Third Session, 47th

General Assembly

63 Elizabeth II,

BILL 14

AN ACT TO ESTABLISH AND IMPLEMENT

A PROVINCE-WIDE 911 TELEPHONE SERVICE FOR THE REPORTING OF EMERGENCIES

Received

and Read the First Time ................................................................

Second

Reading ............................................................................................

Committee .....................................................................................................

Third

Reading ...............................................................................................

Royal

Assent .................................................................................................

HONOURABLE STEVE

KENT

Minister of

Municipal and Intergovernmental Affairs

Ordered to be printed by

the Honourable House of Assembly

EXPLANATORY NOTES

This Bill would enact the Emergency 911 Act . The Bill would

establish "911" as

the primary emergency telephone number for use in the province; and

require the establishment and

implementation of a province-wide emergency 911 telephone service for the reporting

of emergencies.

A BILL

AN ACT TO ESTABLISH AND IMPLEMENT A PROVINCE-WIDE

911 TELEPHONE SERVICE FOR THE REPORTING OF EMERGENCIES

Analysis

Short title

Definitions

Labrador Inuit rights

PART

EMERGENCY 911 TELEPHONE SERVICE

Emergency 911 telephone service

Participation required

Primary public safety answering point

Emergency response zones to be disclosed

PART

CORPORATION

Corporation established

Application of the Corporations Act

Objects of the corporation

Powers of corporation

Board of directors

Chairperson and remuneration

Term of office

Chairperson

Meetings

Annual general meeting

Annual report and audit

Appointment of staff

Agreements re: service

Information sharing agreement

PART

III

GENERAL

Agreement re: collection of fees

Fees for emergency 911 telephone service

Fund established

Restriction on information supplied

Exemption from liability

Prohibitions

Offence and penalty

Regulations by Lieutenant-Governor in

Council

Regulations by minister

Forms

SNL2008 cF-11.01 Amdt.

Commencement

Be it enacted by the Lieutenant-Governor and

House of Assembly in Legislative Session convened, as follows:

Short title

1. This

Act may be cited as the Emergency 911 Act .

Definitions

2. In

this Act

(a) "agency" means Fire and Emergency Services-Newfoundland and

Labrador , the agency

established under

section 3 of the Emergency

Services Act;

(b) "automatic alarm system" means a

mechanical, electrical or electronic device that transmits a telephone signal

when actuated and that is designed or used

(

i) for the detection of an unlawful act in, or

unauthorized entry into, a building, structure, facility or vehicle,

(ii) for the detection of a fire or other dangerous

condition in a building, structure, facility or vehicle, or

(iii) to detect and produce a signal, or a warning

of a medical or other emergency

(

A) in a place, or

(

B) relating to a person;

(c) "automatic dialing or automatic announcing

device" means equipment incorporating the capability of storing or producing

telephone numbers to be called, used alone or in conjunction with other

equipment to convey a pre-recorded voice message to the telephone number

called;

(d) "board" means the board of directors

of the corporation;

(e) "civic address" means a unique

number, street or road name, and municipality name given to a commercial,

residential or other property;

(f) "corporation" means NL 911 Bureau Inc.,

a corporation established under

section 8 ;

(g) "director" means a person appointed

to the board of directors of the corporation under

section 12 ;

(h) "emergency response zone" means a

geographical area in the province in which an emergency service provider provides

emergency services;

(i) "emergency service provider" means

(

i) the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary,

(ii) the Royal Canadian Mounted Police,

(iii) a fire department organized to serve an area

of the province,

(iv) an ambulance service organized to serve an

area of the province, and

(

v) those other persons or services which may be

designated as emergency service providers by the minister;

(j) "emergency 911 telephone call" means

an emergency telephone call to a primary public safety answering point using

the digits "911", and includes those other communications which may

be determined by the minister;

(k) "emergency 911 telephone service"

means the province-wide telephone service for the reporting of emergencies

through a primary public safety answering point to a secondary public safety

answering point;

(l) "fund" means the NL 911 Service Fund

established under

section 24 ;

(m) "minister" means the minister

appointed under the Executive Council Act

to administer this Act;

(n) "municipality" means a municipality

under the Municipalities Act, 1999 ,

the City of Corner Brook Act , the City of Mount Pearl Act , the City of St. John's Act and, for the purpose

of this Act, includes a local service district and an Inuit Community Government

established in respect of an Inuit Community under the Labrador Inuit

Constitution under subsection 17.3.3(

b) of the Labrador Inuit Land Claims Agreement ;

(o) "primary public safety answering

point" means a communications centre that is normally the first point of

reception for emergency telephone calls;

(p) "public safety answering point"

means

(

i) a primary public safety answering point, and

(ii) a secondary public safety answering point;

(q) "secondary public safety answering

point" means a point of contact

(

i) to which emergency telephone calls are transferred

from a primary public safety answering point; and

(ii) which is the point of contact responsible for

providing emergency services or dispatching personnel;

(r) "subscriber" means an end-user who

is assigned a provincial telephone number and who subscribes to

(

i) a landline-based telephone service of a

telecommunications service provider, or

(ii) a wireless telephone service of a telecommunications

service provider; and

(s) "telecommunications service provider"

means a person who provides a land-line based telephone service or a wireless

telephone service to a subscriber in the province.

Labrador Inuit

rights

3. This

Act and the regulations made under this Act shall be read and applied in

conjunction with the Labrador Inuit Land

Claims Agreement Act and, where a provision of this Act or the regulations

made under this Act is inconsistent or conflicts with a provision, term or

condition of the Labrador Inuit Land

Claims Agreement Act , the provision, term or condition of the Labrador Inuit Land Claims Agreement Act

shall have precedence over the provision of this Act or a regulation made under

this Act.

PART I

EMERGENCY 911 TELEPHONE SERVICE

Emergency 911 telephone

service

4. The

corporation, with the participation of municipalities, emergency service

providers, public safety answering points, telecommunications service providers

and providers of other relevant technologies, shall, in a reasonable and timely

manner

(

a) establish the number "911" as the

primary emergency telephone number for use in the province; and

(

b) develop, establish and operate an emergency

911 telephone service.

Participation required

5. Every

municipality, emergency service provider and public safety answering point is

required to participate with the corporation to fulfil the requirements of

section

4 .

Primary public

safety answering point

6. The

Lieutenant-Governor in Council shall determine the location of a primary public

safety answering point in the province and determine its boundaries.

Emergency response

zones to be disclosed

(1) An

emergency service provider, or where appropriate, a municipality, shall advise

the corporation of its emergency response zones.

(2) An emergency service provider and a

municipality shall immediately advise the corporation after a change to the

emergency response zones referred to in subsection (1).

PART II

CORPORATION

Corporation established

(1) A

corporation entitled NL 911 Bureau Inc. is established.

(2) The corporation is considered to have issued

and outstanding shares which are vested in the Crown.

(3) The corporation is not an agent of the Crown.

Application of

the Corporations Act

(1) The

Corporations Act , except for

section

27, paragraphs 31(

a) to (e), sections 32, 76, 81, 169, 172, 173, 177 and 178,

subsections 184(3) and (4),

section 188, subsections 189(1) and (2), paragraphs

189(3)(a), (d), (

h) and (j), sections 200, 201, 203 to 209, subsections 245(1),

(2) and (8), sections 273 and 275, subsections 276(1), (3), (4) and (5) and

section 277, does not apply to the corporation.

(2) A requirement in a

section referred to in subsection

(1) to register or to provide information to the registrar does not apply to

the corporation.

(3) Where there is a conflict between a provision

referred to in subsection (1) and this Act, this Act prevails.

(4) The provisions of this Act constitute the

articles of the corporation.

Objects of the

corporation

(1) The

objects of the corporation are to

(

a) establish, implement and operate an emergency

911 telephone service; and

(

b) ensure that the emergency 911 telephone

service

(

i) protects the confidentiality and security of

personal information that is collected, used, disclosed, stored or disposed of

by the corporation,

(ii) provides accurate and current information to

primary and secondary public safety answering points,

(iii) integrates data from the civic addressing system

where that data is available,

(iv) is efficient and cost-effective, and

(

v) is flexible and responsive to changing

technologies.

(2) The corporation is a not for profit

corporation and any excess revenue shall be used for the objects referred to in

subsection (1).

Powers of corporation

(1) The

corporation may acquire an interest in real property.

(2) With the approval of the Lieutenant-Governor

in Council, the corporation may borrow money or pledge its assets.

(3) The corporation may solicit expert advice on

matters of interest and concern relating to the development, establishment and

operation of the emergency 911 telephone service.

(4) The corporation may make by-laws generally,

for the conduct and management of the affairs of the corporation.

Board of

directors

12 .

(1) The

Lieutenant-Governor in Council shall appoint a board of directors of the corporation.

(2) Subject to a unanimous shareholder agreement,

the board shall exercise all of the powers and discharge all of the duties of

the corporation and administer and manage its business.

(3) The board shall consist of a maximum of 9

directors including the following persons:

(

a) one member of the board of directors of Municipalities

Newfoundland and Labrador ; and

(

b) one representative from each primary public

safety answering point.

(4) The director of the NL 911 Bureau Inc. shall

be a director of the corporation by virtue of his or her office.

(5) At least one director of the board shall be a

resident of Labrador .

(6) Where a vacancy occurs on the board because of

the death, illness, resignation, removal of a member, or for another reason,

the Lieutenant-Governor in Council may appoint a person to fill the vacancy.

(7) Exercise of the powers of the corporation is

not impaired because of a vacancy on the board.

(8) Notwithstanding that it is afterward

discovered that there was some defect in the appointment or qualification of a

person purporting to be a director, all acts done by the corporation and the

board shall be as valid as if that defect had not existed.

Chairperson and

remuneration

(1) The

Lieutenant-Governor in Council shall appoint one of the directors as

chairperson and one as vice-chairperson.

(2) Members of the board of directors shall receive remuneration and be reimbursed for

expenses in the manner that the Lieutenant-Governor in Council may establish.

Term of office

14 .

(1) A director shall hold office for 4

years from the date his or her appointment becomes effective.

(2) Where the term of a director expires, he or

she continues to be a director until re-appointed or replaced.

(3) A director whose term of office has expired is

eligible for reappointment.

(4) A director, other than the director of the NL

911 Bureau Inc., may not serve as a director for more than 3 consecutive terms.

(5) Notwithstanding subsection (1), of the

directors appointed to the first board under the authority of that subsection

(

a) the majority of the directors shall be

appointed for a term of 4 years; and

(

b) the remaining directors shall be appointed for

a term of 3 years.

(6) A director may resign the office of director

by written notice to the Lieutenant-Governor in Council.

(7) The Lieutenant-Governor in Council may remove

a director from office before the term of office of that director expires.

Chairperson

15 .

(1) The

chairperson shall preside over all meetings of the board of directors.

(2) Where the chairperson is absent or the office

of chairperson is vacant, the vice-chairperson shall act in his or her place

and in the absence of the vice-chairperson or where the office of

vice-chairperson is vacant the board may choose another director to act in the

place of the chairperson.

Meetings

16 .

(1) A

majority of the directors constitutes a quorum for meetings of the board.

(2) At a meeting of the board, each director shall

have one vote and in the case of a tie, the chairperson or, in the absence of

the chairperson, the vice-chairperson shall have a second or casting vote.

(3) Except where prohibited in the by-laws of the corporation,

a director may, where all the directors consent, participate in a meeting of

the board by means of a telephone or another telecommunication device that

permits all persons participating in the meeting to communicate with each

other.

Annual general

meeting

17 .

(1) The

corporation shall hold an annual general meeting in each calendar year at a

time and place set by the corporation.

(2) Notice of the meeting shall be provided to the

public.

Annual report and

audit

18 .

(1) The

board shall appoint an auditor who shall annually audit the financial

statements of the corporation.

(2) The corporation shall submit to the minister

before September 30 of each year

(

a) a report on the activities of the corporation in

the preceding financial year; and

(

b) audited financial statements of the

corporation for the preceding financial year.

(3) The minister shall table the report and

statements referred to in subsection (2) in the House of Assembly as soon as

practicable after they are received.

(4) Where the House of Assembly is not in session

at the time the report and statements are required to be tabled under

subsection (3),

section 19.1 of the House

of Assembly Act applies as if the report and statements were a report of an

officer of the House of Assembly.

Appointment of

staff

(1) The

board may appoint those officers, managers, other staff and employees and

retain consultants, advisors and other professional persons that it considers

necessary and may fix their remuneration and terms of service in accordance

with any guidelines the Lieutenant-Governor in Council may prescribe.

(2) A person who is appointed under this

section

does not, by reason only of the appointment, become an employee of the

province.

Agreements re:

service

(1) The corporation may enter into

agreements with a person, a municipality, an emergency service provider, a

public safety answering point or a telecommunications service provider in

relation to the development, establishment and operation of the emergency 911 telephone

service.

(2) An agreement entered into under subsection

(1) may include provisions respecting the following:

(

a) the civic addressing of residences, businesses

and other property; and

(

b) an arrangement, function, procedure, protocol,

service or standard considered necessary for the purpose of the effective

operation of the emergency 911 telephone service.

Information sharing

agreement

(1) The

corporation may enter into information sharing agreements and may disclose or

transfer records to, and share records with the following in accordance with

the agreement:

(

a) the agency;

(

b) emergency service providers; and

(

c) public safety answering points.

(2) Section 25

applies with the necessary changes to the sharing of information under this

section.

PART III

GENERAL

Agreement re:

collection of fees

(1) The

corporation may enter into an agreement with a telecommunications service

provider in relation to the billing, collecting and remitting of fees for the emergency

911 telephone service.

(2) A telecommunications service provider which

enters into an agreement with the corporation under subsection (1) shall comply

Fees for emergency

911 telephone service

23 .

(1) A telecommunications service provider

shall bill and collect from its subscribers the fee for the emergency 911 telephone

service which may be prescribed by the Lieutenant-Governor in Council in the

regulations and remit that fee to the corporation in accordance with this Act.

(2) A telecommunications service provider may retain

a portion of the fees it collects for the emergency 911 telephone service as a

monthly service fee.

(3) The portion of fees authorized to be retained

by a telecommunications service provider under the authority of subsection (2)

shall be

(

a) limited to administrative costs of a

telecommunications service provider for the provision of the emergency 911 telephone

service; and

(

b) detailed on a subscriber's invoice in a clear

and comprehensible manner.

Fund established

(1) There

is established a fund called the NL 911 Service Fund.

(2) The fees collected by a telecommunications service

provider for the emergency 911 telephone service and remitted to the corporation

shall be paid into the fund, less the portion of the fees retained by the

telecommunications service provider under

section 23 .

(3) The fund is not public money for the purpose

of the Financial Administration Act.

(4) The corporation may use the fund for the

following purposes:

(

a) developing, establishing, operating and

improving the emergency 911 telephone service;

(

b) the operations of the corporation; and

(

c) paying for costs associated with administering

the fund.

(5) All interest arising from the fund shall be paid

into and shall form part of the fund.

Restriction on

information supplied

(1) All

information supplied by a telecommunications service provider to the corporation

or its directors, employees, agents or contractors or to which the corporation

or its employees, agents or contractors have access in connection with the

design, development, implementation, operation or maintenance of the emergency

911 telephone service shall be supplied or made accessible by the telecommunications

service provider only to the extent necessary to permit the design, development,

implementation, operation or maintenance of the service.

(2) The corporation shall take all steps

reasonably necessary to maintain the information referred to in subsection

(1) in confidence and to ensure that where

(

a) employees, assigns, agents or contractors of

the corporation;

(

b) emergency service providers; and

(

c) public safety answering points

have access to the information, that those

persons maintain the information in confidence.

(3) The corporation shall designate the persons

who may have access to the information referred to in subsection (1) and no

other persons shall be permitted to have access to it.

(4) Emergency service providers, public safety

answering points, the corporation and its employees, assigns, agents and contractors

shall not use the information for any purposes other than the purposes referred

to in subsection (1).

(5) A person referred to in subsection (1) who is

employed for the purposes of this Act or the regulations shall not use his or

her position for personal benefit or to benefit a person with whom he or she is

associated in a financial capacity.

Exemption from

liability

26. The

province, the corporation, a person who enters into an agreement with the corporation

under

section 20 or an employee of any of them

is not liable for any loss or damage suffered by any person by reason of

anything in good faith done or omitted to be done in the provision of the emergency

911 telephone service by the province, the corporation, the person who enters

into an agreement with the corporation under

section 20

or the employee under the authority of this Act or the regulations.

Prohibitions

(1) A

person shall not connect an automatic alarm system of any kind to the emergency

911 telephone service.

(2) A person shall not use an automatic dialing or

automatic announcing device to dial the number "911", except where

the written approval of the corporation has been obtained.

(3) A person shall not use or permit another

person to use a telephone to place a false, frivolous or vexatious call to the

number "911".

Offence and penalty

28. A

person who contravenes or who neglects, omits, fails or refuses to observe a

provision of this Act or the regulations is guilty of an offence and is liable,

on

summary conviction, to a fine of not less than $1,000 or to imprisonment for

a term of not more than 6 months or to both a fine and imprisonment.

Regulations by

Lieutenant-Governor in Council

29. The

Lieutenant-Governor in Council may make regulations

(

a) respecting the fee to be collected from

subscribers and to be remitted to the corporation under

section 23 ;

(

b) requiring the owner or occupier of a residence,

commercial or other property to post the applicable civic number;

(

c) respecting the size, location and design of

civic numbers to be posted on residences, commercial or other property;

(

d) defining a word or expression used but not

defined in this Act; and

(

e) generally, for the purpose and administration

of this Act.

Regulations by

minister

(1) The

minister may make regulations respecting

(

a) communications which may be considered an

emergency 911 telephone call; and

(

b) standards in relation to

(

i) the performance and operation of a public

safety answering point, and

(ii) the training and certification of employees of

a public safety answering point.

(2) The minister may adopt and constitute as

regulations by reference

(

a) a code, rule or standard relevant to this Act,

or an official abridgment of a code, rule or standard;

(

b) a code, rule, standard or abridgment with the

exception of a specified provision;

(

c) a specified provision of a code, rule,

standard or abridgment; and

(

d) an amendment to a code, rule, standard or

abridgment made, with or without modification,

and a written document from the minister

certifying that a document is a copy of a code, rule or standard adopted and

constituted as regulations under this

section or an official abridgment of,

extract from or amendment to a code, rule or standard shall without further

proof be, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, evidence of the contents

of the code, rule or standard.

Forms

31. The

corporation may establish forms for the purpose and administration of this Act

and the regulations.

SNL2008 cF-11.01

Amdt.

(1) Section 2 of the Fire Protection Services Act is amended by adding immediately after

paragraph (

d) the following:

(d.1) "emergency response zone" means a

geographical area in which a council provides emergency services;

(2) Section 4 of the Act is amended by adding

immediately after subsection (4) the following:

(4.1) Where a council establishes, operates and

maintains a fire department but is unwilling or unable to comply with

section 7 of the Emergency

911 Act respecting the disclosure of emergency response zones for which it

provides emergency services, the fire commissioner may determine those

emergency response zones and notify the council, in writing, of his or her

decision, and the council shall only provide emergency services in those zones.

(4.2) A council aggrieved of a decision of the fire

commissioner under this

section may apply to the minister for a review of that

decision, and the minister may amend, confirm or revoke the decision.

(4.3) A decision of the minister under subsection

(4.2) is final.

Commencement

33. This Act, or a section, subsection, paragraph

or subparagraph of this Act, comes into force on a day or days to be proclaimed

by the Lieutenant-Governor in Council.

Queen's Printer