Emergency contact registry proposed

Law enforcement could unite families sooner following emergency situations under legislation heard by the Transportation and Telecommunications Committee Jan 28.

LB786, introduced by Bellevue Sen. Sue Crawford, would create an emergency contact registry within the State Department of Motor Vehicles for exclusive use by law enforcement following crisis situations in which a victim cannot communicate.

Under the bill, Nebraska residents with a state driver’s license or identification card voluntarily could provide up to two contact names and phone numbers via the DMV website without charge. Registrants under 18 years old would be required to provide contact information for at least one parent or guardian.

The contact information would not be considered public record, except upon a subpoena issued by a grand jury or court order in a criminal matter. Law enforcement and DMV personnel would not be held liable if the contact information is incorrect or inaccessible due to technological reasons.

Crawford said she brought LB786 to give authorities an additional tool to reunite families sooner after traumatic events such as motor vehicle crashes and natural disasters.

“Nebraska families deserve to be present with their loved ones following an accident or other emergency, to share medical histories, make treatment decisions and, unfortunately in some cases, say goodbye,” she said.

John Francavilla, president of the Nebraska Fraternal Order of Police, testified in support of the bill.

“LB786 will give us a chance to be able to notify a family member of an injury and allow the family to see their loved one in a responsible and reasonable time,” he said.

Francavilla said that without contact information, it sometimes takes hours or days to reach family members of accident victims.

“You never forget the difficulties you had in trying to find the family of the victim—the desperation you felt knowing the victim doesn’t have long to live and all you want to do is find a family member and get them to the hospital,” Francavilla said.

He recommended that the committee change the bill to make providing contact information a mandatory requirement when the DMV issues a driver’s license or identification card.

Sue Sheely of Bellevue testified in support of the bill, saying it took authorities eight hours to contact her family after her father’s motorcycle accident. First responders and the hospital revived her father twice, she said, because they were unaware of his wishes to not be resuscitated.

“If we had been notified in a timely manner, the needless suffering of my family and the $100,000 spent on my father’s medical care could have been avoided or at least minimized,” Sheely said.

Rhonda Lahm, Nebraska DMV director, opposed the bill, saying it would be “nearly impossible to implement in its current language.”

Lahm questioned several technical aspects of the bill, such as the financial, time and labor costs of establishing and maintaining the contact registry, connectivity between databases and liability regarding access to and accuracy of the information.

Speaking in a neutral capacity, John Lindsay of the Nebraska Association of Trial Attorneys recommended that the committee amend the bill to delete sections or more narrowly define the liabilities of those providing and using the contact registry information.

The committee took no immediate action on LB786.