An Act To Improve the Safety and Survival of 9-1-1 Callers and First Responders
Maine Legislature, Session 127, LD 1256
Committee: Energy, Utilities and Technology
Sponsors: BEAVERS, SAVIELLO, WOODSOME, BABBIDGE, HERRICK, HIGGINS, O'CONNOR, RYKERSON, WARD, DILL
Amends: 25 MRSA §2927

Legislative Document 
No. 1256 
H.P. 856 
House of Representatives, April 7, 2015 
An Act To Improve the Safety and Survival of 9-1-1 Callers and 
First Responders 
Reference to the Committee on Energy, Utilities and Technology suggested and ordered 
printed. 
ROBERT B. HUNT 
Clerk 
Presented by Representative BEAVERS of South Berwick. 
Cosponsored by Senator SAVIELLO of Franklin, Senator WOODSOME of York and 
Representatives: BABBIDGE of Kennebunk, DeCHANT of Bath, HERRICK of Paris, 
HIGGINS of Dover-Foxcroft, O'CONNOR of Berwick, RYKERSON of Kittery, WARD of 
Dedham, Senator: DILL of Penobscot. 
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows: 
Sec. 1.  25 MRSA §2927, sub-§3-C is enacted to read: 
3-C.  Voluntary adoption of standardized dispatch protocols for police and fire 
9-1-1 calls.  To assist public safety answering points seeking to adopt and implement 
standardized dispatch protocols for answering police and fire 9-1-1 calls, the bureau shall 
use up to 5¢ of each surcharge collected under subsection 1-E to provide to those public 
safety answering points dispatcher training and certification consistent with the protocols, 
necessary software and printed support materials and a continuous quality improvement 
program that measures compliance with the protocols through ongoing random case 
review of each police and fire dispatcher. 
A.  The bureau shall adopt rules to develop criteria to determine which public safety 
answering points receive funding if more public safety answering points volunteer to 
adopt and implement standardized dispatch protocols for police and fire 9-1-1 calls 
than available funding will cover. Rules adopted pursuant to this paragraph are 
routine technical rules as defined in Title 5, chapter 375, subchapter 2-A. 
Sec. 2.  Rule-making process.  In developing criteria under the Maine Revised 
Statutes, Title 25, section 2927, subsection 3-C to determine which public safety 
answering points receive funding when more public safety answering points volunteer to 
adopt and implement standardized protocols for police and fire 9-1-1 calls than there is 
available funding, the Public Utilities Commission, Emergency Services Communication 
Bureau shall seek input from the statewide association of dispatchers. The criteria 
considered may include but are not limited to the following information about the public 
safety answering point seeking funding and assistance: 
1.  Number of employees; 
2.  Number of 9-1-1 calls received per year; 
3.  Number of municipalities served; 
4.  Total population served; 
5.  Number of fire departments served; 
6. Number of police departments served; 
7.  Employee retention rate; and 
8. The version of the software used by the public safety answering point. 
SUMMARY 
This 
bill 
allows 
the 
Public 
Utilities 
Commission, 
Emergency 
Services 
Communication Bureau to provide selected public safety answering points with 
assistance in the voluntary adoption and implementation of standardized dispatch 
protocols, which includes dispatcher training and certification consistent with the 
protocols, necessary software and printed support materials and a continuous quality 
improvement program that measures compliance with the protocols through ongoing 
random case review of each police and fire dispatcher. Funding is provided by allowing 
up to 5¢ of each statewide E-9-1-1 surcharge collected to be used by the bureau. 
The bill directs the bureau to adopt routine technical rules that contain criteria to 
determine how to allocate resources amongst public safety answering points if more 
public safety answering points seek to adopt and implement standardized dispatch 
protocols than available funding will cover. This bill directs the bureau to seek input from 
the statewide association of dispatchers when developing the criteria for rules.