SENATE
HOUSE
JOINT
BILL STATUS
STATE LAW
REPORTS
EDUCATIONAL
CONTACT
home
home
Introduced Version Senate Bill 728 History

OTHER VERSIONS  -  Committee Substitute (1)  |  Enrolled Version - Final Version  |  Engrossed Version  |     |  Email
Key: Green = existing Code. Red = new code to be enacted
Senate Bill No. 728

(By Senator Chafin)

____________

[Introduced February 20, 2006; referred to the Committee

on Finance.]

____________




A BILL to amend and reenact §24-6-5 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to enhanced emergency telephone system requirements; requiring an investigation on character and criminal background to be conducted on certain persons to be employed in an emergency dispatch center; prohibiting persons with felony convictions from holding certain positions; requiring both prospective and retroactive application; and providing that current employees not in compliance are to be removed from certain positions.

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 is 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 an emergency dispatch center, who dispatches emergency calls or supervises the dispatching of emergency call takers, shall prior to the commencement of his or her employment be subjected to an investigation of their character and background. This investigation shall include, at a minimum, a criminal background check, conducted by a certified law-enforcement officer. Any felony conviction uncovered during this investigation shall act as an automatic exclusion to hold any of these positions. This requirement applies both prospectively and retroactively. The requirement takes effect on the first day of July, two thousand six, and any current employee not in compliance with this section shall be removed from this public safety position as of that date.
(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 this section prohibits or discourages 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 an investigation on character and criminal background to be conducted on certain persons to be employed in an emergency dispatch center. It would also prohibit persons with felony convictions from holding certain positions in an emergency dispatch center. The bill would require both prospective and retroactive application and provide that current employees not in compliance will be removed from their positions.


Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.
This Web site is maintained by the West Virginia Legislature's Office of Reference & Information.  |  Terms of Use  |   Email WebmasterWebmaster   |   © 2024 West Virginia Legislature **


X

Print On Demand

Name:
Email:
Phone:

Print