AB 376

Under current law, regional structural collapse teams comprised of fire and

rescue personnel from local agencies contract with the Division of Emergency

Management in the Department of Military Affairs. The teams are required to

respond to structural collapse incidents that meet criteria established by the

division. Under current law, a team may respond only to incidents of structural

collapse. This bill changes the team's designation from being a structural collapse

team to an urban search and rescue task force, as designated by the National Fire

Protection Association and Emergency Management Accreditation program

standards. This change allows an urban search and rescue task force to respond to

any incident involving structural collapse, rope rescue, vehicle extrication,

machinery extrication, confined space, trench, excavation, and water operations.

Under current law, when a regional structural collapse team responds to an

incident, the team must make a good faith effort to identify the party who is

responsible for the structural collapse and provide that information to the Division

of Emergency Management to seek reimbursement from that party. Any

reimbursement to a regional structural collapse team is limited to the amounts

collected by the Division of Emergency Management. Under the bill, this limitation

on reimbursement is removed, and DMA must reimburse within 60 days local

agencies that provided services as part of an urban search and rescue task force if

agencies apply for reimbursement within 45 days of the conclusion of the task force's

deployment. DMA may seek reimbursement for those services from any responsible

party.

Under current law, regional emergency response teams consisting of hazardous

materials responders from local agencies are contracted with the Division of

Emergency Management. The teams are required to respond to certain releases of

hazardous materials. Under current law, the Division of Emergency Management

reimburses teams for response costs only if the team has made a good faith effort to

identify the person responsible for the release and that person cannot be identified,

or, if that person is identified, the team has received reimbursement from that person

to the extent that the person is financially able or has determined that the person

does not have adequate money or other resources to reimburse the regional

emergency response team. Under this bill, this limitation on reimbursement is

removed, and DMA must reimburse within 60 days local agencies that provided

services as part of a hazardous materials release emergency if agencies apply for

reimbursement within 45 days of the conclusion of the response team's deployment.

DMA may seek reimbursement for those services from any responsible party.

Under current law, local emergency response teams that respond to hazardous

materials emergencies may seek reimbursement from the Division of Emergency

Management if the team has responded in accordance with DMA rules for response

and if the team has made a good faith effort to identify and seek reimbursement from