CHAPTER 778. EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT ASSISTANCE COMPACT
HEALTH AND SAFETY CODE
TITLE 9. SAFETY
SUBTITLE B. EMERGENCIES
CHAPTER 778. EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT ASSISTANCE COMPACT
Sec. 778.001. EXECUTION OF INTERSTATE COMPACT. This state
enacts the Emergency Management Assistance Compact and enters
into the compact with all other states legally joining in the
compact in substantially the following form:
EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT ASSISTANCE COMPACT
ARTICLE I--PURPOSE AND AUTHORITIES
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 U.S. territorial
possessions.
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(s), whether arising from natural disaster,
technological hazard, man-made disaster, civil emergency aspects
of resources shortages, community disorders, insurgency, or enemy
attack.
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.
ARTICLE II--GENERAL IMPLEMENTATION
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.
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.
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.
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:
i. 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.
ii. 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.
iii. Develop interstate procedures to fill any identified gaps
and to resolve any identified inconsistencies or overlaps in
existing or developed plans.
iv. Assist in warning communities adjacent to or crossing the
state boundaries.
v. 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.
vi. Inventory and set procedures for the interstate loan and
delivery of human and material resources, together with
procedures for reimbursement or forgiveness.
vii. 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 30
days of the verbal request. Requests shall provide the following
information:
i. 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.
ii. The amount and type of personnel, equipment, materials and
supplies needed, and a reasonable estimate of the length of time
they will be needed.
iii. 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.
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(s), whichever
is longer.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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/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.
ARTICLE XI--IMPLEMENTATION
A. This compact shall become operative immediately upon its
enactment into law by any two (2) 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 30 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.
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.
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 Section 1385 of Title 18, United States Code.
Added by Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 169, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1,
1997.