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Introduced Version Senate Bill 718 History

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Key: Green = existing Code. Red = new code to be enacted
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.
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