PRINTER'S NO. 1491
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
SENATE BILL
No.
1096
Session of
2015
INTRODUCED BY DINNIMAN, COSTA, FONTANA, VULAKOVICH, HUGHES AND
BROWNE, JANUARY 13, 2016
REFERRED TO VETERANS AFFAIRS AND EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS,
JANUARY 13, 2016
AN ACT
Amending Title 35 (Health and Safety) of the Pennsylvania
Consolidated Statutes, providing for the Pennsylvania Premise
Alert System.
The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
hereby enacts as follows:
Section 1. Title 35 is amended by adding a chapter to read:
CHAPTER 54
PENNSYLVANIA PREMISE
ALERT SYSTEM
Sec.
5401. Short title of chapter.
5402. Declaration of purpose.
5403. Definitions.
5404. Access Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency Form and
information.
5405. Duties of Department of Human Services and Department of
Education.
5406. Duties of public safety agencies.
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5407. Dissemination of Pennsylvania Premise Alert System
information.
5408. Control of Pennsylvania Premise Alert System information.
5409. Confidentiality.
5410. Liability.
§ 5401. Short title of chapter.
This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the
Pennsylvania Premise Alert System Act.
§ 5402. Declaration of purpose.
The General Assembly finds and declares as follows:
(1) It is the policy of this Commonwealth to ensure that
consistently high levels of public safety services are
available to the citizens of this Commonwealth, including
individuals who may require special consideration in order to
access services.
(2) The purpose of the Pennsylvania Premise Alert System
is to provide individuals with disabilities with the same
access to public safety services provided to all citizens of
this Commonwealth.
(3) It is the intent of the Pennsylvania Premise Alert
System to offer guidance and direction to public safety
agency employees in responding to and assisting those
individuals with disabilities whom they will have contact
with in the performance of their duties and responsibilities.
(4) The ability to effectively assist individuals with
disabilities is enhanced with the information provided by the
Pennsylvania Premise Alert System.
(5) The Pennsylvania Premise Alert System helps identify
individuals with disabilities and their places of employment,
educational facilities and residences, which are valuable
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resources that help public safety agencies assist those
individuals.
§ 5403. Definitions.
The following words and phrases when used in this chapter
shall have the meanings given to them in this section unless the
context clearly indicates otherwise:
"Computer-aided dispatch system." A database maintained by a
public safety agency or public safety answering point used in
conjunction with 911 caller data.
"Individual with disabilities." Any of the following:
(1) An individual who has a physical or mental
impairment that substantially limits one or more major life
activities.
(2) An individual who has a record of having a physical
or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more
major life activities.
(3) An individual who is regarded as having a physical
or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more
major life activities.
(4) An individual who has an increased risk for a
chronic physical, developmental, behavioral, e motional or
complex medical condition which may require health and
related services of a type or amount beyond that required by
individuals generally.
"Pennsylvania Premise Alert System." A database of
individuals with disabilities maintained by public safety
agencies and developed through the use of the information
provided by the Pennsylvania Premise Alert System Form and
inputted into a computer-aided dispatch system.
"Pennsylvania Premise Alert System Form." A form submitted
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by an individual to a public safety agency that helps the public
safety agency and other emergency services personnel identify
individuals with disabilities in their places of employment,
educational facilities and residences.
"Public safety agency." Any of the following:
(1) A municipal police department.
(2) The Pennsylvania State Police, including all
Pennsylvania State Police barracks.
§ 5404. Access Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency Form
and information.
The following apply:
(1) The Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency shall
provide the Pennsylvania Premise Alert System Form on the
agency's publicly accessible Internet website. The
Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency may not alter the
form without the consent of the Pennsylvania State Police.
(2) A public safety agency shall make reasonable efforts
to publicize the information regarding the Pennsylvania
Premise Alert System for use of the general public via a
publicly accessible Internet website, pamphlets or other
means available to the public safety agency.
§ 5405. Duties of Department of Human Services and Department
of Education.
(a) Department of Human Services.--The Department of Human
Services shall:
(1) direct all caseworkers to offer a copy of the
Pennsylvania Premise Alert System Form at the initial intake
of clients and annually at review meetings with individuals
with disabilities and their caregivers; and
(2) make reasonable efforts to provide the information
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in the Pennsylvania Premise Alert System to providers and
stakeholders.
(b) Department of Education.--The Department of Education
shall:
(1) direct all school special education directors to
offer copies of the Pennsylvania Premise Alert System Form to
the caregivers of individuals with disabilities at the
initial individualized educational plan meeting of each
individual with disabilities and each year thereafter until
graduation from high school; and
(2) notify all school nurses about the Pennsylvania
Premise Alert System and provide them with pamphlets to
distribute to caregivers with information about how the
system helps individuals with disabilities.
§ 5406. Duties of public safety agencies.
(a) Duties.--A public safety agency shall have the following
duties:
(1) To accept the Pennsylvania Premise Alert System Form
from an individual who submits the form to the public safety
agency and review the contents of the form upon acceptance.
(2) To maintain a copy of the Pennsylvania Premise Alert
System Form on file and transmit the form to the county 911
center.
(3) To inform an individual who submits the
Pennsylvania Premise Alert System Form that submitting
information for input into the Pennsylvania Premise Alert
System is entirely voluntary and will not result in
preferential treatment by the public safety agency.
(4) In the course of responding to an emergency
involving an individual with disabilities, to inform the
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individual with disabilities or caregiver of the individual
with disabilities about the Pennsylvania Premise Alert System
and provide a copy of the Pennsylvania Premise Alert System
Form or notice where the form can be accessed.
(b) Prohibition.--A public safety agency may not coerce an
individual to provide information on the Pennsylvania Premise
Alert System Form . The name of an individual with disabilities
may be excluded from the form submitted.
(c) Agency selection.--If a public safety agency ascertains
that another public safety agency at a different location will
better serve an individual with disabilities based on the
information provided on the Pennsylvania Premise Alert System
Form, the public safety agency shall forward the form to the
other public safety agency in a timely manner.
§ 5407. Dissemination of Pennsylvania Premise Alert System
information.
(a) Information dissemination.--In the course of handling an
emergency or 911 call pertaining to an individual with
disabilities, a dispatcher at a county 911 center shall relay
any pertinent information in the Pennsylvania Premise Alert
System about the individual with disabilities to the responding
public safety agency.
(b) Emergency response.--An employee of a public safety
agency or other emergency response organization responding to an
emergency pertaining to an individual with disabilities shall
make a reasonable effort to identify the individual with
disabilities and ascertain how to help the individual with
disabilities based on the information provided under subsection
(a).
§ 5408. Control of Pennsylvania Premise Alert System
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information.
(a) Policies.--A public safety agency shall develop policies
for the control and use of the information contained in the
Pennsylvania Premise Alert System.
(b) Information expiration.--A public safety agency shall
delete information submitted to the Pennsylvania Premise Alert
System two years after the information is submitted, unless the
information is updated via submission of a new Pennsylvania
Premise Alert System Form.
§ 5409. Confidentiality.
Except as otherwise utilized in accordance with this chapter,
the information in the Pennsylvania Premise Alert System shall
be confidential. In accordance with Federal law, an individual
may file a complaint with the Office of Civil Rights of the
United States Department of Health and Human Services for a
violation of this section.
§ 5410. Liability.
Except for willful or wanton misconduct or a violation of
section 5409 (relating to confidentiality), an employee of a
public safety agency shall not be subject to civil liability for
failing to comply with provisions of this chapter.
Section 2. This act shall take effect in 60 days.
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