing for years to come, long after its original purpose has been effected,” said Rep. Eric Carter, R-Overland Park.

The House rejected Carter’s proposal to have the fee expire in 2010. Krehbiel and other supporters of the bill said some counties would issue bonds to buy new equipment and would need the fee revenue to pay off the debt.

Counties already can impose 75-cent monthly 911 fee on traditional telephones. Under the bill, the wireless fee would be collected starting July 1, with 25 cents remaining in a user’s home county and 25 cents going to rural counties with relatively few wireless users.

The Senate’s version would impose a 75-cent monthly fee on wireless bills, with the extra 25 cents going to wireless service providers. No such provision is included in the House version, and the House on Wednesday rejected a proposal to divert some of the revenue intended for rural 911 systems to service providers.