BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1420
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CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB 1420 (Governmental Organization Committee)
As Amended September 1, 2011
Majority vote
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|ASSEMBLY: |77-0 |(May 23, 2011) |SENATE: |35-0 |(September 7, |
| | | | | |2011) |
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Original Committee Reference: G.O.
SUMMARY : Extends the March 1, 2012, sunset date for the
operation of the Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC)
to March 1, 2015. The purpose of EMAC is to provide mutual aid
among the states in meeting any emergency or disaster.
Specifically, this bill extends the sunset date for the
operation EMAC, which becomes inoperative on March 1, 2012, and
repealed as of January 1, 2012, to March 1, 2015, and January 1,
2016, respectively.
The Senate Amendments deleted language that completely removed
the March 1, 2012, sunset date for the operation of EMAC and the
January 1, 2013, for the repeal of EMAC and instead extends the
sunset date to March 1, 2015, and January 1, 2016, respectively.
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
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and the decision of whether or not to provide assistance is
made based on the amount of resources available at the time of
emergency. Under the existing law, California's ratification
of EMAC expires on March 1, 2012, and as of January 1, 2013,
is repealed.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS :
Purpose of the bill : AB 1420 extends the current sunset
provision (AB 1564 (Nava, Chapter 414, Statutes of 2007)
applicable to the EMAC. The 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. The compact 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 ƯAB 823 (Nava)
Chapter 233, Statutes of 2005] to adopt EMAC. This provision
became effective September 13, 2005. In 2007, legislation ƯAB
1564 (Nava), Chapter 414, Statutes of 2007] 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
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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 Gulf States affected by
hurricanes Rita, Ike, and Gustav.
3)When southern California experienced catastrophic wild fires
in 2007, the state requested EMAC assistance. A total of
forty-three (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.
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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.
Analysis Prepared by : Felipe Lopez / G. O. / (916) 319-2531
FN: 0002670