Senate Bill No. 107
(By Senators Holliday and Claypole)
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[Introduced January 26, 1994;
referred to the Committee on Government Organization.]
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A BILL 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
six months 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 December, one thousand nine hundred ninety-four.
(e) Each county or municipality shall appoint for each
answering point an enhanced emergency telephone system advisory
board 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, state police detachment 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.
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(NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to require the
successful completion of a nationally recognized training course
for West Virginia's E-911 dispatchers and to mandate the creation
of advisory boards for each county or municipal E-911 system.)
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GOVERNMENT ORGANIZATION COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
The Committee on Government Organization moved to amend the
bill on page ___, section five, line ___, by striking out the
words "six months" and inserting in lieu thereof the words "one
year";
On page ___, section five, line ___, by striking out the
word "December" and inserting in lieu thereof the word "July";
And,
On page ___, section five, line ___, by striking out theword "ninety-four" and inserting in lieu thereof the word
"ninety-five".