Legislative Policies for the 2005 Legislative Session

New Search

5. INCREASES IN BAIL SCHEDULE, FINES AND FEES 4. TRAINING 9-1-1 CALL TAKERS The City will oppose unilateral increases in fines or assessments as means of increased The City of Eugene provides training and meets State standards for certification of 9-I-1 support to State-sponsored programs or activities. The City will support legislation to call takers. The City supports compensation from the State for providing this mandated allow flexibility in the amount of assessments imposed, as well as legislation to service. reimburse the City for the cost of collecting the mandated State and County assessments. 5. NON-EMERGENCY NUMBER The City opposes any legislation to establish a single statewide non-emergency number. _ B. EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS AND 9-1-1 SERVICES Instead, the City supports local control in listing non-emergency police agency numbers in the front section of the telephone book. I. 9-I-1 TELEPHONE EXCISE TAX -ADEQUACY AND DISTRIBUTION Revenue from the 9-1-1 telephone excise tax needs to be closely monitored to ensure that it adequately covers the full local cost of providing this mandated service. Where this is C. POLICE AND ENFORCEMENT not the case, the City of Eugene supports legislation to increase revenue to local jurisdictions to operate the system and/or to reevaluate the l % guaranteed distribution 1. LAW ENFORCEMENT MANDATES floor to counties that is inequitable. Crime-related laws should be designed to limit administrative burdens. The City opposes 2. RESTORATION AND PROTECTION OF 9-1-1 TAX REVENUES State requirements for additional paperwork, information collection and forms. Local law enforcement resources should continue to be directed at crime suppression and In the 3`d Special Session of 2002, $7 million was diverted from the PSAP Consolidation prevention. Incentive Fund and $2 million from the Enhanced 9-1-1 Sub-Account (to pay for Phase II wireless location implementation) tocredit the State's General Fund. Aside from being a The City opposes any attempt to impose user fees on agencies and local governments poor precedent of diverting 9-1-1 funds from the intended purpose for which they were using the state-run Law Enforcement Data System (LEDS). collected from the public, this diversion set back the implementation oflife-saving Enhanced 9-1-1 technology which would enable 9-1-1 operators to locate wireless callers 2: REIMBURSEMENT FOR NEGLIGENT OR RECKLESS BEHAVIOR and dispatch necessary information to emergency responders. In some instances, there are high public costs for public safety responses to incidents 3. FLEXIBILITY FOR PSAP ALIGNMENT caused by the negligence or reckless behavior of individuals. For example, a citizen may swim or boat in a river, find himself stranded, and require an expensive rescue operation The City recognizes that some consolidation of Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs) with costs that are not recouped by the City, A drunk driver can cause a major accident should occur statewide. However, cone-size-fits-all approach of consolidating to a and down utility lines which require extensive and uncompensated public expense. The single PSAP per county could prove costly and reduce levels of service in Lane County City supports legislation that allows responding entities to recoup their costs far handling and other regions. Lane County includes 4 PSAPs geographically spread out across the these sorts of negligent and reckless events. Oregon Coast, Willamette Valley, and Cascades, providing high standards of emergency response that a single PSAP alignment would be hard pressed to meet. Additionally, 3. CRIMINAL HISTORYCHECKS FOR CHILD-CARE WORKERS consolidation to a single PSAP might necessitate costs for new facilities. The City supports legislation to allow law enforcement agencies to conduct nationwide Recommendation: criminal history checks on prospective child-care workers. The City of Eugene provides a before and after school program called Kid City Adventures. Currently, the State 1. The City supports legislation authorizing merit based flexibility for multiple Children's Services Division provides Oregon criminal history checks: The City supports PSAP configuration in a county, using levels of services and realized cost expanding its ability to protect children in its care by obtaining nationwide criminal savings as criteria. history checks on prospective employees, City of Eugene Legislative Policies, 2005 Session 34 City of Eugene Legislative Policies, 2005 Session 35