Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Emergency Services topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Committee advances 9-1-1 statute cleanups to improve advisory membership and data for PSAP allocations
Summary
House Bill 538 cleans up last session's statewide 9-1-1 law by adding a member from the Montana chapter of the National Emergency Number Association, clarifying allocation language (75% to county PSAPs) and adding call-volume data as an allocation tool; the committee voted HB 538 'do pass' and moved it to the floor.
Representative Melissa Nicholakakos introduced House Bill 538 as a cleanup to the statewide 9-1-1 statute enacted last session. Nicholakakos said the bill adds a previously omitted advisory-council member from the Montana chapter of the National Emergency Number Association and makes several technical and date-related edits to the statute.
Laura Schultz, interim 9-1-1 program manager with the attorney general's office, testified the bill does not change fees or funding totals. She explained that the statute's allocation language is intended to send 75% of collected fees back to county PSAPs on a quarterly basis and that adding call-volume data would supplement population-based allocation triggers.
Multiple public-safety organizations voiced support: the Montana chapter of AAPCO, Broadband Montana, the Montana Police Protective Association, the attorney general's 9-1-1 advisory council chairman, and the National Emergency Number Association all testified in favor, saying the bill had been vetted by the advisory council and would help the state's NextGen 9-1-1 implementation.
Where it stands: During executive action the committee voted by voice to move HB 538 to the floor; the recorded tally was 14 ayes and no nos.
