PUBLIC SAFETY COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM - S.B. 1403: COMMITTEE SUMMARY
sans-serif">Senate Bill 1403 (as introduced 9-17-02)
Sponsor: Senator Philip E. Hoffman
CONTENT
The bill would amend Public Act 152 of 1929, which governs public safety communications, to do the following:
-- Require the Director of the Department of State Police to allow any governmental public safety agency to attach public safety communications equipment to towers constructed for the State's Michigan Public Safety Communications System (MPSCS).
-- Provide that all costs associated with the installation and maintenance of local governmental public safety equipment would be the responsibility of the local governmental public safety agency requesting permission to use a tower.
-- Permit the Director of the Department of State Police to deny permission to install or attach local governmental public safety equipment to a tower if such action would interfere with the optimum operation of the State system as determined by the MPSCS Advisory Board and the Department of Information Technology.
Presently, the State Police Director may authorize a governmental public safety agency to use the MPSCS. Under the bill, the Director would have to allow this use, including attaching equipment to towers, subject to the provision for denial of permission.
FISCAL IMPACT
The bill would have an indeterminate fiscal impact on local and State public safety agencies. Though at least one local public safety agency has expressed interest in placing its communications equipment on a State-operated tower, it is not known how many would do so, or what the cost to the local agency would be.
Currently, a local public safety agency that has chosen to become a member of the MPSCS and use existing State equipment on MPSCS towers and not place its own local equipment on these towers, pays an activation fee of $25 per radio and an annual membership fee of $200 per radio.