Foster-home 911 issue resurfaces

South Jordan city officials say a bill prohibiting municipalities from imposing fees on foster homes for the use of emergency services is a "knee-jerk reaction" to a dead issue.

Rep. Wayne Harper, R-West Jordan, this week introduced HB272, which seeks to amend state code to prohibit local entities from imposing a fee on foster homes for the use of emergency services, "unless a person or home of a person who is not a foster parent is subject to the same fee at the same rate."

The bill stems from a December proposal in South Jordan that would have required the city's foster families to register annually with police and would have limited the number of free emergency calls they could make.

The ordinance was pulled by the South Jordan City Council without a vote at the start of its Dec. 6 meeting, after several state foster-care officials expressed concerns that the city was unfairly targeting a small portion of the population.

Now, Harper's bill has South Jordan feeling unfairly targeted.

"It is important to understand what we were trying to accomplish," said Rick Horst, city manager. "It would appear that Mr. Harper has no clue."

Horst said Harper has "not bothered to even contact our city to understand the issue."

South Jordan spokesman Chip Dawson said the city is working with foster-care agencies to address problems it's having with false emergency calls from foster homes.

Harper said in an interview Thursday that the proposed ordinance in South Jordan was the "genesis of the bill, but this is a broader issue than South Jordan."

After the South Jordan ordinance failed, Harper said he was contacted by foster families who were concerned by similar statements made by officials from other cities.

"South Jordan became the visible point, but it's more pervasive than just one city," he said.

South Jordan city officials said the ordinance was drafted because calls from foster-care providers to police and fire departments resulted in an "unreasonable expense" and workload for the city.

The ordinance called for foster families to be limited to three free calls to the police or fire departments in a 12-month period, with a $100 fee being assessed for each additional call.