BILL ANALYSIS Ó ------------------------------------------------------------ |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1420| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |1020 N Street, Suite 524 | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ------------------------------------------------------------ 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the sunset date of the Emergency Management Assistance Compact until March 1, 2015, and as of January 1, 2016, it is repealed.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 CONTINUED AB 1420 Page 2 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 Under existing law, California's ratification of EMAC expires on March 1, 2012, and as of January 1, 2013, is repealed. 4.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 Specifically, this bill repeals the requirement that the EMAC, which becomes inoperative on March 1, 2012, and repealed as of January 1, 2012, thereby making the compact operative indefinitely.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 CONTINUED AB 1420 Page 3 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 CONTINUED AB 1420 Page 4 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 CONTINUED AB 1420 Page 5 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 CONTINUED AB 1420 Page 6 SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE **** END **** CONTINUED