2023 Colorado Revised Statutes › Title 24 - GOVERNMENT - STATE (§§ 24-1-101 — 24-116-102) › PRINCIPAL DEPARTMENTS (§§ 24-30-101 — 24-36-306) › Article 33.5 - Public Safety (§§ 24-33.5-101 — 24-33.5-2704) › Part 25 - PUBLIC SAFETY COMMUNICATIONS (§§ 24-33.5-2501 — 24-33.5-2510) › Section 24-33.5-2505 - Office of public safety communications - director - duties and responsibilities - rules

(1)
The director of the office shall perform the following functions concerning public safety communications:
(a)
In consultation with local, state, and federal departments, institutions, and agencies, formulate recommendations for a current and long-range public safety communications plan, involving public safety radio communications systems and their integration into applicable public safety communications networks for approval of the governor;
(b)
Administer the approved current and long-range plan for public safety communications and exercise supervision over all state-owned public safety communications networks, systems, and public safety wireless broadband and microwave facilities;
(c)
Review all existing and future state-owned public safety communications applications, planning, networks, systems, programs, equipment, and facilities and establish priorities for those that are necessary and desirable to accomplish the purposes of this part 25;
(d)
Approve or disapprove the acquisition of public safety communications equipment by any state department, institution, or agency;
(e)
Establish and enforce public safety communications policies, procedures, standards, and records for management of public safety communications networks and facilities for all state departments, institutions, and agencies;
(f)
Continually review, assess, and ensure compliance with federal and state public safety communications regulations pertaining to the needs and functions of state departments, institutions, and agencies;
(g)
Advise the governor and general assembly on public safety communications matters;
(h)
Administer the public safety communications trust fund created in section
24-33.5-2510
; and
(i)
Adopt rules regarding distributions of public safety communications trust fund money to and repayment of such money by state and local governments.
(2)
The director of the office may enter into contracts with any county, city and county, state agency, school district, or board of cooperative educational services and may act as a public safety communications network provider between or among two or more counties or state agencies for the purpose of providing public safety radio communications between or among such entities, including the judicial system of any county, the department of corrections, and the department of human services and any of their facilities. To ensure the availability of such network throughout the various state agencies, school districts, boards of cooperative educational services, and counties, the director of the office shall develop a uniform set of standards and policies for facilities to be used by the contracting entities.
(3)
The director of the office shall:
(a)
In consultation with recognized public safety radio communication standards groups and appropriate affected public agencies, adopt recommended standards for the replacement of analog-based radio equipment with digital-based radio equipment for purposes of dispatching and related functions within the department of public safety; and
(b)
For purposes of serving the radio communications needs of state departments, including but not limited to the departments of public safety, transportation, natural resources, and corrections, adopt standards and policies and set a recommended timetable for the replacement of existing radio public safety communications equipment with a system that satisfies the requirements of the federal communications commission public safety national plan.
(4)
(a)
The director of the division is authorized, subject to the budget request requirements set forth in sections
2-3-208
and
24-37-304 (1)
(c.3) and subject to appropriation by the general assembly, to purchase or lease any real estate, buildings, and property necessary for the operation or development of the public safety communications network; to use any available facilities and public safety communications equipment of any state agency or institution; and, if necessary, to provide for the construction of the network.
(b)
The facilities of the network may be made available within available resources and without any negative impact to the existing network for the use of:
(I)
State departments, state institutions, state agencies, law enforcement agencies, and any public safety political subdivisions of the state;
(II)
Other local, state, and federal governmental entities or public safety-related nonprofit organizations that directly support any agency described in subsection (4)(b)(I) of this section and that:
(A)
May be requested to support the purposes expressed in subsections (1)(c) and (1)(e) of this section and aggregate public safety communications service requirements of any public office described in section
24-32-3001 (1)(h)
; or
(B)
Make donations, grants, bequests, and other contributions to the public safety communications trust fund pursuant to section
24-33.5-2510 (2)(b)
; or
(III)
(A)
Private entities through public-private partnerships considered, evaluated, and accepted by the director of the division; except that any negotiated lease rates must be based on local market-based lease rates in the area.
(B)
Lease revenues from public-private partnerships entered into pursuant to subsection (4)(b)(III)(A) of this section must be credited as follows: Seventy-five percent to the public safety communications trust fund for improvements to the state public safety communications network and twenty-five percent to the public school capital construction assistance fund created in section
22-43.7-104
for technology grants allowed in section
22-43.7-109 (13)
.
(5)
The department shall annually include as part of its presentation to its committee of reference at a hearing held pursuant to section
2-7-203 (2)(a)
updates regarding state public safety communications as deemed appropriate by the director of the division.
Added by 2022 Ch. 479, § 3, eff. 7/1/2023.