29C.22 - STATEWIDE MUTUAL AID COMPACT.
29C.22 STATEWIDE MUTUAL AID COMPACT.
This statewide mutual aid compact is entered into with all other
emergency management commissions established pursuant to section
29C.9, counties, cities, and other political subdivisions that enter
into this 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 emergency management commissions established pursuant
to section 29C.9, counties, cities, and political subdivisions which
enact this compact. For the purposes of this agreement, the term
"participating governments" means emergency management
commissions, counties, cities, townships, and other political
subdivisions of the state which have not, through ordinance or
resolution of the governing body, acted to withdraw from this
compact. The inclusion of emergency management commissions in the
term "participating governments" shall not convey taxing
authority or other legal authority to emergency management
commissions that is not otherwise granted in this chapter.
b. The purpose of this compact is to provide for mutual
assistance between the participating governments entering into this
compact in managing any emergency or disaster that is declared in
accordance with a countywide comprehensive emergency operations plan
or by the governor, whether arising from natural disaster,
technological hazard, man-made disaster, community disorder,
insurgency, terrorism, 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 participating governments during
emergencies, such actions occurring outside actual declared emergency
periods.
2. Article II -- General implementation.
a. Each participating government 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
participating government 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
the emergency. This is because few, if any, individual governments
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 use of resources of the
participating governments, including any resources on hand or
available from any source, that are essential to the safety, care,
and welfare of the people in the event of any emergency or disaster
declared by the governor or any participating government, shall be
the underlying principle on which all articles of this compact shall
be understood.
c. On behalf of the participating government in the compact,
the legally designated official who is assigned responsibility for
emergency management will be responsible for formulation of the
appropriate intrastate mutual aid plans and procedures necessary to
implement this compact.
3. Article III -- Participating government responsibilities.
a. It shall be the responsibility of each participating
government to formulate procedural plans and programs for intrastate
cooperation in the performance of the responsibilities listed in this
article. In formulating the plans, and in carrying them out, the
participating governments, insofar as practical, shall:
(1) Review individual hazards analyses and, to the extent
reasonably possible, determine all those potential emergencies the
participating governments might jointly suffer, whether due to
natural disaster, technological hazard, man-made disaster, civil
disorders, insurgency, terrorism, or enemy attack.
(2) Review the participating governments' individual emergency
plans and develop a plan that will determine the mechanism for the
intrastate management and provision of assistance concerning any
potential emergency.
(3) Develop intrastate 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
participating governments' boundaries.
(5) Protect and ensure 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 intrastate 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 ordinances that restrict the implementation of the
above responsibilities.
b. The authorized representative of a participating
government may request assistance of another participating government
by contacting the authorized representative of that participating
government. The provisions of this compact 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 that
the personnel, equipment, materials, and supplies will be needed.
(3) The specific place and time for staging of the assisting
participating government's response and a point of contact at that
location.
c. The authorized representative of a participating
government may initiate a request by contacting the homeland security
and emergency management division of the state department of public
defense. When a request is received by the division, the division
shall directly contact other participating governments to coordinate
the provision of mutual aid.
d. Frequent consultation shall occur between officials who
have been assigned emergency management responsibilities and other
appropriate representatives of the participating governments with
affected jurisdictions and state government, with free exchange of
information, plans, and resource records relating to emergency
capabilities.
e. For purposes of this subsection, "authorized
representative of a participating government" means a mayor or the
mayor's designee, a member of the county board of supervisors or a
representative of the board, or an emergency management coordinator
or the coordinator's designee.
4. Article IV -- Limitations. Any participating government
requested to render mutual aid or conduct exercises and training for
mutual aid shall take the necessary action to provide and make
available the resources covered by this compact in accordance with
the terms of the compact. However, it is understood that the
participating government rendering aid may withhold resources to the
extent necessary to provide reasonable protection for the
participating government. Each participating government shall afford
to the emergency forces of any other participating government, while
operating within its jurisdictional limits under the terms and
conditions of this compact, the same powers, except that of arrest
unless specifically authorized by the receiving participating
government, duties, rights, and privileges as are afforded forces of
the participating government in which the emergency forces are
performing emergency services. Emergency forces shall continue under
the command and control of their regular leaders, but the
organizational units shall come under the operational control of the
emergency services authorities of the participating government
receiving assistance. These conditions may be activated, as needed,
only subsequent to a declaration of a state of emergency or disaster
by the governor or by competent authority of the participating
government 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 jurisdiction, whichever is longer.
5. Article V -- Licenses and permits. If a person holds a
license, certificate, or other permit issued by any participating
government to this compact evidencing the meeting of qualifications
for professional, mechanical, or other skills, and when the
assistance is requested by another participating government, the
person shall be deemed licensed, certified, or permitted by the
participating government requesting assistance to render aid
involving the skill to meet a declared emergency or disaster, subject
to the limitations and conditions as the governor may prescribe by
executive order or otherwise.
6. Article VI -- Liability. Officers or employees of a
participating government rendering aid in another participating
government jurisdiction pursuant to this compact shall be considered
agents of the requesting participating government for tort liability
and immunity purposes and a participating government or its officers
or employees rendering aid in another jurisdiction pursuant to this
compact shall not be liable on account of any act or omission in good
faith on the part of the forces while so engaged or on account of the
maintenance or use of any equipment or supplies in connection with
the aid. Good faith in this article shall not include willful
misconduct, gross negligence, or recklessness.
7. Article VII -- Supplementary agreements. Because it is
probable that the pattern and detail of the machinery for mutual aid
among two or more participating governments may differ from that
among other participating governments, this compact contains elements
of a broad base common to all political subdivisions, and this
compact shall not preclude any political subdivision from entering
into supplementary agreements with another political subdivision or
affect any other agreements already in force between political
subdivisions. Supplementary agreements may include, 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 -- Workers' compensation. Each participating
government shall provide for the payment of workers' compensation and
death benefits to injured members of the emergency forces of that
participating government and representatives of deceased members of
the emergency forces in case the 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 jurisdiction.
9. Article IX -- Reimbursement. Any participating government
rendering aid in another jurisdiction pursuant to this compact shall
be reimbursed by the participating government receiving the emergency
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 the requests.
However, an aiding political subdivision may assume in whole or in
part the loss, damage, expense, or other cost, or may loan the
equipment or donate the services to the receiving participating
government without charge or cost, and any two or more participating
governments may enter into supplementary agreements establishing a
different allocation of costs among the participating governments.
Article VIII expenses shall not be reimbursable under this provision.
10. Article X -- Evacuation and sheltering. Plans for the
orderly evacuation and reception of portions of the civilian
population as the result of any emergency or disaster shall be worked
out and maintained between the participating governments and the
emergency management or services directors of the various
jurisdictions where any type of incident requiring evacuations might
occur. The plans shall be put into effect by request of the
participating government from which evacuees come and shall include
the manner of transporting the 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 the evacuees to other
areas or the bringing in of additional materials, supplies, and all
other relevant factors. The plans shall provide that the
participating government receiving evacuees and the participating
government from which the evacuees come shall mutually agree as to
reimbursement of out-of-pocket expenses incurred in receiving and
caring for the evacuees, for expenditures for transportation, food,
clothing, medicines and medical care, and like items. The
expenditures shall be reimbursed as agreed by the participating
government from which the evacuees come. After the termination of
the emergency or disaster, the participating government 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 July 1, 2009.
b. Any participating government may withdraw from this
compact by adopting an ordinance or resolution repealing the same,
but a withdrawal shall not take effect until thirty days after the
governing body of the withdrawing participating government has given
notice in writing of the withdrawal to the administrator of the
homeland security and emergency management division who shall notify
all other participating governments. The action shall not relieve
the withdrawing political subdivision from obligations assumed under
this compact prior to the effective date of withdrawal.
c. Duly authenticated copies of this compact and any
supplementary agreements as may be entered into shall be deposited,
at the time of their approval, with the administrator of the homeland
security and emergency management division who shall notify all
participating governments and other appropriate agencies of state
government.
12. Article XII -- Validity. This compact shall be construed
to effectuate the purposes stated in article I. If any provision of
this compact is declared unconstitutional, or the applicability of
the compact to any person or circumstances is held invalid, the
constitutionality of the remainder of this compact and the
applicability of this compact to other persons and circumstances
shall not be affected. Section History: Recent Form
2002 Acts, ch 1117, §55, 56; 2003 Acts, ch 179, §157; 2008 Acts,
ch 1032, §201; 2009 Acts, ch 67, §1--4