BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 1420 Page 1 ASSEMBLY THIRD READING AB 1420 (Governmental Organization Committee) As Introduced March 21, 2011 Majority vote GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATION 17-0APPROPRIATIONS 17-0 ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Ayes:|Hall, Nestande, Atkins, |Ayes:|Fuentes, Harkey, | | |Block, Blumenfield, | |Blumenfield, Bradford, | | |Chesbro, Cook, Galgiani, | |Charles Calderon, Campos, | | |Garrick, Gatto, Hill, | |Davis, Donnelly, Gatto, | | |Jeffries, Ma, Perea, V. | |Hall, Hill, Lara, | | |Manuel Pérez, Silva, | |Mitchell, Nielsen, Smyth, | | |Torres | |Solorio, Wagner | |-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------| | | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- SUMMARY : Removes the March 1, 2012, sunset date for the operation of the Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC). The purpose of EMAC is to provide mutual aid among the states in meeting any emergency or disaster. Specifically, this bill repeals the requirement that the EMAC, which becomes inoperative on March 1, 2012, and repealed as of January 1, 2012, thereby making the compact operative indefinitely. EXISTING LAW : 1)Establishes the California Emergency Services Act (Act) and charges the California Emergency Management Agency (Cal EMA) with the responsibility for overseeing and coordinating emergency preparedness, response, recovery, and homeland security activities. 2)Declares the intent of the State of California to continue its long history of sharing emergency response resources with other states during emergencies and times of disasters by entering into the EMAC. 3)Ratifies, approves, and sets forth the provisions of the EMAC which allows for the provision of mutual aid between California and other states in the event of an emergency or disaster that requires more resources than the state can provide. Providing mutual aid to another state is voluntary AB 1420 Page 2 and the decision of whether or not to provide assistance is made based on the amount of resources available at the time of the emergency. Under existing law, California's ratification of EMAC expires on March 1, 2012, and as of January 1, 2013, is repealed. FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee, moderate on-going costs of approximately $120,000 for Cal EMA to continue administering the EMAC process. Administration of the program includes processing and assessing requests for aid from other states and determining the resource needs and requesting aid during a state of emergency in California. COMMENTS : Purpose of this bill . This bill repeals the current sunset provision ŬAB 1564 (Nava) Chapter 414, Statutes of 2007] applicable to EMAC. EMAC statute will become inoperable March 1, 2012, which will make it difficult for California to receive or provide aid to other states during disasters. EMAC is an interstate compact, ratified by Congress, which enables mutual aid among the states in meeting any emergency or disaster, whether natural or man-made. EMAC has now been adopted by all 50 states, as well as the six U.S. territories. Background . In the 1970s, California played a major role in creating the Interstate Civil Defense and Disaster Compact (ICDDC), which was eventually adopted by nearly all other states and ratified by Congress. ICDDC enabled states to share emergency management resources during times of disaster and encouraged the coordination of emergency preparedness activities between states. In 1992, a group of southern states initiated a project to update the ICDDC. That project resulted in EMAC, which was ratified by Congress in 1996 and has now been adopted by all 50 states, including California. Upon adoption of EMAC, many states rescinded the older ICDDC. California did not rescind it. In 2005, California enacted urgency legislation ŬAB 823 (Nava), Chapter 233, Statutes of 2005] to adopt EMAC. This provision became effective September 13, 2005. In 2007, AB 1564 (Nava), AB 1420 Page 3 extended the EMAC sunset date for a period of five years. However, unless a new provision is enacted to either extend the sunset date or make the compact permanent, EMAC will cease to be operative on March 1, 2012 and will sunset on January 1, 2013. The California Professional Firefighters Association (CPF) had initial concerns with the adoption of EMAC. Their concern stemmed from the EMAC requirement that emergency responders be considered agents of the receiving state for tort liability and immunity purposes. CPF argued that California firefighters and other emergency personnel should be protected by California law when they are sent to other states in emergency situations. A compromise, however, was reached near the close of the 2005 legislative session that, despite these liability provisions, requires California to make whole emergency personnel injured or killed in another state. EMAC allows states impacted by a disaster to request and receive assistance from other member states quickly and efficiently. Each year, California sends resources, such as firefighting equipment, rescue aircraft, search teams, emergency managers, and other specialized personnel and equipment, to assist other states during disasters. Similarly, California has received emergency assistance from other states over the years when facing disasters such as earthquakes and firestorms. The EMAC mutual aid system has worked successfully and has benefitted both California and other states in numerous situations; some examples of EMAC resource sharing are outlined below. 1)In 2005, California sent a wide assortment of emergency personnel to New Orleans and Biloxi, Mississippi to assist with their response and recovery from Hurricane Katrina. The resources sent included law enforcement officers from the California Highway Patrol, personnel to help staff the states' State Operations Centers, fire personnel and equipment, various aircraft, care and shelter workers, building inspectors, California National Guard troops, and various medical teams. 2)During 2007 and 2008, California sent Swift Water Rescue Teams and emergency management personnel to the Gulf States affected by Hurricanes Rita, Ike, and Gustav. 3)When southern California experienced catastrophic wild fires AB 1420 Page 4 in 2007, the state requested EMAC assistance. A total of 43 states sent aid to California. Over 27,000 out-of-state firefighters were deployed to California to help with firefighting and fire prevention efforts. This is the largest and most significant instance of California receiving aid through the EMAC. Without the EMAC aid, California would not have been able to fight the large firestorm effectively. The quick, legally established EMAC process allows for relative ease in sharing emergency resources between the states that adopted EMAC. Prior to adopting EMAC, sharing resources between states, as seen in the examples above, would have been much more difficult. California had few options - it could either share resources through some federal legal mechanism, or it could create an ad hoc agreement with the other state(s) needing or providing assistance, but only as permitted by existing law (Government Code Section 8619). If California allows EMAC to sunset, no established process beyond ad hoc state-to-state agreements will be in place to allow California to receive assistance should another large scale event occur. Although the ICDDC still exists in statute, there is a provision in the law that states it shall be in effect only among those states that have enacted or adopted it. Since all the other states have adopted EMAC and no longer use the ICDDC, this compact would not provide the protection California needs to receive aid from other states during an emergency. Continuation of EMAC will allow uninterrupted sharing of resources between California and the rest of the country. Because the EMAC statute will become inoperable on March 1, 2012, legislation must be enacted immediately to repeal that date and permanently establish EMAC in statute. Prior legislation . AB 1564 (Nava), Chapter 414, Statutes of 2007, extends from January 1, 2008, to January 1, 2013, the operation of the EMAC. In addition, the bill prohibits the state from giving or receiving assistance for any condition resulting from a labor controversy. AB 823 (Nava), Chapter 233, Statutes of 2005, enacts a modified version of the EMAC however, it became inoperative on March 1, 2007. AB 1420 Page 5 SB 1102 (Budget Committee), Chapter 227, Statutes of 2004, among other things, continued until January 1, 2006, the Disaster Response Emergency Operations Account (DREOA) within the Special Fund for Economic Uncertainties and allocated $1 million to the DREOA at the beginning of each fiscal year. Analysis Prepared by : Eric Johnson / G. O. / (916) 319-2531 FN: 0000767