BILL ANALYSIS �
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair
AB 770 (Torres)
Hearing Date: 08/25/2011 Amended: 06/01/2011
Consultant: Brendan McCarthy Policy Vote: EU&C 8-2
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BILL SUMMARY: AB 770 requires the Public Safety Communications
Office to develop standards for the training of local 911
dispatchers. The bill also adds two additional members to the
911 Advisory Board.
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Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 Fund
Developing training $150 - $300 Special
*
standards
Cost to local governments New mandate costs, potentially
up to Special *
to comply with training $100,000 per year
standards
* State Emergency Telephone Network Account.
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STAFF COMMENTS: SUSPENSE FILE.
Under current law, the Public Safety Communications Office
within the California Technology Agency develops and updates
technical and operational standards for 911 emergency telephone
systems. Local governments are required by current law to comply
with the technical and operational standards developed by the
Office. Current law also establishes a 911 Advisory Board to
advise the Office on issues relating to the state's 911 system.
AB 770 requires the Office to include standards for the training
of 911 dispatchers in the technical and operational standards
that the Office develops and updates every two years.
AB 770 (Torres)
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The bill adds two members to the 911 Advisory Board (one
representative from the Commission on Peace Officer Standards
and Training and one representative from the Office of the State
Fire Marshal). The bill also requires the 911 Advisory Board to
consider issues relating to providing 911 service to non-English
speakers and the need for standardized training.
Staff believes that the Office will incur additional costs to
develop training standards. In addition, the Office may be
required to adopt those standards as regulations, since current
law requires local governments to comply with the technical and
operational standards developed by the Office. The cost to
develop the standards and adopt regulations is likely to be
between $150,000 and $300,000.
Because local governments are required to comply with the
technical standards developed by the Office, and because this
bill adds training standards to those technical standards, staff
believes that this bill will likely impose a mandate on local
governments. By mandating that local governments use the
training standards developed by the Office, local governments
may be able to claim that their costs to train 911 dispatchers
is a reimbursable state mandate. The extent of this potential
mandate cost will depend on the actual expenditures by local
governments and the determinations of the Commission on State
Mandates. There are about 6,200 911 dispatchers in the state.
Training standards vary, but anecdotal evidence suggests that
dispatchers require training that can take more than a year. If
the Commission on State Mandates rules that all costs of
training are now reimbursable under this bill, the new mandate
cost to the state could be up to $100 million per year.
Staff notes that the State Emergency Telephone Network Account
has a structural deficit and that increased expenditures from
the fund are likely to require an increase in the 911 surcharge
paid by telephone users.
This bill is substantially similar to AB 423 (Torres, 2009),
which was vetoed by Governor Schwarzenegger.
AB 770 (Torres)
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