29C.21 - EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT ASSISTANCE COMPACT.
29C.21 EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT ASSISTANCE COMPACT.
The interstate emergency management assistance compact is entered
into with all other states which enter into the compact in
substantially the following form:
1. Article I -- Purpose and authorities.
a. This compact is made and entered into by and between the
participating member states which enact this compact, hereinafter
called party states. For the purposes of this agreement, the term
"states" is taken to mean the several states, the Commonwealth of
Puerto Rico, the District of Columbia, and all United States
territorial possessions.
b. The purpose of this compact is to provide for mutual
assistance between the states entering into this compact in managing
any emergency or disaster that is duly declared by the governor of
the affected state, whether arising from natural disaster,
technological hazard, man-made disaster, civil emergency aspects of
resource shortages, community disorders, insurgency, or enemy attack.
c. This compact shall also provide for mutual cooperation in
emergency-related exercises, testing, or other training activities
using equipment and personnel simulating performance of any aspect of
the giving and receiving of aid by party states or subdivisions of
party states during emergencies, such actions occurring outside
actual declared emergency periods. Mutual assistance in this compact
may include the use of the states' national guard forces, either in
accordance with the national guard mutual assistance compact or by
mutual agreement between states.
2. Article II -- General implementation.
a. Each party state entering into this compact recognizes
many emergencies transcend political jurisdictional boundaries and
that intergovernmental coordination is essential in managing these
and other emergencies under this compact. Each state further
recognizes that there will be emergencies which require immediate
access and present procedures to apply outside resources to make a
prompt and effective response to such an emergency. This is because
few, if any, individual states have all the resources they may need
in all types of emergencies or the capability of delivering resources
to areas where emergencies exist.
b. The prompt, full, and effective utilization of resources
of the participating states, including any resources on hand or
available from the federal government or any other source, that are
essential to the safety, care, and welfare of the people in the event
of any emergency or disaster declared by a party state, shall be the
underlying principle on which all articles of this compact shall be
understood.
c. On behalf of the governor of each state participating in
the compact, the legally designated state official who is assigned
responsibility for emergency management will be responsible for
formulation of the appropriate interstate mutual aid plans and
procedures necessary to implement this compact.
3. Article III -- Party state responsibilities.
a. It shall be the responsibility of each party state to
formulate procedural plans and programs for interstate cooperation in
the performance of the responsibilities listed in this article. In
formulating such plans, and in carrying them out, the party states,
insofar as practical, shall:
(1) Review individual state hazards analyses and, to the extent
reasonably possible, determine all those potential emergencies the
party states might jointly suffer, whether due to natural disaster,
technological hazard, man-made disaster, emergency aspects of
resource shortages, civil disorders, insurgency, or enemy attack.
(2) Review party states' individual emergency plans and develop a
plan which will determine the mechanism for the interstate management
and provision of assistance concerning any potential emergency.
(3) Develop interstate procedures to fill any identified gaps and
to resolve any identified inconsistencies or overlaps in existing or
developed plans.
(4) Assist in warning communities adjacent to or crossing the
state boundaries.
(5) Protect and assure uninterrupted delivery of services,
medicines, water, food, energy and fuel, search and rescue, and
critical lifeline equipment, services, and resources, both human and
material.
(6) Inventory and set procedures for the interstate loan and
delivery of human and material resources, together with procedures
for reimbursement or forgiveness.
(7) Provide, to the extent authorized by law, for temporary
suspension of any statutes or ordinances that restrict the
implementation of the above responsibilities.
b. The authorized representative of a party state may request
assistance of another party state by contacting the authorized
representative of that state. The provisions of this agreement shall
only apply to requests for assistance made by and to authorized
representatives. Requests may be verbal or in writing. If verbal,
the request shall be confirmed in writing within thirty days of the
verbal request. Requests shall provide all of the following:
(1) A description of the emergency service function for which
assistance is needed, such as but not limited to fire services, law
enforcement, emergency medical, transportation, communications,
public works and engineering, building inspection, planning and
information assistance, mass care, resource support, health and
medical services, and search and rescue.
(2) The amount and type of personnel, equipment, materials and
supplies needed, and a reasonable estimate of the length of time they
will be needed.
(3) The specific place and time for staging of the assisting
party's response and a point of contact at that location.
c. There shall be frequent consultation between state
officials who have assigned emergency management responsibilities and
other appropriate representatives of the party states with affected
jurisdictions and the United States government, with free exchange of
information, plans, and resource records relating to emergency
capabilities.
4. Article IV -- Limitations. Any party state requested to
render mutual aid or conduct exercises and training for mutual aid
shall take such action as is necessary to provide and make available
the resources covered by this compact in accordance with the terms
hereof, provided that it is understood that the state rendering aid
may withhold resources to the extent necessary to provide reasonable
protection for such state. Each party state shall afford to the
emergency forces of any party state, while operating within its state
limits under the terms and conditions of this compact, the same
powers, except that of arrest unless specifically authorized by the
receiving state, duties, rights, and privileges as are afforded
forces of the state in which they are performing emergency services.
Emergency forces will continue under the command and control of their
regular leaders, but the organizational units will come under the
operational control of the emergency services authorities of the
state receiving assistance. These conditions may be activated, as
needed, only subsequent to a declaration of a state of emergency or
disaster by the governor of the party state that is to receive
assistance or commencement of exercises or training for mutual aid
and shall continue so long as the exercises or training for mutual
aid are in progress, the state of emergency or disaster remains in
effect, or loaned resources remain in the receiving state, whichever
is longer.
5. Article V -- Licenses and permits. Whenever any person
holds a license, certificate, or other permit issued by any state
party to the compact evidencing the meeting of qualifications for
professional, mechanical, or other skills, and when such assistance
is requested by the receiving party state, such person shall be
deemed licensed, certified, or permitted by the state requesting
assistance to render aid involving such skill to meet a declared
emergency or disaster, subject to such limitations and conditions as
the governor of the requesting state may prescribe by executive order
or otherwise.
6. Article VI -- Liability. Officers or employees of a party
state rendering aid in another state pursuant to this compact shall
be considered agents of the requesting state for tort liability and
immunity purposes; and no party state or its officers or employees
rendering aid in another state pursuant to this compact shall be
liable on account of any act or omission in good faith on the part of
such forces while so engaged or on account of the maintenance or use
of any equipment or supplies in connection therewith. Good faith in
this article shall not include willful misconduct, gross negligence,
or recklessness.
7. Article VII -- Supplementary agreements. Inasmuch as it
is probable that the pattern and detail of the machinery for mutual
aid among two or more states may differ from that among the states
that are party hereto, this instrument contains elements of a broad
base common to all states, and nothing herein contained shall
preclude any state from entering into supplementary agreements with
another state or affect any other agreements already in force between
states. Supplementary agreements may comprehend, but shall not be
limited to, provisions for evacuation and reception of injured and
other persons and the exchange of medical, fire, police, public
utility, reconnaissance, welfare, transportation and communications
personnel, and equipment and supplies.
8. Article VIII -- Compensation. Each party state shall
provide for the payment of compensation and death benefits to injured
members of the emergency forces of that state and representatives of
deceased members of such forces in case such members sustain injuries
or are killed while rendering aid pursuant to this compact, in the
same manner and on the same terms as if the injury or death were
sustained within their own state.
9. Article IX -- Reimbursement. Any party state rendering
aid in another state pursuant to this compact shall be reimbursed by
the party state receiving such aid for any loss or damage to or
expense incurred in the operation of any equipment and the provision
of any service in answering a request for aid and for the costs
incurred in connection with such requests; provided that any aiding
party state may assume in whole or in part such loss, damage,
expense, or other cost, or may loan such equipment or donate such
services to the receiving party state without charge or cost; and
provided further, that any two or more party states may enter into
supplementary agreements establishing a different allocation of costs
among those states. Article VIII expenses shall not be reimbursable
under this provision.
10. Article X -- Evacuation. Plans for the orderly
evacuation and interstate reception of portions of the civilian
population as the result of any emergency or disaster of sufficient
proportions to so warrant, shall be worked out and maintained between
the party states and the emergency management or services directors
of the various jurisdictions where any type of incident requiring
evacuations might occur. Such plans shall be put into effect by
request of the state from which evacuees come and shall include the
manner of transporting such evacuees, the number of evacuees to be
received in different areas, the manner in which food, clothing,
housing, and medical care will be provided, the registration of the
evacuees, the providing of facilities for the notification of
relatives or friends, and the forwarding of such evacuees to other
areas or the bringing in of additional materials, supplies, and all
other relevant factors. Such plans shall provide that the party
state receiving evacuees and the party state from which the evacuees
come shall mutually agree as to reimbursement of out-of-pocket
expenses incurred in receiving and caring for such evacuees, for
expenditures for transportation, food, clothing, medicines and
medical care, and like items. Such expenditures shall be reimbursed
as agreed by the party state from which the evacuees come. After the
termination of the emergency or disaster, the party state from which
the evacuees come shall assume the responsibility for the ultimate
support of repatriation of such evacuees.
11. Article XI -- Implementation.
a. This compact shall become operative immediately upon its
enactment into law by any two states; thereafter, this compact shall
become effective as to any other state upon its enactment by such
state.
b. Any party state may withdraw from this compact by enacting
a statute repealing the same, but no such withdrawal shall take
effect until thirty days after the governor of the withdrawing state
has given notice in writing of such withdrawal to the governors of
all other party states. Such action shall not relieve the
withdrawing state from obligations assumed hereunder prior to the
effective date of withdrawal.
c. Duly authenticated copies of this compact and of such
supplementary agreements as may be entered into shall, at the time of
their approval, be deposited with each of the party states and with
the federal emergency management agency and other appropriate
agencies of the United States government.
12. Article XII -- Validity. This compact shall be construed
to effectuate the purposes stated in article I hereof. If any
provision of this compact is declared unconstitutional, or the
applicability thereof to any person or circumstances is held invalid,
the constitutionality of the remainder of this compact and the
applicability thereof to other persons and circumstances shall not be
affected thereby.
13. Article XIII -- Additional provisions. Nothing in this
compact shall authorize or permit the use of military force by the
national guard of a state at any place outside that state in any
emergency for which the president is authorized by law to call into
federal service the militia, or for any purpose for which the use of
the army or the air force would in the absence of express statutory
authorization be prohibited under 18 U.S.C. § 1385. Section History: Early Form
[C62, § 28A.3; C66, 71, 73, 75, § 29C.3; C77, 79, 81, § 29C.21] Section History: Recent Form
97 Acts, ch 129, §1; 2008 Acts, ch 1032, §201
Referred to in § 29C.8, 135.143