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Committee hears 'Keith's Law' to create voluntary special-needs registry for first responders
Summary
Witnesses and first-responder advocates told the Community Revitalization Committee House Bill 144 ("Keith's Law") would create a voluntary registry with critical medical and behavioral information for 911 dispatch and responders; Ashtabula County described a local system already in use.
The Community Revitalization Committee took testimony on House Bill 144, commonly referred to as "Keith's Law," which would establish a voluntary special-needs and mental-health registry for use by 911 dispatchers and first responders.
"Wouldn't it be more helpful if the information is already there?" asked Keith Jesse, an advocate who testified in support of the bill, describing scenarios in which people with disabilities or mental-health conditions call 911 while panicked.
Jim Kemmerly, an investigative agent with the Ashtabula County Board of Developmental Disabilities and a former law-enforcement officer, described local experience with an emergency registry that he said shows…
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