Senate Bill 2197

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTIONS 73-69-5 AND 73-69-7, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO DELETE THE REFERENCES TO THE ELECTRONIC PROTECTION ADVISORY LICENSING BOARD; TO REPEAL SECTION 73-69-21, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, WHICH CREATES THE ELECTRONIC PROTECTION ADVISORY LICENSING BOARD AND PROVIDES FOR THE APPOINTMENT OF ITS MEMBERS; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:

SECTION 1. Section 73-69-5, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

73-69-5. As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the meanings specified in this section:

(a) "Alarm contracting" means providing an electronic protective system to another, including, but not limited to, the design, planning with the intent to pre-wire, pre-wiring, installation, maintenance, repair, testing, modification, improvement, alteration, inspection or servicing of an electronic protective system; holding oneself or one's company out for hire to perform any such task; or otherwise offering to perform any such task for compensation directly.

(b) "Alarm contracting company" means an entity that holds a Class A license issued by the State Fire Marshal pursuant to this chapter.

(c) "Alarm verification" means an attempt by a monitoring company or its representative to contact a burglar alarm location or a burglar alarm user by telephone or other electronic means to determine whether a burglar alarm signal is valid in an attempt to avoid unnecessary police response before requesting law enforcement to be dispatched to the location. Alarm verification further means that at least a second call shall be made to a different number if the first attempt fails to reach an alarm user. All persons licensed to monitor alarms in Mississippi shall employ alarm verification standards as defined in the latest version of ANSI/CSAA CS-V-01, for all burglar alarm signals except for hold-up alarms.

* * *

( * * *ed) "Burglar alarm" or "burglar alarm system" or "intrusion detection system" or "electronic protective system" means an alarm, alarm system or portion of such an alarm or system that is intended to detect or warn of an intrusion or other emergency in a structure. Such systems shall be certified per the latest version of ANSI/SIA CP01.

( * * *fe) "Company" means a proprietorship, partnership, corporation, limited liability company or any other entity.

( * * *gf) "Designated agent" means an owner or employee who holds a Class B license of an alarm contracting company who has been assigned the responsibility of submitting any notice required by this chapter to the State Fire Marshal.

( * * *hg) "Supervision" means direct on-site supervision by a qualified license holder for the duties being performed.

( * * *ih) "Electronic protective system" means a device or a series or assembly of interconnected devices which, when activated by automatic or manual means, produces an audible, visual or electronic signal intended to detect or warn of a threat to a structure or emergency to or from its occupants. This term shall include a burglar alarm system, intrusion detection system, closed-circuit video system or electronic access control system, all as defined in this chapter, or a portion or combination of such alarms or systems. However, the term "electronic protective system" shall not include the following: (i) an alarm system installed in a motor vehicle; (ii) a burglar alarm system, or household fire warning system sold at retail to an individual end user for self-installation; (iii) a single-station fire alarm system sold at retail to an individual end user for self-installation or installed by a fire department, the State Fire Marshal Office, a public agency, a volunteer fire association or their designated representatives.

( * * *ji) "Employee" means a person who performs services for wages or salary.

( * * *kj) "Employer" means a person or entity who hires another to perform services for a wage or salary.

( * * *lk) "Individual license" means a Class B, C, D or H license issued by the State Fire Marshal pursuant to this chapter.

( * * *ml) "Licensee" means a person or entity to which a license is granted pursuant to this chapter.

( * * *nm) "Officer" means the president, vice president, secretary, treasurer, comptroller or any other person who performs functions for an alarm contracting company, corresponding to those performed by those officers.

( * * *on) "Operating location" means a physical address that houses or maintains records of clients.

( * * *po) "Person" means a natural person or individual.

( * * *qp) "Principal" means a person or entity that owns at least twenty percent (20%) of an alarm contracting company regardless of the form of organization.

( * * *rq) "Salesperson" means a person who solicits another on behalf of an alarm contracting company by door-to-door personal interaction, or a person who participates in the design, planning, specification or layout of an electronic protective system on behalf of an alarm contracting company.

( * * *sr) "Closed-circuit video system" means an electronic protective system that provides video surveillance of events, primarily by means of transmission, recording, or transmission and recording of visual signals through the use of cameras, receivers, monitors and other visual imaging systems.

( * * *ts) "Electronic access control system" means an electronic protective system that is powered by the building's primary power source and is used as a process to grant or deny an individual access to a specific area or object based upon their possession of an item (which requires a decoder), a code or physical characteristic (biometrics).

( * * *ut) "Smoke alarm" means a single- or multiple-station alarm responsive to smoke.

( * * *vu) "Single-station alarm" means a detector comprising an assembly that incorporates sensor, control components and an alarm notification appliance in one (1) unit operated from a power source either located in the unit or obtained at the point of installation.

( * * *wv) "Multiple-station alarm" means two (2) or more single-station alarm devices that can be interconnected so that actuation of one causes all integral or separate audible alarms to operate; or one (1) single-station alarm device having connections to other detectors or to a manual fire alarm box.

( * * *xw) "Heat detector" means a fire detector that detects either abnormally high temperature or rate-of-temperature rise, or both.

SECTION 2. Section 73-69-7, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

73-69-7. (1) The State Fire Marshal shall administer and enforce the provisions of this chapter and shall have the authority to promulgate and adopt such rules and regulations as may be necessary for such proper administration and enforcement. * * * The State Fire Marshal shall have the authority to approve written training programs or acceptable equivalents for meeting the training requirements of this licensing law. The State Fire Marshal may also accept, as such an equivalent, licensure of a company or person by a jurisdiction outside this state, which has standards and requirements of practice which substantially conform to the provisions of this chapter. The State Fire Marshal shall also establish continuing education requirements.

(2) Application for a Class A license. In order to engage in alarm contracting, a company shall apply for and obtain a Class A license for each operating location doing business in the state. A Class A license shall authorize a company to engage in any type of alarm contracting. An applicant for a Class A license shall submit the following to the State Fire Marshal:

(a) Documentation that the company is an entity duly authorized to conduct business within this state.

(b) Documentation that the company holds a general liability and errors and omissions insurance policy, or a surety bond, in an amount not less than Three Hundred Thousand Dollars ($300,000.00).

(c) Documentation that the company carries a current and valid workers' compensation insurance policy as required by state law.

(d) The name of the person who will serve as the designated agent of the company.

(e) For a company applying for a Class A license, evidence that the company has at least one (1) employee who holds a Class B license at each of its operating locations.

(f) A statement that no officer or principal has been convicted of a felony, has received a first-time offender pardon for a felony, or has entered a plea of guilty or nolo contendere to a felony charge.

(g) The application fee authorized by this chapter.

(h) Documentation that the company is located within the physical boundaries of the state.

(i) Beginning on July 1, 2014, in order to assist the Office of the State Fire Marshal in determining an applicant's suitability for a license under this chapter, a Class A applicant, upon request from the State Fire Marshal, shall submit a set of fingerprints for all officers and principals with the submission of an application for license or at such time as deemed necessary by the State Fire Marshal. The Office of the State Fire Marshal shall forward the fingerprints to the Department of Public Safety for the purpose of conducting a criminal history record check. If no disqualifying record is identified at the state level, the fingerprints shall be forwarded by the Department of Public Safety to the Federal Bureau of Investigation for a national criminal history record check. Fees related to the criminal history record check shall be paid by the applicant to the State Fire Marshal and the monies from such fees shall be deposited in the special fund in the State Treasury designated as the Electronic Protection Licensing Fund.

(j) The name of each company providing monitoring services.

(3) If the action by the State Fire Marshal is to nonrenew or to deny an application for license, the State Fire Marshal shall notify the applicant or licensee and advise, in writing, the applicant or licensee of the reason for the denial or nonrenewal of the applicant's or licensee's license. The applicant or licensee may make written demand upon the State Fire Marshal within ten (10) days for a hearing before the State Fire Marshal to determine the reasonableness of the State Fire Marshal's action. The hearing shall be held within thirty (30) days.

SECTION 3. Section 73-69-21, Mississippi Code of 1972, which creates the Electronic Protection Advisory Licensing Board and provides for the appointment of its members, is hereby repealed.

SECTION 4. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2016.