Sec. 22a-601. Connecticut Emergency Response Commission established. Members. Duties.
Sec. 22a-601. Connecticut Emergency Response Commission established.
Members. Duties. (a) There is established a Connecticut Emergency Response Commission which shall be within the Department of Environmental Protection. The commission shall consist of nineteen members as follows: The Commissioners of Environmental Protection, Emergency Management and Homeland Security, Public Safety,
Public Health and Transportation, the Labor Commissioner, the Secretary of the Office
of Policy and Management, the Adjutant General of the Military Department, the State
Fire Marshal and the State Fire Administrator, or their designees, and nine members
appointed by the Governor, four of whom shall represent the public, three of whom
shall represent owners or operators of facilities, one of whom shall be the fire chief of
a municipal fire department whose employees are compensated for their services and
one of whom shall be the fire chief of a volunteer fire department. Members of the
commission appointed by the Governor shall serve for two years. The Governor shall
fill any vacancy in the office of an appointed member for the unexpired portion of
the term. Members of the commission shall serve without compensation but shall be
reimbursed for necessary expenses incurred in the performance of their duties. The
chairperson of the commission shall be appointed by the Governor and shall serve at
his pleasure.
(b) The commission shall implement the provisions of the Emergency Planning
and Community Right-to-Know Act and shall designate local planning districts. The
commission shall establish a local emergency planning committee for each local planning district. Each committee shall include, at a minimum, representatives from each
of the following categories: State and local elected officials; law enforcement, fire-fighting, civil defense, public health, local environmental, hospital and transportation
personnel; members of the broadcast and print media; members of community groups;
and owners and operators of facilities subject to the requirements of section 22a-607.
The members of each committee shall be appointed by the commission, provided each
municipality located within a committee's local planning district shall be represented
by at least one member of the committee. The boundaries of the districts and membership
may be revised by the commission as it deems necessary.
(P.A. 88-246, S. 5; P.A. 89-212, S. 2; P.A. 91-172, S. 1; P.A. 92-72, S. 1, 2; P.A. 93-381, S. 9, 39; P.A. 95-257, S. 12,
21, 58; P.A. 99-190, S. 6, 9; P.A. 04-219, S. 9.)
History: P.A. 89-212 amended Subsec. (a) by making technical change substituting office of emergency management
for office of civil preparedness and amended Subsec. (b) to require establishment of local emergency planning committees
membership requirements; P.A. 91-172 expanded the membership of the commission, adding the commissioner of labor
and increasing the number of gubernatorial appointments from seven to nine, adding fire chiefs of a municipal and volunteer
department; P.A. 92-72 amended Subsec. (a) to change the designation of the commission within the department of environmental protection by deleting "for administrative purposes only"; P.A. 93-381 replaced commissioner of health services
with commissioner of public health and addiction services, effective July 1, 1993; P.A. 95-257 replaced Commissioner
and Department of Public Health and Addiction Services with Commissioner and Department of Public Health, effective
July 1, 1995 (Revisor's note: In Subsec. (a) reference to "Commissioners of the Departments of Environmental Protection,
Public Safety ... Labor and Transportation" was replaced editorially by the Revisors with "Commissioners of Environmental
Protection, Public Safety, Public Health and Transportation, the Labor Commissioner," for consistency with customary
statutory usage); P.A. 99-190 amended Subsec. (a) by adding the Adjutant General of the Military Department as member
of the commission, effective July 1, 1999; P.A. 04-219 amended Subsec. (a) to substitute Commissioner of Emergency
Management and Homeland Security for director of the Office of Emergency Management, effective January 1, 2005.