ENGROSSED
Senate Bill No. 531
(By Senator Hunter, Wooton, Kessler, Love, Ball, Walker, McCabe
and Schoonover)
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[Introduced February 12, 1999;
referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section three-cc, article one, chapter
seven of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred
thirty-one, as amended, relating to authorizing county
commissions to provide for the monitoring of alarm systems by
enhanced emergency communications centers.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section three-cc, article one, chapter seven of the code
of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 1. COUNTY COMMISSIONS GENERALLY.
§7-1-3cc. Authority of county commissions to establish enhanced
emergency telephone systems, technical and operational
standards for emergency communications centers, and standards for education and training of emergency communications systems
personnel; standards for alarm systems; fee upon consumers of
telephone service for such systems and for roadway conversion
systems; authority to contract with the telephone companies
for billing of such fee.
(a) In addition to possessing the authority to establish an
emergency telephone system pursuant to section four, article six,
chapter twenty-four of this code, a county commission or the county
commissions of two or more counties may, instead, establish an
enhanced emergency telephone system or convert an existing system
to an enhanced emergency system. The establishment of such a
system shall be subject to the provisions of article six of said
chapter. The county commission may adopt rules after receiving
recommendations from the West Virginia enhanced 911 council
concerning the operation of all county emergency communications
centers or emergency telephone systems centers in the state,
including, but not limited to, recommendations for:
(1) Minimum standards for emergency telephone systems and
emergency communications centers;
(2) Minimum standards for equipment used in any center receiving telephone calls of an emergency nature and dispatching
emergency service providers in response to that call and which
receives 911 moneys or has basic 911 service funded through its
county commission; and
(3) Minimum standards for education and training of all
personnel in emergency communications centers.
(b) A county commission may impose a fee upon consumers of
local exchange service within that county for an enhanced emergency
telephone system and associated electronic equipment and for the
conversion of all rural routes to city-type addressing, as provided
in section three of this article. Such fee shall be utilized for
the capital, installation and maintenance costs of the enhanced
emergency telephone system and of the conversion to city-type
addressing. The county shall reduce such fee when the capital and
installation costs have been fully recovered to the level necessary
to offset recurring maintenance and dispatcher costs only. No such
fee may be used for the costs associated with establishing,
equipping, furnishing, operating or maintaining a county answering
point.
(c) A county commission may contract with the telephone
company or companies providing local exchange service within the
county for such telephone company or companies to act as the billing agent or agents of the county commission for the billing of
the fee imposed pursuant to subsection (b) of this section. The
cost for such billing agent services may be included as a recurring
maintenance cost of the enhanced emergency telephone system.
(d) A county commission of any county with an emergency
communications center or emergency telephone system may establish
standards for alarm systems, including security, fire and medical
alarms.
(e) A county commission of any county with an enhanced
emergency communications center may establish standards to provide
for the monitoring of local fire, security, medical or other alarm
systems which shall include authorization for the enhanced
emergency communications center to enter into contracts for the
performance of such services and to charge a reasonable fee
therefor.
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(NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to authorize county
commissions to provide for the monitoring of alarm systems by
emergency communications centers.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.)