SB 119

This bill ratifies a compact between several states and provinces of Canada that

would provide for the possibility of mutual assistance in managing an emergency or

disaster. Currently, the compact is being considered by Illinois, Indiana, Ohio,

Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, New York, and

Wisconsin and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario, and

Saskatchewan. The compact allows other states and provinces to ratify the compact.

Under the compact, participating members may cooperate in preparedness

exercises, testing, and training activities related to emergency management. Each

member is required to designate a person responsible for formulating mutual aid

plans and procedures necessary to implement the compact in his or her jurisdiction.

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.