‘An Act To Create a Contact Person Program in the Department of Public Safety’
Amend the bill by striking out the title and substituting the following:
Amend the bill by striking out everything after the enacting clause and inserting the following:
‘Sec. 1. 25 MRSA §2917 is enacted to read:
§ 2917. Contact person program
1. Definitions. As used in this section, unless the context otherwise indicates, the following terms have the following meanings.
A. "Contact person program" or "program" means the program developed and operated pursuant to this section.
B. "Law enforcement officer" has the same meaning as in section 3701, subsection 3.
C. "Participating person" means a person:
(1) Who voluntarily provides to a law enforcement agency contact information for a person or persons to assist with communications; or
(2) Who has a legal guardian under Title 18-C, section 5-301 or 5-701 and for whom the legal guardian provides to a law enforcement agency contact information to assist with communications.
2. Contact person program. The Department of Public Safety shall develop and implement a contact person program to assist a law enforcement officer with communications with a participating person during an encounter between the participating person and the law enforcement officer. The program must provide the law enforcement officer with access to contact information for a person that is voluntarily submitted by a participating person or the legal guardian of a participating person. The program must interface with the State's telecommunications and radio message switching system.
3. Standards of procedure. The program must include standards of procedure for law enforcement agencies consistent with policies adopted by the Department of Public Safety. The standards must address processing the application of a participating person or that person's legal guardian, determining the validity of identity and legal guardianship information, entering contact information into the State's telecommunications and radio message switching system, procedures for a participating person or that person's legal guardian to withdraw from the program and procedures for a law enforcement officer to access contact information.
Sec. 2. Appropriations and allocations. The following appropriations and allocations are made.
PUBLIC SAFETY, DEPARTMENT OF
State Police 0291
Initiative: Provides one-time funding for computer programming to create a database to identify participating persons who are part of the contact person program.
| GENERAL FUND | 2019-20 | 2020-21 |
|
All Other
|
$26,000 | $0 |
 |
|
|
| GENERAL FUND TOTAL | $26,000 | $0 |
| HIGHWAY FUND | 2019-20 | 2020-21 |
|
All Other
|
$14,000 | $0 |
|
|
|
| HIGHWAY FUND TOTAL | $14,000 | $0 |
Amend the bill by relettering or renumbering any nonconsecutive Part letter or section number to read consecutively.
summary
This amendment replaces the bill and title. The amendment requires the Department of Public Safety to develop and implement a contact person program, a voluntary program to assist a law enforcement officer with communications with a participating person during an encounter between the participating person and the law enforcement officer. A participating person is a person who voluntarily applies or whose legal guardian applies to the program. The program must provide the law enforcement officer with access to contact information and must interface with the State's telecommunications and radio message switching system. The program must include standards of procedure for law enforcement agencies consistent with policies adopted by the department. The amendment also adds an appropriations and allocations section.
FISCAL NOTE REQUIRED
(See attached)