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F I S C A L   I M P A C T   R E P O R T

 

 

 

SPONSOR:

Altamirano

 

DATE TYPED:

2/9/03

 

HB

 

 

SHORT TITLE:

Public Safety Telecommunicator Training Act

 

SB

386

 

 

ANALYST:

Maloy

 

APPROPRIATION

 

Appropriation Contained

Estimated Additional Impact

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY03

FY04

FY03

FY04

 

 

 

 

 

See Narrative

 

 

 

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

 

Responses Received From

Department of Public Safety

Office of the Attorney General

 

SUMMARY

 

Synopsis of Bill

 

·        Senate Bill 386 creates a new training standard for employees or volunteers of safety agencies who receive calls and dispatch appropriate personnel or equipment in response.

 

·         The bill states that the New Mexico Law Enforcement Academy Board shall develop and implement a planned program for “basic telecommunicator training and in-service telecommunicator training”, and that the training shall be consistent  with the Public Safety Telecommunicator Training Act.  Employees of safety agencies must complete this training within 12 months of beginning employment. 

 

·        The bill also establishes the base “qualifications” an applicant must possess for training and work in the telecommunicator field.

 

·        SB 386 allows the director of the New Mexico Law Enforcement Academy to waive this training in very limited circumstances.  These limited circumstances are: (1) the employee possesses a police radio dispatch certification, or (2) the employee has completed a different telecommunicator training program that, in the director’s opinion, is substantially equivalent to the board’s basic program.

 

·        The bill also provides for at least twenty hours of board-approved “advanced training” for certified telecommunicators, to be taken once every two years.  

 

Significant Issues

 

  • Those working in this capacity in New Mexico’s safety agencies are the frontline response to emergencies, both individual and public.  This training is key to ensuring the most timely, appropriate responses.

 

  • The current training, standards and procedures are not consistent.  They are not consistent throughout the state’s various agencies, and are not consistent with the Public Telecommunicator Training Act. 

 

  • This bill is the result of a collaborative project, undertaken by the Department of Public Safety/Law Enforcement Academy Board, the Association of Public Safety Communications Officials, and the National Emergency Number Association.

 

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

 

SB 386 contains no appropriation.  There will be some costs to the Department of Public Safety, Law Enforcement Academy Board, for the basic training and the advanced re-certification.  The department has indicated it can absorb any such costs into existing budget and FTE resources.

 

ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS

 

The Law Enforcement Academy Board will be required to undertake building the program, and has indicated it is capable of doing so within its current budget and FTE levels.

 

SJM/njw:yr