CERTIFICATION OF ENROLLMENT
SUBSTITUTE SENATE BILL 5555
Chapter 286, Laws of 2022
67th Legislature
2022 Regular Session
PUBLIC SAFETY TELECOMMUNICATORS—CERTIFICATION BOARD
EFFECTIVE DATE: June 9, 2022
Passed by the Senate March 8, 2022 CERTIFICATE
Yeas 49 Nays 0
I, Sarah Bannister, Secretary of
the Senate of the State of
DENNY HECK Washington, do hereby certify that
President of the Senate the attached is SUBSTITUTE SENATE
BILL 5555 as passed by the Senate
and the House of Representatives on
the dates hereon set forth.
Passed by the House March 4, 2022
Yeas 96 Nays 0
SARAH BANNISTER
LAURIE JINKINS Secretary
Speaker of the House of
Representatives
Approved March 31, 2022 4:53 PM FILED
April 1, 2022
Secretary of State
JAY INSLEE State of Washington
Governor of the State of Washington
 SUBSTITUTE SENATE BILL 5555
AS AMENDED BY THE HOUSE
Passed Legislature - 2022 Regular Session
State of Washington 67th Legislature 2022 Regular Session
By Senate State Government & Elections (originally sponsored by
Senators Van De Wege, Hunt, Mullet, and Randall)
READ FIRST TIME 01/27/22.
1 AN ACT Relating to public safety telecommunicators; amending RCW
2 38.52.520; and adding a new chapter to Title 38 RCW.
3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
4 NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. (1) The legislature acknowledges that a
5 primary responsibility of government is to ensure public safety and
6 that almost always an emergency response begins with a request to 911
7 for assistance. Requests to 911 and subsequent emergency response
8 communications are managed by public safety telecommunicator
9 professionals. These first responders are essential workers who
10 continue public service throughout the pandemic, who are essential to
11 triage requests for emergency responses and provide lifesaving
12 instructions and guidance to those who call 911, ensuring the
13 appropriate response for the situation; law enforcement, behavioral
14 health, fire, and emergency medical. The public safety
15 telecommunicator also dispatches, tracks, processes, and transmits
16 information from the public and continually communicates with
17 responders providing an additional layer of safety. The legislature
18 takes special note of the contributions made by public safety
19 telecommunicators whose tasks are arduous and whose working
20 conditions may be contributing to the high and often critical
21 turnover among the principal cadre of professionals who receive and
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 1 process requests from the public for emergency response and provide
2 emergency communications with public safety responders.
3 (2) The legislature also recognizes that public safety
4 telecommunicators are the only public safety professionals who are
5 not required to be certified and do not have standard initial
6 training requirements to perform their critical public safety
7 function. Further, employers of public safety telecommunicators face
8 challenges in attracting suitable candidates, training, and retaining
9 of staff due to the high demand and high stress environment of this
10 critical public safety profession.
11 (3) The legislature finds and declares that:
12 (a) Public safety telecommunicators must have a formal system of
13 training, and certification and recertification standards, to ensure
14 a standardized response is given when the public seeks assistance
15 during an emergency and that standardized communications are in place
16 to support public safety responders within Washington state.
17 (b) The quality of emergency response in most cases begins with
18 the competence of public safety telecommunicators. To ensure the
19 availability and quality of trained public safety telecommunicators,
20 the legislature recognizes the need to adopt and implement
21 standardized training programs and certification and recertification
22 requirements.
23 NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. The definitions in this section apply
24 throughout this chapter unless the context clearly requires
25 otherwise.
26 (1) "Certification board" means the voluntary public safety
27 telecommunicator certification board.
28 (2) "Public safety answering point" includes primary public
29 safety answering points that receive 911 calls directly from the
30 public and secondary public safety answering points that receive 911
31 calls only on a transfer or relay basis from the primary public
32 safety answering point.
33 (3) "Public safety telecommunicator" means a first responder
34 working in a primary public safety answering point, regardless of
35 title, who has successfully completed the training, certification, or
36 recertification standards established in the state of Washington.
37 This includes an employee of the state, a local public agency, or an
38 independent governmental agency whose primary responsibility is to
39 receive, process, transmit, or dispatch 911 emergency and
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 1 nonemergency calls for law enforcement, fire, emergency medical, and
2 other public safety services by telephone, radio, or other
3 communication devices and includes an individual who promoted from
4 this position and supervises individuals who perform these functions.
5 (4) "State-approved training program" means a public safety
6 telecommunicator certified training program approved by the
7 certification board to meet the requirements of a state-approved
8 public safety telecommunicator training, certification, and
9 recertification standards. For community colleges, vocational-
10 technical institutes, skill centers, and secondary schools as
11 described in chapter 28B.50 RCW, public safety telecommunicator
12 certified training programs shall be approved by the certification
13 board in cooperation with the board for community and technical
14 colleges or the superintendent of public instruction.
15 NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. The certification board is established in
16 the state 911 coordination office to create a certification and
17 training program for public safety telecommunicators throughout the
18 state.
19 NEW SECTION. Sec. 4. Duties of the certification board include:
20 (1) Adopting bylaws for the certification board;
21 (2) Adopting rules, with the advice and assistance of the 911
22 advisory committee, to implement the provisions of this chapter
23 including, but not limited to, rules to implement a state-approved
24 training program for process, policy, and procedure;
25 (3) Reviewing and approving state-approved training programs
26 biennially. State-approved training programs should be consistent
27 with industry standards;
28 (4) Setting all public safety telecommunicator certification,
29 registration, and renewal fees, and to collect and deposit all such
30 fees in the 911 account established under RCW 38.52.540; and
31 (5) Establishing recertification requirements.
32 NEW SECTION. Sec. 5. The certification board shall represent
33 diverse stakeholders of the 911 system and shall consist of the
34 following volunteer members:
35 (1) The chair or vice chair of the 911 advisory committee;
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 1 (2) Two public safety answering point directors or 911
2 coordinators, one from the eastside and one from the westside of the
3 Cascade mountains appointed by the 911 advisory committee;
4 (3) Two labor union representatives from labor unions
5 representing public safety telecommunicators;
6 (4) One representative appointed by the Washington association of
7 sheriffs and police chiefs;
8 (5) One representative appointed by the Washington state fire
9 chiefs association;
10 (6) One representative from the Washington state association of
11 counties appointed by the Washington state association of counties;
12 and
13 (7) Two public safety telecommunicators from a public safety
14 answering point, one from the eastside and one from the westside of
15 the Cascade mountains appointed by the 911 advisory committee.
16 Sec. 6. RCW 38.52.520 and 2010 1st sp.s. c 19 s 15 are each
17 amended to read as follows:
18 A state ((enhanced)) 911 coordination office, headed by the state
19 ((enhanced)) 911 coordinator, is established in the emergency
20 management division of the department. Duties of the office include:
21 (1) Coordinating and facilitating the implementation and
22 operation of ((enhanced)) 911 emergency communications systems
23 throughout the state;
24 (2) Seeking advice and assistance from, and providing staff
25 support for, the ((enhanced)) 911 advisory committee;
26 (3) Providing staff support and assistance to the certification
27 board established under section 3 of this act that includes, but may
28 not be limited to:
29 (a) Establishing forms and procedures necessary to administer
30 chapter 38.--- RCW (the new chapter created in section 7 of this
31 act);
32 (b) Issuing a public safety telecommunicator registration and
33 certification to any applicant who has met the requirements for
34 certification under chapter 38.--- RCW (the new chapter created in
35 section 7 of this act); and
36 (c) Maintaining the official record for the department of all
37 applicants and persons with registrations and certificates under
38 chapter 38.--- RCW (the new chapter created in section 7 of this
39 act).
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 1 (4) Recommending to the utilities and transportation commission
2 by August 31st of each year the level of the state ((enhanced)) 911
3 excise tax for the following year;
4 (((4))) (5) Considering base needs of individual counties for
5 specific assistance, specify rules defining the purposes for which
6 available state ((enhanced)) 911 funding may be expended, with the
7 advice and assistance of the ((enhanced)) 911 advisory committee; and
8 (((5))) (6) Providing an annual update to the ((enhanced)) 911
9 advisory committee on how much money each county has spent on:
10 (a) Efforts to modernize their existing ((enhanced)) 911
11 emergency communications system; and
12 (b) ((Enhanced)) 911 operational costs.
13 NEW SECTION. Sec. 7. Sections 1 through 5 of this act
14 constitute a new chapter in Title 38 RCW.
Passed by the Senate March 8, 2022.
Passed by the House March 4, 2022.
Approved by the Governor March 31, 2022.
Filed in Office of Secretary of State April 1, 2022.
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