Proposed bill would give 911 dispatchers 'first responder' status, better retirement plan

Proponents of a bill that would boost retirement benefits for emergency dispatchers say the change could help improve recruitment and retention efforts in a high-stress profession that sees rapid employee turnover.

Senate Bill 173 would reclassify 911 dispatchers — also known as public safety telecommunicators — as “first responders,” a change from their current status as “clerical workers.” This would put them in the same category as police officers in the New Mexico Public Employees Retirement Act, which could lead to enhanced, 25-year retirement plans.

The law already includes probation, parole and corrections officers as well as paid firefighters as first responders.

Josh Archuleta, the director of Española’s E-911 Dispatch Center, said the bill would offer dispatchers long-deserved recognition and could allow them to retire five years earlier. This could help draw more people to dispatch centers that have struggled to fill positions.

The Santa Fe Regional Emergency Communications Center, for instance, saw its vacancy rates climb to over 65% in 2022 amid a statewide and national shortage. However, the vacancy rate dropped to 28% last year.

Law enforcement officers, firefighters and emergency medical technicians receive recognition for emergency response, Archuleta noted, “but it’s kind of always forgotten that dispatchers are the ones that received that call first.”

The total potential costs of implementing SB 173 remain unclear, with some agencies not yet providing personnel data for analysis, the state Department of Finance and Administration said in a report. It estimated more than 1,000 dispatchers could be affected.

Dispatchers would be required to contribute to their retirement plans at higher rates, but a report from the Public Employees Retirement Association found annual costs to municipal employers likely would be “minimal.”

Still, the measure already has faced pushback from the New Mexico Department of Public Safety. The agency takes issue with the bill, saying in a report it doesn’t consider “the disparity in job duties, training, and physical risks faced by sworn officers compared to telecommunicators.”

The department counted 80 state dispatchers who could be affected, at a cost of about $26,000 total per year.

Archuleta pointed to studies showing dispatchers’ repeated exposure to trauma puts them at high risk for post-traumatic stress disorder. He also noted their high level of training.

“We give instructions on how to perform CPR, how to deliver babies over the phone, how to deal with minor wound care,” he said, adding dispatchers are required to attend the New Mexico Law Enforcement Academy to earn a certification, just like other public safety workers.

The bill “would allow us to recruit better, and we could offer the same types of benefits and the same retirement that other public safety is getting,” he said.

Archuleta has worked in the field for 23 years, he said, and in that time the national average tenure for dispatchers has decreased from five years to three years.

Sponsored by Sen. David Gallegos, R-Eunice, SB 173 has been assigned to the Senate Health and Public Affairs Committee but was not yet scheduled for a hearing as of Wednesday.

If the bill is passed by the Legislature and signed into law, state and municipal-level dispatchers would have to hold an election to approve the change by the end of the year.

Gallegos proposed a similar bill in 2023. The Health and Public Affairs Committee advanced the measure that year, but it later died in the Senate Finance Committee.

Gallegos said the main hurdle for the measure has been gathering numbers from smaller communities around the state to get an accurate picture of the financial impacts of earlier retirement for dispatchers.

About 10 or more small agencies have yet to report their numbers to the state, he said, adding “until DFA and PERA get the total cost, I think we’ll get opposition.”

The Department of Public Safety lauded the dispatcher bill for “recognizing their critical role in emergency response.” But it recommended the Legislature reject it. Along with what the agency called “an equity imbalance that could impact workforce morale and operational cohesion,” its report said the bill would create “significant operational and administrative challenges.”

The report points to differences in the pay plans and retirement contributions between dispatchers and state police and recommends the state consider instead “designing and implementing a new retirement plan or benefits package specifically tailored for telecommunicators.”

Gallegos said he was first alerted to the plight of emergency dispatchers and high rates of PTSD by a dispatch center supervisor as well as the sheriff in Lea County,

“I really do believe — after listening to them in multiple areas — that these individuals deserve to be treated as first responders,” Gallegos said.

“If we are allowing them to be harmed in the process of their job,” he added, “they need the proper care and consideration because they’re doing a really hard job for us that is definitely needed.”