H. B. 4743
(By Delegate Craig)
[Introduced February 23, 2006; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary.]
A BILL to amend and reenact §24-6-5 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to requiring that persons employed
by emergency (911) dispatch centers submit to a criminal
background check; and providing that a felony conviction
disqualifies any individual to be employed at an emergency
(911) dispatch center.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §24-6-5 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 6. LOCAL EMERGENCY TELEPHONE SYSTEM.
§24-6-5. 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: Provided, That if a
portion of the county or a portion of a municipal corporation
within the county is already being served by an enhanced emergency
telephone system, that portion of the county or municipality may be
excluded from the county enhanced emergency telephone 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 West Virginia State Police 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 employment, any person employed to act
as the director of any emergency dispatch system, or who dispatches emergency calls or who supervises the dispatching of emergency
calls shall, prior to the commencement of their employment, submit
to a criminal background check conducted by a certified law
enforcement officer. Conviction of any felony offense shall
disqualify a person from being employed at any emergency dispatch
system. This requirement, when effective, applies prospectively
and retroactively. This requirement becomes effective on the first
day of July, two thousand six and any employee on or after that
date which is found to be ineligible to be employed by an emergency
dispatch system as a result of the provisions of this section shall
forthwith be removed from their position of employment.
(d) (e) 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 persons employed 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) (f) 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 county or
municipality concerning the operation of the system.
(f) (g) 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.
(g) (h) Nothing herein contained shall be construed to
prohibit or discourage in any way the establishment of
multijurisdictional or regional systems, or multijurisdictional or regional agreements for the establishment of enhanced emergency
telephone systems, and any 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.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to require persons
employed by emergency (911) dispatch centers to submit to criminal
background checks while providing that a felony conviction
disqualifies any individual to be employed at an emergency (911)
dispatch center.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.