A new piece of legislation currently in the review stages will help to bring more recognition to the work of dispatchers across the state of Kansas.
During a recent installment of KVOE’s Talk of Emporia, Lyon County Emergency Communications Center Director Roxanne Van Gundy sat down to speak with KVOE News about what she calls the “911 First Responders Act.” The act, if approved at the state level, would change the current designation of 911 Dispatch workers from administrative support to protective service — first responders.
Van Gundy says with all due respect to administrative workers, the current classification of dispatchers is not truly representative of the work they do.
The legislation originally began at the federal level before stalling out and since then states have worked on an individual level to pass the new designation with work still ongoing in several states including California, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Ohio, Tennessee and West Virginia. Last February, two Colorado counties — Arapahoe and Pitkin — approved the reclassification of their 911 workers giving them first responder status.
This followed the signing of legislation by Texas Governor Greg Abbot back in September of 2019 reclassifying all 911 dispatch workers within the state as first responders.
Van Gundy says while there has been some push back towards the push, which she attributes to a fear of change. However; Van Gundy says the effort has received a tremendous level of support at the local level.
At this time the legislation is currently in the hands of the revisor’s office. It is Van Gundy’s hope the legislation will reach the Kansas Legislature before the current session is out.
Van Gundy says that aside from giving 911 workers their “seat at the table” the legislation and change of designation would also make available more state and federal resources to assist 911 workers in their day-to-day operations.
Van Gundy says if the legislation does not pass this year, work will continue to refine the document for resubmission during a later session. The bill itself is not available for public viewing at this time, however, if you would like more information on the work of local dispatchers please visit Lyoncounty911.org.
