Senate Bill No. 718
(By Senator Chafin)
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[Introduced February 18, 2008; referred to the Committee on
Transportation and Infrastructure; and then to the Committee on
Government Organization.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact §24-6-4 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to dispatching emergency calls to
law-enforcement officers in a fair and equitable manner.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §24-6-4 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 6. LOCAL EMERGENCY TELEPHONE SYSTEM.
§24-6-4
. Creation of emergency telephone systems.
(a) Upon the adoption by the Public Service Commission of a
comprehensive plan, the public agency may establish, consistent
with the comprehensive plan, an emergency telephone system within
its jurisdiction. Nothing contained in this section shall be
construed to prohibit or discourage in any way the establishment of
multi-jurisdiction or regional systems, and any emergency telephone system established pursuant to this article may include the
territory of more than one public agency, or may include only a
portion of the territory of a public agency. To the extent
feasible, emergency telephone systems shall be centralized.
(b) Every emergency telephone system shall provide access to
emergency services organizations, police, fire fighting and
emergency medical and ambulance services and may provide access to
other emergency services. The system may also provide access to
private ambulance services. The emergency telephone system shall
provide the necessary mechanical equipment at the established
public agency answering point to allow deaf persons access to the
system. In those areas in which a public safety unit of the state
provides emergency services, the system shall provide access to the
public safety unit.
(c) The primary emergency telephone number to the extent
possible shall be uniform throughout the state.
(d) Insofar as it is consistent with applicable federal law
and federal communications commission regulations and orders, a
telephone company in the normal course of replacing or making major
modifications to its switching equipment shall include the
capability of providing for the emergency telephone system and
shall bear all costs related to including that capability. All
charges for other services and facilities provided by the telephone
company, including the provision of distribution facilities and station equipment, shall be paid for by the public agency or public
safety unit in accordance with the applicable tariff rates then in
effect for those services and facilities. Other costs pursuant to
the emergency telephone system shall be allocated as determined by
the applicable comprehensive plan of the Public Service Commission.
(e) All coin-operated telephones within the state shall be of
a design that will permit a caller to initiate, without first
having to insert a coin (dial tone first or post-pay systems),
local calls to the long distance and directory assistance
operators, calls to the emergency telephone number answering point,
if one has been established in his or her local calling area, and
to other numbers for services as the telephone company may from
time to time make available to the public.
(f) Every citizen call for service which necessitates a
response from a law-enforcement officer shall be dispatched to the
law-enforcement agency with the primary jurisdiction for the area
of the call. In the case of concurrent or overlapping
jurisdiction, those calls shall be dispatched in a manner which
will provide the most immediate response from the law-enforcement
officer who is most readily available and most prepared to address
the public need.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide a procedure for
911 operators to dispatch emergency calls for service to law
enforcement in a fair and equitable manner.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.