While the new law is clear that the unit is comprised of unpaid amateur radio volunteers, it authorizes reimbursement of their reasonable and necessary expenses. In 20, Colorado amateur radio operators played key roles in responding to major disasters in Colorado, including wildfires that destroyed several hundred homes and a 500-year-flood that inundated much of north-central Colorado. Governor John Hickenlooper signed the measure into law on June 6, 2016.Ĭolorado’s General Assembly determined “a uniformly trained and credentialed unit of communication volunteers available for disaster response” would “materially assist emergency preparedness and disaster response efforts across the state.” “While maintaining their traditional roles as Amateur Radio operators, many of these volunteers assist with the establishment and maintenance of communication facilities, assist with programming public safety radios during emergencies, and act as radio operators on public safety channels,” the bill says in its findings.Ĭolorado Section Emergency Coordinator and State Government Liaison Robert Wareham, N0ESQ, an attorney, conceived this law while he met with DHSEM staff after completing the Emergency Communications Division (ECD) Auxiliary Emergency Communications course in 2012. The law implements recommendations in a 2012 FCC report to Congress regarding amateur radio’s role in disasters and emergencies. Peterson, DHS OEC Technical Assistance BranchĬolorado Law Enacted to Codify AUXCOMM Unit:Ī new Colorado law has created an Auxiliary Emergency Communications (AuxComm) Unit within the state’s Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management (DHSEM). Establish contingency plans to minimize interruptions in AUXCOMM communications infrastructure and systems.John E.Establish a plan for battery replacement.Establish an operational test schedule and perform tests of communications equipment throughout the duration of an incident.Monitor operational status of all AUXCOMM equipment in use.Monitor operational performance of AUXCOMM communications systems throughout the duration of the incident. After board review, a Documentation of Agency Certification is issued as appropriate. A final evaluator verifies that a trainee has completed the PTB and his/her verification is sent to a review board with ideally at least one member who is an experienced Auxiliary Communicator with Public Safety experience. Evaluators complete an Evaluation Record Form documenting the trainee's performance. The performance criteria are associated with core National Qualification System (NQS) competencies, behaviors, and tasks.Įvaluators observe and review a trainee's completion of PTB tasks, initialing and dating each successfully completed task in the PTB. The new Position Task Book (PTB) documents the performance criteria a trainee should meet to be certified for the position of Auxiliary Communicator within a given state. The former Office of Emergency Communications (OEC) is now ECD within CISA. Peterson, N4KEA, Telecommunications Specialist with the Emergency Communications Division (ECD) of the US Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), announced in the DHS AUXCOMM forum at the Dayton Hamvention this year that the new AUXCOMM Position Task Book had been approved by DHS for use by the states in training Auxiliary Communicators. Training is posted on COTRAIN ( ) and is held at various sites around Colorado. With the passage of HB16-1040, Auxiliary Emergency Communications Unit of the Office of Emergency Management within the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management of the Department of Public Safety for the State of Colorado ( Colorado AuxComm ) has become a realit y.
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