H. B. 2597
(By Delegates Duke, Blair and Overington)
[Introduced February 18, 2009; referred to the
Committee on Political Subdivisions then the Judiciary.]
A BILL to amend and reenact §24-6-2 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to making 911 emergency fees
available to be used for both emergency and nonemergency
calls.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §24-6-2 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 6. LOCAL EMERGENCY TELEPHONE SYSTEM.
§24-6-2. Definitions.
As used in this article, unless the context clearly requires
a different meaning:
(1) "Commercial mobile radio service provider" or "CMRS
provider" means cellular licensees, broadband personal
communications services (PCS) licensees and specialized mobile
radio (SMR) providers, as those terms are defined by the Federal Communications Commission, which offer on a post-paid or prepaid
basis or via a combination of those two methods, real-time, two-way
switched voice service that is interconnected with the public
switched network and includes resellers of any commercial mobile
radio service.
(2) "County answering point" means a facility to which
enhanced emergency telephone system calls for a county are
initially routed for response and where county personnel respond to
specific requests for emergency
or nonemergency service by directly
dispatching the appropriate emergency service provider, relaying a
message to the appropriate provider or transferring the call to the
appropriate provider.
(3) "Emergency services organization" means the organization
established under article five, chapter fifteen of this code.
(4) "Emergency service provider" means any emergency services
organization or public safety unit.
(5) "Emergency telephone system" means a telephone system
which through normal telephone service facilities automatically
connects a person dialing the primary emergency telephone number to
an established public agency answering point, but does not include
an enhanced emergency telephone system.
(6) "Enhanced emergency telephone system" means a telephone
system which automatically connects the person dialing the primary
emergency number to the county answering point and in which the telephone network system automatically provides to personnel
receiving the call, immediately on answering the call, information
on the location and the telephone number from which the call is
being made and, upon direction from the personnel receiving the
call, routes or dispatches the call by telephone, radio or any
other appropriate means of communication to emergency service
providers that serve the location from which the call is made.
(7) "Prepaid wireless calling service" means prepaid wireless
calling service as defined in section two, article fifteen, chapter
eleven of this code.
(8) "Public agency" means the state and any municipality,
county, public district or public authority which provides or has
authority to provide fire fighting, police, ambulance, medical,
rescue or other emergency services.
(9) "Public safety unit" means a functional division of a
public agency which provides fire fighting, police, medical, rescue
or other emergency services.
(10) "Telephone company" means any public utility and any CMRS
provider which is engaged in the provision of telephone service
whether primarily by means of wire or wireless facilities.
(11) "Comprehensive plan" means a plan pertaining to the
installing, modifying or replacing of telephone switching
equipment; a telephone utility's response in a timely manner to
requests for emergency telephone service by a public agency; a telephone utility's responsibility to report to the Public Service
Commission; charges and tariffs for the services and facilities
provided by a telephone utility; and access to an emergency
telephone system by emergency service organizations.
(12) "Technical and operational standards" means those
standards of telephone equipment and processes necessary for the
implementation of the comprehensive plan as defined in subdivision
(11) of this subsection.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to alter the definition of
"county answering point" to mean a facility to which enhanced
emergency telephone system calls for a county are initially routed
for response, and where county personnel respond to specific
requests for emergency or nonemergency service. This would ensure
that county personnel at county answering points also respond to
specific requests for nonemergency services (i.e., all calls
relating to ambulance, fire, police and emergency services) through
the enhanced emergency telephone system. This, in turn, would
permit funding of both emergency and nonemergency calls from 911
fees, saving counties money
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.