mysqli_insert_id always returns 0

Can you show us the code you're using?

function openRS($query)
{
      $prsSERVER            = $GLOBALS['theSERVER'];
      $prsUSERNAME      = $GLOBALS['theUSERNAME']      ;
      $prsPASSWORD      = $GLOBALS['thePASSWORD']      ;
      $prsDATABASE      = $GLOBALS['theDATABASE']      ;

      $connect = @mysqli_connect($prsSERVER,$prsUSERNAME,$prsPASSWORD, $prsDATABASE);
      $result  = mysqli_query($connect, $query);
      return $result;
}

$mysqliConLink = openConnect();
if ($rsHits=mysqli_query($mysqliConLink,$query))
{
      $rowcount=mysqli_num_rows($rsHits);
}

$query="INSERT INTO NamesToCheckList (parentId,LASTNAME,FIRSTNAME,BUSNAME,userId,active,facilityId,listId)
            VALUES ( '$parentId','$lastName','$firstName','$busName','1','$active','2','$listId')";
$rs=openRS($query);
$lastInsertId = mysqli_insert_id($mysqliConLink);

To set your connection you're using this:

$mysqliConLink = openConnect();

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but the function to connect to the database has another name:

function openRS($query)

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function openRS($query)
{
      $prsSERVER            = $GLOBALS['theSERVER'];
      $prsUSERNAME      = $GLOBALS['theUSERNAME']      ;
      $prsPASSWORD      = $GLOBALS['thePASSWORD']      ;
      $prsDATABASE      = $GLOBALS['theDATABASE']      ;

      $connect = @mysqli_connect($prsSERVER,$prsUSERNAME,$prsPASSWORD, $prsDATABASE);
      $result  = mysqli_query($connect, $query);
      return $result;
}

i get the same result with:

      mysqli_query($mysqliConLink, $query);
      $lastInsertId = mysqli_insert_id($mysqliConLink);

it works if i use :
$query="SELECT MAX(nameId) AS lastId FROM NamesToCheckList";

You need to check and see if the query worked.  Full instructions are in this article.
https://www.experts-exchange.com/articles/11177/PHP-MySQL-Deprecated-as-of-PHP-5-5-0.html

Quick summary:
1. Add error_reporting(E_ALL) to the top of all your scripts
2. Add var_dump() to print out every variable your scripts set
3. When a PHP instruction returns a value, print the value.  For examples check the Return Values shown in the PHP manual:
http://php.net/manual/en/mysqli.query.php

been trying to figure this out since mysql. worked with mysql_insert_id

P.S.   you did misspell mysqli_insert_id

P.S.  thanks Ray

Sorry for the mispelling... But I wrote mysqi_insert_id rather than mysqli_insert_id. So, in order to avoid to mix up mysql and mysqli functions, use mysqli_insert_id.
Thanks for points :-)