BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                      



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          |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE            |                  AB 1420|
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                                 THIRD READING


          Bill No:  AB 1420
          Author:   Assembly Governmental Organization Committee
          Amended:  9/1/11 in Senate 
          Vote:     21

           
           SENATE GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATION COMM.  :  12-0, 6/14/11
          AYES:  Wright, Anderson, Calderon, Cannella, Corbett, De 
            León, Evans, Hernandez, Padilla, Strickland, Wyland, Yee
          NO VOTE RECORDED:  Berryhill

           SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE  :  Senate Rule 28.8

           ASSEMBLY FLOOR  :  77-0, 5/23/11 - See last page for vote


           SUBJECT  :    Emergency Management Assistance Compact

           SOURCE  :     California Emergency Management Agency


           DIGEST  :    This bill extends the sunset date of the 
          Emergency Management Assistance Compact until March 1, 
          2015, and as of January 1, 2016, it is repealed.

           Senate Floor Amendments  of 9/1/11 extend the sunset date 
          rather than repeal the Compact.

           ANALYSIS  :     Existing Law  : 

          1. Establishes the California Emergency Services Act and 
             charges the California Emergency Management Agency (Cal 
             EMA) with the responsibility for overseeing and 
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             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 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.

          4. Removes the March 1, 2012, sunset date for the operation 
             of the 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.

          This bill extends the sunset date of the Emergency 
          Management Assistance Compact until March 1, 2015, and as 
          of January 1, 2016, it is repealed.

           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 

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          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. 

          AB 823 (Nava), Chapter 233, Statutes of 2005, enacted 
          urgency legislation to adopt EMAC.  This provision became 
          effective September 13, 2005.  In 2007, AB 1564 (Nava), 
          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. 

           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 

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            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. 

           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. 

           When southern California experienced catastrophic wild 
            fires 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 

          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. 

           Prior legislation

           AB 1564 (Nava), Chapter 414, Statutes of 2007, extends from 

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          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. 

          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.

           FISCAL EFFECT  :    Appropriation:  No   Fiscal Com.:  Yes   
          Local:  No

           SUPPORT  :   (Verified  9/2/11)

          California Emergency Management Agency (source)
          California Military Department 


           ASSEMBLY FLOOR  : 
          AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Beall, Bill 
            Berryhill, Block, Blumenfield, Bonilla, Bradford, 
            Brownley, Buchanan, Butler, Charles Calderon, Campos, 
            Carter, Cedillo, Chesbro, Conway, Davis, Dickinson, 
            Donnelly, Eng, Feuer, Fletcher, Fong, Fuentes, Furutani, 
            Beth Gaines, Galgiani, Garrick, Gatto, Gordon, Grove, 
            Hagman, Halderman, Hall, Harkey, Hayashi, Roger 
            Hernández, Hill, Huber, Hueso, Huffman, Jeffries, Jones, 
            Knight, Lara, Logue, Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Mansoor, 
            Mendoza, Miller, Mitchell, Monning, Morrell, Nestande, 
            Nielsen, Olsen, Pan, Perea, V. Manuel Pérez, Portantino, 
            Silva, Skinner, Smyth, Solorio, Swanson, Torres, Valadao, 
            Wagner, Wieckowski, Williams, Yamada, John A. Pérez
          NO VOTE RECORDED: Cook, Gorell, Norby


          PQ:do  9/2/11   Senate Floor Analyses 


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                         SUPPORT/OPPOSITION:  SEE ABOVE

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