The Legislature of this State hereby
ratifies a Compact on behalf of the State of Nevada with any other State
legally joining therein in the form substantially as follows:
Implementation
This section authorizes the Governor to implement Public Law
104-321, Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC), Articles 1
through 13, dated October 19, 1996.
Emergency Management Assistance Compact
ARTICLE I—PURPOSES 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
1. 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:
(a) 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.
(b) 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.
(c) Develop interstate procedures to fill any identified gaps and
to resolve any identified inconsistencies or overlaps in existing or
developed plans.
(d) Assist in warning communities adjacent to or crossing the state
boundaries.
(e) 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.
(f) Inventory and set procedures for the interstate loan and
delivery of human and material resources, together with procedures for
reimbursement or forgiveness.
(g) Provide, to the extent authorized by law, for temporary
suspension of any statutes.
2. 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 30 days of the verbal
request. Requests shall provide the following information:
(a) 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.
(b) The amount and type of personnel, equipment, materials and
supplies needed, and a reasonable estimate of the length of time they
will be needed.
(c) The specific place and time for staging of the assisting
party’s response and a point of contact at that location.
3. 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 exercise
or training for mutual aid and shall continue so long as the exercise 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 be prescribed 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
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 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 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
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
1. This Compact shall become operative immediately upon its
enactment into law by any two (2) States; thereafter, this Compact shall
become effective as to any other State upon its enactment by such State.
2. Any party State may withdraw from this Compact by enacting a
statute repealing the same, but no such withdrawal shall take effect
until 30 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.
3. 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
the Act and the applicability thereof 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.
(Added to NRS by 1975, 145; A 2005, 1559 )
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