HB 692/LM (BR 2359) - J. DeCesare
AN ACT relating to rescue personnel and services and making an appropriation therefor.
Create new sections of KRS Chapter 39F to provide definitions for rescue and search and rescue programs; describe how a rescue squad is formed and require at least 12 persons in order to form a rescue squad; require that 65 percent of members of the rescue squad be trained if there are more than 12 members; specify duties of a rescue squad and prohibited activities for a rescue squad; require rescue squads to comply with the provisions of the chapter; require rescue squads to be formally affiliated with a local government, by ordinance or by memorandum of agreement or with the Council on Rescue Personnel and Services; limit agreements to four years without renewal; permit the council to grant statewide affiliation agreements to rescue squads providing statewide or regional services by memorandum of agreement for not more than four years without renewal; specify contents of an affiliation agreement or ordinance; permit the local government to revoke an agreement with 30-day notice; provide an appeal procedure for a rescue squad whose agreement is denied or canceled; provide similar provisions for a statewide agreement between a rescue squad and the council; deem rescue squads affiliated with a local government or the council a public agency; prohibit performing rescue services or search and rescue services unless affiliated with government; create the Council on Rescue Personnel and Services, consisting of 15 appointed voting members and six ex officio voting members; provide that members shall serve without compensation but receive actual and necessary expenses; provide that the term of office for appointed members is three years and a member of the council may serve as a voluntary employee of the council; specify the duties of the council, including regulation of operation of rescue squads, standards and qualifications for individual members of rescue squads, standards for training courses and instructors, certifying and approving individual rescue squad members and instructors and certify search and rescue dogs and other service animals; provide for workers' compensation; authorize the council to promulgate administrative regulations, administer the rescue aid fund, employ employees, and cooperate with other agencies; prohibit denying a council member or employee access to a rescue or disaster scene; require the council to employ an executive director, state search and rescue coordinator, state search and rescue training coordinator, and other employees; specify duties of the executive director, state search and rescue coordinator, and state search and rescue training coordinator; provide that the executive director, state search and rescue coordinator, and search and rescue training coordinator, if paid, are nonmerit employees who serve at the pleasure of the council; specify uses of the rescue aid fund, including funding operations of the council, its employees, workers compensation for employees and rescue squad members; specify which activates of rescue squad members are or are not covered by workers' compensation; establish the rescue aid fund as a trust and agency account consisting of state appropriations, proceeds from fees, cost recoveries due to the council, investments, and grants and gifts made to the council; permit the council to take legal actions against persons and rescue squads, place rescue squads on inactive status, and prohibit the squad from performing rescue services or limit the services; specify various violations which may lead to inactive status; provide for reinstatement of squads to active status; provide that the rescue squad may, if not returned to active status, request a KRS Chapter 13B hearing on the refusal; provide that the KRS Chapter 13B hearing shall be conducted before the council, five members of the council, or a hearing officer employed by the council; require the Division of Emergency Management and the National Guard to cooperate with the council and provide services, facilities, personnel, and equipment to the council; require each county to have a search and rescue plan and a local search and rescue coordinator and specify the training of the local search and rescue coordinator; provide for the appointment of deputy local search and rescue coordinators; specify the duties of the local search and rescue coordinators, including submission of reports on searches to the council, coordinating and directly supporting searches, and requesting the sheriff or other peace officers to keep unauthorized persons from search areas; provide for the council to assume all of the duties of the Division of Emergency management relating to search and rescue and provide for the transfer of records, equipment, responsibility for providing workers' compensation, and other matters between October 1, 2008, and December 31, 2008; provide penalties for violations of various sections of the chapter; amend KRS 65.060 to conform; repeal various sections of KRS Chapter 39F; appropriate $500,000 for each fiscal year of the biennium; repeal nearly all sections of the present KRS Chapter 39F.
Mar 3-introduced in House
Mar 4-to Appropriations & Revenue (H)
