It appears while a Connecticut State Police pilot program attempting to regionalize related dispatching operations is being scrapped (see related story, “State Police Call-Taking/Dispatching To Return To Southbury”), a legislative effort to force communities like Newtown to regionalize emergency communications systems is still very much alive.

First Selectman Pat Llodra has recently reported to the Board of Finance and Legislative Council, that HB 6970, a proposed bill she referred to as the “Speaker’s Bill,” because it is being promoted for passage by Democratic Speaker of the House Brendan Sharkey, is likely to become law this session.

According to legislative documentation on the initiative, this bill requires, by July 1, 2018, local dispatch centers formally known as public safety answering points or “PSAPs” serving 40,000 or fewer people must be part of a regional emergency telecommunications center or part of a multitown PSAP (regionalized PSAPs).

PSAPs are described as 24-hour facilities that receive 911 calls and dispatch emergency response services (eg, fire and police) or transfer the calls to other public safety agencies.

The bill also eliminates an enhanced subsidy for municipalities with more than 40,000 residents.

Under the bill, beginning July 1, 2018, any PSAP that serves fewer than 40,000 people that is not part of a regionalized PSAP must reimburse the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection for certain equipment and training costs.

Reimbursements must be deposited into the “regional emergency telecommunications center account,” and the proposed bill requires those funds to be used to subsidize regionalized PSAPs on a per capita basis.

In addition, by December 15, 2015 and annually thereafter, any two or more municipalities establishing a regionalized PSAP may apply to the Office of Policy and Management (OPM) Secretary, in a manner and form he prescribes, for a grant to fund operating costs associated with transitioning from an existing PSAP to a regionalized PSAP.

Under the bill, if a PSAP does not serve at least 40,000 people by July 1, 2018, then it must reimburse DESPP for the cost:

*of replacing and maintaining 911 terminal equipment; and

*associated with (a) the initial training of emergency medical dispatch personnel; (b) an emergency medical dispatch priority reference card set; and (c) emergency medical dispatch training and continuing education.

Mrs Llodra has told town officials she is watching the bill closely, telling the council that up until now, the state has offered financial incentives for towns to regionalize PSAPs over the course of the last three annual sessions. But after little or no reaction to the incentive, the first selectman related, “the situation has gone from carrot to all stick.”

She said the only compromise appears to be a possible one-year delay in implementation from 2018 to 2019.