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On Monday, June 30, several APCO board members were in Tallahassee for a workshop.  The State Department of Health (DOH) bureau of EMS is administering our certification (401.465), and they hosted it for those interested in the law.  The purpose of this workshop was rule-making; now that the statute is in place, how does it work?

We reviewed the statute and picked it apart piece-by-piece.  We defined things like dispatcher, supervisor and equivalent.  Some items were tabled because we only have 90 days from yesterday to get things in motion.

Here are the highlights:

1. We had to create a ‘ceiling’ which would say how far up the chain of command the certification should go.  The final decision was to go as high as the PSAP (comm. center) manager as well as 9-1-1 coordinators.  Some centers have a civilian manager; some have a sworn officer…the idea was that we did not want to make the certification so accessible as to diminish its value.  

2. Who/what is a supervisor?  This came down to someone who has the authority to control how an employee in a 9-1-1 center does his/her job, thus placing that person in a supervisory capacity.  Title is not the determiner—it’s the job function one performs.

3. Right now, the definition of ‘equivalent’ is ‘is;’ In other words, the only equivalent of the State 208-hour course ‘is’ the State 208-hour course.  This was done so that quick decisions would not have to be made as far as equivalencies.  We wanted to ‘do it right,’ so we opted to hold off on approving the curricula submitted by other agencies or community colleges.   Steve McCoy (DOH) is looking at some kind of mechanism to evaluate others’ programs, and he would like to have that done by October 1, if not shortly thereafter.

4. What constitutes full-time employment?  We used the term ‘full-time’ in the statute so we had to make it mean something. Since we work shifts other than the traditional 8x5=40 work week, we didn’t want to say you must work x hours or x days.  We are leaving it up to the individual agency to affirm that a person is a full-time employee.

5. What about part-timers and volunteers?  The group had to define ‘employment,’ and we used a definition from another statute which basically said “…in service to another for salary or wages…” which cut out volunteers.  The aforementioned talk about full-time as stated in the statute effectively closes out part-timers. 

There will be another workshop once the draft of the rules is completed.  We will update the date/time/location as soon as it is available.

Finally, here is a link to subscribe to updates from the DOH bureau of EMS.  This is where the DOH will email updates on the rule-making process concerning our statute.  There will be emails that are not relevant to some, but this will be our best way to keep tabs on our progress through DOH.  We will keep updates coming here as often as possible.  If you wish to visit their homepage the address is www.fl-ems.com

*This information is not intended as a transcript but rather information from those APCO members who were in attendance.*

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Important Information Regarding Florida Statute 401.465 – Emergency Dispatcher Certification

I would like to take this opportunity to dismiss any misconceptions regarding Florida Statute 401.465 – Emergency Dispatcher Certification, which takes effect October 1, 2008.  First of all, the certification process is NOT MANDATORY.  Although information about the bill may not clearly state that it is voluntary, it does state that “any person who desires to be certified or recertified…”  The Florida State Department of Health (DOH) has been charged with the oversight of certification development and requirements.  A rule development workshop has been scheduled for Monday, June 30, 2008, at the DOH offices in Tallahassee.  Since the Florida Chapter of APCO spearheaded the effort to develop this legislation, and because we as an organization represent those who would be directly affected by this certification, we hope to become a vital part of the rule-making process.  I can assure you that our Chapter will stay involved and informed as much as possible during this process. 

It is our intention to post as much information regarding the progress of 401.465 on our Chapter website:  www.apco-florida.org .  In the meantime, if you have any questions, you can contact any of the Chapter Board members listed below:

APCO Florida Chapter Board Members – Contact Information:

Susan Pettingill, President                              susan.pettingill@ocfl.net           407-832-8830

Robert Jeffrey, Legislative Oversight                 Robert.jeffrey@ocfl.net              407-448-4294

Debbie Gailbreath, Executive Council Rep        dgailbr@scgov.net                     914-915-6803

We have a very large 911 community within our state.  Because all are not APCO members, please forward this information to any of your contacts in an effort to clear up any misconceptions or rumors that have surfaced regarding this issue.

Respectfully,

Sue Pettingill, President

APCO – Florida Chapter

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Below is some history of what the Florida Chapter of APCO had to go through to get this bill passed!

Standards and Certification endeavor.

Florida 9-1-1 dispatchers currently have no standardized training or certification process.  We are not viewed as ‘professionals’ because we have no way to show that we are.

Firefighters, police officers, corrections officers, massage therapists, hair stylists all have State Certification.  They are required to attend standardized training that is State recognized before receiving their certification.

The proposed change will give dispatchers, call takers and teletype operators

the same certification and recognition as these other professions.

The change will require passage of a bill through both the

Florida House and the Florida Senate.

This effort is supported by Florida APCO, the Florida Firefighters Union and the

Florida Sheriff’s Association and many other organizations.

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