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AN ACT relating to telecommunicators. 1
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky: 2
Section 1. KRS 15.530 (Effective until July 1, 2026) is amended to read as 3
follows: 4
For the purposes of KRS 15.530 to 15.590: 5
(1) "CJIS" means the Criminal Justice Information System; 6
(2) "CJIS-full access course" means an online[a] training program administered 7
and[of forty (40) hours] approved by the Kentucky State Police CJIS Services 8
Agency[Kentucky Law Enforcement Council]; 9
(3) ["CJIS telecommunicator" means any public employee, sworn or civilian, whose 10
primary responsibility is to dispatch law enforcement units by means of radio 11
communications for an agency that utilizes the Criminal Justice Information 12
System, and is part of or administered by the state or any political subdivision; 13
(4) ]"Commissioner" means the commissioner of the Department of Criminal Justice 14
Training; 15
(4)[(5)] "Public Safety telecommunicator" or "telecommunicator" means any 16
public employee, sworn or civilian, who functions as a public safety dispatcher, 17
911 telecommunicator, or 911 call taker, whose duties and responsibilities 18
include: 19
(a) Answering, receiving, transferring, or dispatching functions related to 911 20
calls, as the primary or secondary public safety answering point or 21
emergency communication center; 22
(b) Dispatching law enforcement officers, fire rescue services, emergency 23
medical services, emergency management, and other public safety services 24
to the scene of an emergency; or 25
(c) Providing real-time information from federal, state, and local crime 26
databases;["Non-CJIS telecommunicator" means any full-time public 27 UNOFFICIAL COPY 25 RS BR 1436
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employee, sworn or civilian, whose primary responsibility is to dispatch law 1
enforcement units by means of radio communications for an agency that does 2
not utilize the Criminal Justice Information System and is part of or 3
administered by the state or any political subdivision; 4
(6) "Non-CJIS telecommunicator academy" means a training course of one hundred 5
twenty (120) hours approved by the Kentucky Law Enforcement Council; and] 6
(5)[(7)] "Telecommunications academy" means a training course of one hundred sixty 7
(160) hours approved by the Kentucky Law Enforcement Council; and 8
(6) "Telecommunicator overview training" means a forty (40) hour online course 9
approved by the Kentucky Law Enforcement Council. 10
Section 2. KRS 15.530 (Effective July 1, 2026) is amended to read as follows: 11
For the purposes of KRS 15.530 to 15.590: 12
(1) "CJIS" means the Criminal Justice Information System; 13
(2) "CJIS-full access course" means an online training program administered and 14
approved by the Kentucky State Police CJIS Services Agency; 15
(3) "Commissioner" means the commissioner of the Department of Criminal Justice 16
Training; 17
(4) "Full-time public safety telecommunicator academy" means a training course of 18
at least one hundred sixty (160) hours approved by the Kentucky Law 19
Enforcement Council and delivered by one (1) of the Kentucky Law Enforcement 20
Council-approved academies in the state; 21
(5) "Public safety telecommunicator" or "telecommunicator" means any public 22
employee, sworn or civilian, who functions as a public safety dispatcher, 911 23
telecommunicator, or 911 call taker, whose duties and responsibilities include: 24
(a) Answering, receiving, transferring, or dispatching functions related to 911 25
calls, as the primary or secondary public safety answering point or emergency 26
communication center; 27 UNOFFICIAL COPY 25 RS BR 1436
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(b) Dispatching law enforcement officers, fire rescue services, emergency 1
medical services, emergency management, and other public safety services to 2
the scene of an emergency; or 3
(c) Providing real-time information from federal, state, and local crime databases; and[ 4
(5) "Public safety telecommunicator academy" means a training course of at least one 5
hundred sixty (160) hours approved by the Kentucky Law Enforcement Council 6
and delivered by one (1) of the Kentucky Law Enforcement Council-approved 7
academies in the state] 8
(6) "Telecommunicator overview training" means a forty (40) hour online course 9
approved by the Kentucky Law Enforcement Council. 10
Section 3. KRS 15.552 is amended to read as follows: 11
(1) The Public Safety Telecommunicator Work Group is hereby established as an 12
independent entity to develop a new delivery format for the public safety 13
telecommunicator academy which will incorporate in-person and online training 14
components. The work group shall meet as necessary and submit to the Kentucky 15
Law Enforcement Council within one (1) year of July 15, 2024, a training delivery 16
format that shall be developed and unanimously agreed upon by the work group. 17
The work group shall cease to exist after the developed training delivery format is 18
submitted to the Kentucky Law Enforcement Council for approval unless the 19
council directs its continuance. The members of the work group shall not be paid or 20
reimbursed for travel or other expenses. The work group shall consist of at least one 21
(1) member of the following entities: 22
(a) Department of Criminal Justice Training; 23
(b) Kentucky Chapter of the National Emergency Number Association; and 24
(c) Association of Public Safety Communications Officials. 25
(2) The Kentucky Law Enforcement Council shall, upon approval, implement the new 26
training delivery format developed under subsection (1) of this section for the 27 UNOFFICIAL COPY 25 RS BR 1436
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public safety telecommunicator academy on July 1, 2026. 1
(3) All part-time telecommunicators[ hired prior to July 1, 2026,] shall successfully 2
complete the forty (40) hour online course, "Telecommunicator overview training." 3
[All part-time telecommunicators hired after July 1, 2026, shall successfully 4
complete the public safety telecommunicator academy] 5
(4) A part-time telecommunicator who successfully completes the forty (40) hour 6
telecommunicator overview training course and moves to a full-time 7
telecommunicator position shall be credited forty (40) hours toward the training 8
requirements of the full-time public safety telecommunicator academy. 9
Section 4. KRS 15.560 (Effective July 1, 2026) is amended to read as follows: 10
(1) (a) All full-time public safety telecommunicators not previously certified as a 11
telecommunicator by the Kentucky Law Enforcement Council shall complete 12
the full-time public safety telecommunicator academy within twelve (12) 13
months from the date of hire. 14
(b) All part-time public safety telecommunicators not previously certified as a 15
telecommunicator by the Kentucky Law Enforcement Council shall 16
complete telecommunicator overview training within twelve (12) months 17
from the date of hire. 18
(2) All public safety telecommunicators shall successfully complete each calendar year 19
an in-service training course, appropriate to their job assignment and responsibility, 20
of eight (8) hours' duration at a school certified or recognized by the Kentucky Law 21
Enforcement Council. Each in-service training course shall include a mental health 22
component which highlights post-traumatic stress disorder and work-induced stress, 23
including symptom recognition, treatment, and available resources. 24
(3) In the event of extenuating circumstances beyond the control of a telecommunicator 25
that prevent completion of training within the time specified, the commissioner or 26
the commissioner's designee may grant the telecommunicator an extension of time, 27 UNOFFICIAL COPY 25 RS BR 1436
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not to exceed one hundred eighty (180) days, in which to complete the training. 1
(4) A telecommunicator who fails to complete the training within a period of twelve 2
(12) months and any extension of time granted under this section shall be 3
terminated by the employing agency and shall not be permitted to serve as a 4
telecommunicator with any governmental agency in the Commonwealth for a 5
period of one (1) year. 6
Section 5. Sections 2 and 4 of this Act take effect July 1, 2026. 7