CHEYENNE (WNE) — People could be seeing a slight upcharge on their phone bills if legislation passed by the Joint Transportation, Highways and Military Affairs Interim Committee on Thursday gains approval from the full Legislature during its upcoming budget session.

The bill would charge 50 cents on people’s monthly phone bills, similar to fees for 911 emergency services, to help fund the state’s WyoLink communications system. The public safety system is used by local, state and federal agencies to coordinate their responses during emergencies.

“It sounds like I’m in favor of higher taxes, and I’m not really,” said Rep. John Eklund, R-Cheyenne, who co-chairs the committee. “I’m just trying to solve some problems that we have.”

Taxes on the mineral industry have funded the communications system for a long time, but as that funding dries up, Eklund said the bill would provide a way to fill that gap. Wyoming has invested roughly $120 million in the system to date, and upkeep of the system costs $5.5 million annually.

“When we had plenty of revenue, we could just pick up this tab, and it wasn’t a big deal,” Eklund said.

Under the bill, the system would be funded through a hybrid model in which the Wyoming Department of Transportation, the general fund and fees from phone bills each cover a portion of the upkeep.