ENGROSSED
Senate Bill No. 565
(By Senators Wooton, Scott, Anderson, Yoder,
Dittmar and Bowman)
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[Originating in the Committee on the Judiciary;
reported February 24, 1995.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact sections three and three-cc,
article one, chapter seven of the code of West Virginia,
one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, all
relating to emergency communications systems; authorizing
counties to establish a uniform system for the naming or
renaming of roadways; to adopt minimum standards for
emergency communications systems; to establish standards
for alarm systems; and to impose service fees for nuisance
and nonemergency calls.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That sections three and three-cc, article one, chapter
seven of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred
thirty-one, as amended, be amended and reenacted, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 1. COUNTY COMMISSIONS GENERALLY.
§7-1-3. Jurisdiction, powers and duties.
The county commissions, through their clerks, shall have
the custody of all deeds and other papers presented for record
in their counties and the same shall be preserved therein, or
otherwise disposed of as now is, or may be prescribed by law.
They shall have jurisdiction in all matters of probate, the
appointment and qualification of personal representatives,
guardians, committees, curators and the settlement of their
accounts, and in all matters relating to apprentices. They
shall also, under such regulations as now are or may be
prescribed by law, have the superintendence and administration
of the internal police and fiscal affairs of their counties,
including the establishment and regulation of roads, ways,
streets, avenues, drives and the like, and the naming or
renaming thereof, in cooperation with local postal authorities,
the division of highways and the directors of county emergency
communications centers, to assure uniform, nonduplicative
conversion of all rural routes to city-type addressing on a
permanent basis, bridges, public landings, ferries and mills,
with authority to lay and disburse the county levies. They shall, in all cases of contest, judge of the election,
qualification and returns of their own members, and of all
county and district officers, subject to appeal as prescribed
by law. Such tribunals as have been heretofore established by
the Legislature under and by virtue of section thirty-four,
article VIII of the constitution of one thousand eight hundred
seventy-two, for police and fiscal purposes, shall, until
otherwise provided by law, remain and continue as at present
constituted in the counties in which they have been
respectively established and shall be and act as to police and
fiscal matters in lieu of the county commission herein
mentioned, until otherwise provided by law. And until
otherwise provided by law, such clerk as is mentioned in
section twenty-six, article VIII of the constitution, as
amended, shall exercise any powers and discharge any duties
heretofore conferred on, or required of, any court or tribunal
established for judicial purposes under said section of the
constitution of one thousand eight hundred seventy-two, or the
clerk of such court or tribunal respectively, respecting the
recording and preservation of deeds and other papers presented
for record, matters of probate, the appointment and
qualification of personal representatives, guardians, committees, curators and the settlement of their accounts, and
in all matters relating to apprentices.
§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; fee upon
consumers of telephone service for such systems; authority
to contract with the telephone companies for billing of
such fee; impose service fees for nuisance and
nonemergency calls.
(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 said article. 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:
(i) Minimum standards for emergency telephone systems and
emergency communications centers;
(ii) 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
(iii) 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. A county commission may impose service
fees upon those persons, agencies and facilities responsible
for any and all calls of a nuisance or nonemergency nature
which are responded to by personnel operating the emergency
communications center or emergency telephone system.