S*1335 Session 111 (1995-1996)
S*1335(Rat #0463, Act #0438 of 1996) General Bill, By Drummond
A Bill to amend Chapter 9, Title 25, Code of Laws of South Carolina, 1976,
relating to emergency measures, by adding Article 5 enacting the Southern
Regional Emergency Management Assistance Compact in order to provide for
mutual assistance between the member states in managing emergencies or
disasters duly declared by the Governor of the affected state and mutual
cooperation in emergency-related exercises and training activities.
04/04/96 Senate Introduced and read first time SJ-14
04/04/96 Senate Referred to Committee on Judiciary SJ-14
04/24/96 Senate Committee report: Favorable Judiciary SJ-18
04/25/96 Senate Read second time SJ-55
04/25/96 Senate Unanimous consent for third reading on next
legislative day SJ-55
04/26/96 Senate Read third time and sent to House SJ-8
04/30/96 House Introduced and read first time HJ-26
04/30/96 House Referred to Committee on Judiciary HJ-27
05/15/96 House Committee report: Favorable Judiciary HJ-13
05/21/96 House Read second time HJ-102
05/22/96 House Read third time and enrolled HJ-17
05/30/96 Ratified R 463
06/04/96 Signed By Governor
06/04/96 Effective date 06/04/96
07/02/96 Copies available
07/02/96 Act No. 438
(A438, R463, S1335)
AN ACT TO AMEND CHAPTER 9, TITLE 25, CODE OF LAWS
OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, RELATING TO EMERGENCY
MEASURES, BY ADDING ARTICLE 5 ENACTING THE SOUTHERN
REGIONAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT ASSISTANCE
COMPACT IN ORDER TO PROVIDE FOR MUTUAL ASSISTANCE
BETWEEN THE MEMBER STATES IN MANAGING EMERGENCIES
OR DISASTERS DULY DECLARED BY THE GOVERNOR OF THE
AFFECTED STATE AND MUTUAL COOPERATION IN
EMERGENCY-RELATED EXERCISES AND TRAINING
ACTIVITIES.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South
Carolina:
Compact entered
SECTION 1. Chapter 9, Title 25 of the 1976 Code is amended by
adding:
"Article 5
Southern Regional Emergency Management
Assistance Compact
Section 25-9-410. This article may be cited as the Southern Regional
Emergency Management Compact.
Section 25-9-420. The Southern Regional Emergency Management
Compact is enacted and entered into with all other states which adopt the
compact in a form substantially as follows:
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 thirty 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 wilful 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 lend 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 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.
ARTICLE XII - VALIDITY
This act 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 act and the applicability
thereto 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."
Time effective
SECTION 2. This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.
Approved the 4th day of June, 1996. |