Minnesota Agencies

The commissioner of public safety shall convene a 911 telecommunicator working group that must submit a report to the chairs and ranking minority members of the legislative committees with jurisdiction over public safety policy and finance by January 15, 2022. The report must: recommend a statutory definition of 911 telecommunicators; recommend minimum training and continuing education standards for certification of 911 telecommunicators; recommend standards for certification of 911 telecommunicators; recommend funding options for mandated 911 telecommunicators training; recommend best practices in incident response command structure for the state's first responders to implement that do not violate either the United States or Minnesota Constitutions, after reviewing the various incident response command structures used in the field across the nation and world; and provide other recommendations the working group deems appropriate.

The commissioner of public safety must convene the first meeting of the working group by September 15, 2021. At the first meeting, the members must elect a chair. The working group may conduct meetings remotely. The chair shall be responsible for document management of materials for the working group. The working group expires January 15, 2022.

The working group consists of the commissioner of public safety, or a designee, and one representative of each of the following organizations:

• Minnesota Chiefs of Police Association;
• Minnesota Sheriffs' Association;
• Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association;
• Emergency Communications Network;
• Minnesota State Fire Chiefs Association;
• Association of Minnesota Counties;
• League of Minnesota Cities;
• Tribal dispatchers;
• Metropolitan Emergency Services Board;
• Emergency Medical Services Regulatory Board;
• Statewide Emergency Communications Board;
• each of the Statewide Emergency Communications Board's seven regional boards;
• mental health crisis team providers;
• Minnesota Association of Public Safety Communications Officials (MN APCO) and the National Emergency Number Association of Minnesota (NENA of MN); and
• Minnesota Ambulance Association.

The working group must also include a nonsupervisory telecommunicator working in a regional center outside of the seven-county metropolitan area, a nonsupervisory telecommunicator working in rural Minnesota, and a nonsupervisory telecommunicator working in the seven-county metropolitan area.

The organizations specified in paragraph (a) shall provide the commissioner with a designated member to serve on the working group by August 1, 2021. The commissioner shall appoint these members to the working group. Appointments to the working group must be made by August 15, 2021.