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Gilliam also voiced concerns about what the training requirement portion of the bill might entail.
If training is required for anyone in emergency management who might be involved when sirens need to be sounded, there might be dozens of people in every county who have to be trained, he said.
And if the training is on an annual or recurring basis in another location in the state, that's a whole lot of scheduling and time away from work officials would have deal with, he added.
"If you've got 20 dispatchers and you can't send them all at once, obviously that in itself creates a hardship," he said.
Crowe said the training he envisions the bill requiring is "not anything extensive," essentially just learning to tell the difference between a watch and a warning.
"It's nothing you would have to go to school for," he said. "It wouldn't take more than an hour."
Crowe said initially, House Bill 93 didn't draw much attention, but he's had multiple calls on it recently and King has told him she has lots of people asking about it now, too.
"The citizens seem to be responding to it very positively," he said. "The ones that don't seem to like it are your EM guys because they're construing it as more work … I think they're always reluctant to change no matter what."
Gilliam said even as what to do about warning sirens is debated, he would prefer implementing an entirely different system that can alert residents to dangerous weather via phone, cell phone, email or text.
"My opinion has always been that a reverse 911 system would be more efficient and much more economical — and benefit all those people who aren't outside," he said.
King, who is co-sponsoring the bill with District 82 Representative Regina Bunch of Williamsburg, said this may not be the year House Bill 93 gets passed into law.
"I'm not sure that we can get this passed at this time," she said. "But I think we need to have the conversation."