Ratification of the state and province emergency management assistance compact

The procedures must include the sharing the available hazards analyses of the potential emergencies that the participating members might jointly suffer, emergency operational plans the members established before entering into the compact, and policies for resource mobilization, tracking, and reimbursement.

Participating members are required to assist with alerts and warnings to communities adjacent to or crossing the members' jurisdictional boundaries and provide for the movement of evacuees, refugees, and emergency personnel and equipment across their jurisdictional boundaries.

The compact allows for the temporary suspension, to the extent authorized by law, of statutes or ordinances that impede the response to an emergency or disaster.

Under the compact, the authorized representative of a participating member may request assistance from another member of the compact orally or in writing, specifying the emergency for which assistance is needed, the personnel, materials, and equipment needed, and the expected length of time the assistance is needed.

Compact members agree to respond to the request for assistance as soon as possible, but the compact allows a member to withhold or withdraw resources to protect its own jurisdiction. Under the compact, a person from the jurisdiction rendering aid is considered an agent of the requesting jurisdiction for purposes of tort liability or immunity. Immunity is provided under the compact for persons rendering aid for any act or omission made in good faith for maintenance or use of any equipment or supplies while rendering aid.

If a person from a member jurisdiction that is responding to a request for assistance has a license, permit or certificate evidencing a professional, mechanical, or other skill, that person may use those skills in the response to the emergency without obtaining a license, permit, or certificate in the assisted jurisdiction. If requested by the jurisdiction providing assistance under the compact, the jurisdiction that provided assistance shall be reimbursed for loss or expense incurred in provision of assistance. Participating jurisdictions may enter into agreements that specify the allocation of costs among those jurisdictions.