ENROLLED
Senate Bill No. 107
(By Senators Holliday and Claypole)
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[Passed March 11, 1994; to take effect July 1, 1994.]
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AN ACT to amend and reenact section five, article six, chapter twenty-four of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to local emergency telephone systems; requiring the successful completion of a nationally recognized forty-hour training course for dispatchers; and requiring each affected county or municipality to appoint an enhanced emergency telephone system advisory committee to monitor the operation of the system.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section five, article six, chapter twenty-four of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:

ARTICLE 6. LOCAL EMERGENCY TELEPHONE SYSTEM.

§24-6-5. Enhanced emergency telephone system requirements.

(a) An enhanced emergency telephone system, at a minimum, shall provide that:
(1) All the territory in the county, including every municipal corporation in the county, which is served by telephone company central office equipment that will permit such a system to be established shall be included in the system;
(2) Every emergency service provider that provides emergency service within the territory of a county participate in the system;
(3) Each county answering point be operated constantly;
(4) Each emergency service provider participating in the system maintain a telephone number in addition to the one provided for in the system; and
(5) If the county answering point personnel reasonably determine that a call is not an emergency, the personnel provide the caller with the number of the appropriate emergency service provider.
(b) To the extent possible, enhanced emergency telephone systems shall be centralized.
(c) In developing an enhanced emergency telephone system, the county commission or the department of public safety shall seek the advice of both the telephone companies providing local exchange service within the county and the local emergency providers.
(d) As a condition of continued employment, persons employed to dispatch emergency calls shall successfully complete a forty- hour nationally recognized training course for dispatchers within one year of the date of their employment; except that personsemployed to dispatch emergency calls prior to the effective date of this subsection, as a condition of continuing employment, shall successfully complete such a course not later than the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred ninety-five.
(e) Each county or municipality shall appoint for each answering point an enhanced emergency telephone system advisory board consisting of at least six members to monitor the operation of the system. The board shall be appointed by the county or municipality and shall include at least one member from affected fire service providers, law-enforcement providers, emergency medical providers and emergency services providers participating in the system and at least one member from the county or municipality. The board may make recommendations to the county or municipality concerning the operation of the system.
In addition, the director of the county or municipal enhanced telephone system shall serve as an ex officio member of the advisory board. The initial advisory board shall serve staggered terms of one, two and three years. The initial terms of these appointees shall commence on the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred ninety-four. All future appointments shall be for terms of three years, except that an appointment to fill a vacancy shall be for the unexpired term. All members shall serve without compensation. The board shall adopt such policies, rules and regulations as are necessary for its own guidance. The board shall meet monthly on the day of each month which the board may designate. The board may make recommendations to the countyor municipality concerning the operation of the system.
(f) Any advisory board established prior to the first day of January, one thousand nine hundred ninety-four, shall have three years to meet the criteria of subsection (e) of this section.