[Congressional Bills 104th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Printing Office]
[H.J. Res. 193 Enrolled Bill (ENR)]
H.J. Res.193
One Hundred Fourth Congress
of the
United States of America
AT THE SECOND SESSION
Begun and held at the City of Washington on Wednesday,
the third day of January, one thousand nine hundred and ninety-six
Joint Resolution
Granting the consent of Congress to the Emergency Management Assistance
Compact.
Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States of America in Congress assembled,

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The Congress consents to the Emergency Management Assistance
Compact entered into by Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana,
Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South
Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. The compact reads
substantially as follows:
``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 compact, 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
disaster that is duly declared by the Governor of the affected state,
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 that 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:
``1. 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 resources shortages, civil disorders,
insurgency, or enemy attack;
``2. 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;
``3. Develop interstate procedures to fill any identified gaps
and to resolve any identified inconsistencies or overlaps in
existing or developed plans;
``4. Assist in warning communities adjacent to or crossing the
state boundaries;
``5. 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;
``6. Inventory and set procedures for the interstate loan and
delivery of human and material resources, together with procedures
for reimbursement or forgiveness; and
``7. 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 to another party state by contacting the authorized
representative of that state. The provisions of this compact 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:
``1. A description of the emergency service function for which
assistance is needed, including, 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;
``2. The amount and type of personnel, equipment, materials and
supplies needed, and a reasonable estimate of the length of time
they will be needed; and
``3. 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
emergency or disaster by the governor of the party state that is to
receive assistance or upon 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, 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. 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 compact contains elements
of a broad base common to all states, and nothing herein shall preclude
any state 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
pursuantto 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 article.
``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 effective immediately upon its
enactment into law by any two states. Thereafter, this compact shall
become effective as to any other state upon 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 compact shall be construed to effectuate the purposes stated
in Article I. 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.
``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 Sec. 1385 of Title
18 of the United States Code.''.

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The right to alter, amend, or repeal this joint resolution is
hereby expressly reserved. The consent granted by this joint resolution
shall--
(1) not be construed as impairing or in any manner affecting
any right or jurisdiction of the United States in and over the
subject of the compact;
(2) not be construed as consent to the National Guard Mutual
Assistance Compact;
(3) be construed as understanding that the first paragraph of
Article II of the compact provides that emergencies will require
procedures to provide immediate access to existing resources to
make a prompt and effective response;
(4) not be construed as providing authority in Article III A.
7. that does not otherwise exist for the suspension of statutes or
ordinances;
(5) be construed as understanding that Article III C. does not
impose any affirmative obligation to exchange information, plans,
and resource records on the United States or any party which has
not entered into the compact; and
(6) be construed as understanding that Article XIII does not
affect the authority of the President over the National Guard
provided by article I of the Constitution and title 10 of the
United States Code.

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It is intended that the provisions of this compact shall be
reasonably and liberally construed to effectuate the purposes thereof.
If any part or application of this compact, or legislation enabling the
compact, is held invalid, the remainder of the compact or its
application to other situations or persons shall not be affected.

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The validity of this compact shall not be affected by any
insubstantial difference in its form or language as adopted by the
States.
Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Vice President of the United States and
President of the Senate.

34fd70283e69eb6300c36c9fe1246c1ad312b16724ff89594282596ee1578676

Granting the consent of Congress to the Emergency Management Assistance Compact. — HJRES. 193

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