HB4410 94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB094 04959 MKM 34989 b

94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2005 and 2006
HB4410

Introduced 1/5/2006, by Rep. Ronald A. Wait

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

New Act
30 ILCS 805/8.29 new

Creates the Intrastate Mutual Aid Act. Establishes the Intrastate Mutual Aid System in order to facilitate (i) the prevention of, response to, and recovery from disasters and (ii) disaster-related exercises, testing, and other training activities among participating political subdivisions. Provides that each political subdivision of the State, including each home rule unit, is a participant in the System unless it opts out of the System. Establishes the Intrastate Mutual Aid Committee to coordinate the System. Establishes the responsibilities, limitations, and reimbursement procedures of participants. Authorizes a participant requesting assistance to deem certain licenses, certificates, and permits valid for the duration of a declared state of emergency. Provides that employees of a participant are entitled to certain benefits. Provides that all activities performed under the Act are deemed governmental functions and no participant or its employee shall be deemed civilly liable for damages under the Act. Denies immunity, rights, or privileges to any individual whose response was not requested or authorized by a participant. Amends the State Mandates Act to require implementation without reimbursement by the State. Effective immediately.

FISCAL NOTE ACT MAY APPLY

HOME RULE NOTE ACT MAY APPLY

STATE MANDATES ACT MAY REQUIRE REIMBURSEMENT

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning local government.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the Intrastate Mutual Aid Act.

Section 5. Purpose. The purpose of this Act is to create a system of intrastate mutual aid between participating political subdivisions in the State. Each participant in this system recognizes that emergencies transcend political and jurisdictional boundaries and that the creation of a network of intergovernmental coordination is essential for the protection of lives and property and for the best use of both public and private assets in responding to emergencies.

Section 10. Definitions. As used in this Act:

"Committee" means the Intrastate Mutual Aid Committee established under Section 15.

"Director" means the Director of the Illinois Emergency Management Agency.

"Disaster" means an occurrence or threat of widespread or severe damage, injury, or loss of life or property resulting from any natural or technological cause, including, but not limited to, fire, flood, earthquake, wind, storm, hazardous materials spill or other water contamination requiring emergency action to avert danger or damage, epidemic, air contamination, blight, extended periods of severe and inclement weather, drought, infestation, critical shortages of essential fuels and energy, explosion, riot, hostile military or paramilitary action, public health emergencies, or acts of domestic terrorism.

"Emergency" means (i) a state of emergency declared by the corporate authorities of a participant or (ii) any occurrence or imminent threat of an illness or health condition that:

(a) is believed to be caused by any of the following:

(1) bioterrorism;

(2) the appearance of a novel or previously controlled or eradicated infectious agent or biological toxin;

(3) a natural disaster;

(4) a chemical attack or accidental release; or

(5) a nuclear attack or accident; and

(b) poses a high probability of any of the following harms:

(1) a large number of deaths in the affected population;

(2) a large number of serious or long-term disabilities in the affected population; or

(3) widespread exposure to an infectious or toxic agent that poses a significant risk of substantial future harm to a large number of people in the affected population.

"Emergency responder" means any person, public entity, or private entity with special skills, qualifications, training, knowledge, and experience that is requested or authorized by a participating political subdivision to (i) respond to a disaster or a locally-declared state of emergency or (ii) to participate in an authorized drill or exercise. An emergency responder may be required by a participating political subdivision to possess a license, certificate, permit, or other official recognition of expertise in a particular field or area of knowledge. An emergency responder includes, but is not limited to, the following: law enforcement officers, fire fighters, emergency medical services personnel, physicians, nurses, other public health personnel, emergency management personnel, public works personnel, those persons with specialized equipment operations skills or training or any other skills needed to provide aid in a disaster or state of emergency.

"Identification system" means a system for identifying potential hazards that is common to all participating political subdivisions and that has been approved by the Illinois Emergency Management Agency.

"Participant" means a participating political subdivision.

"Participating political subdivision" means any political subdivision that has not opted out of the Intrastate Mutual Aid System in accordance with Section 10.

"Political subdivision" means means any county, city, village, or township if the township is in a county having a population of more than 2,000,000.

Section 15. Intrastate Mutual Aid System.

(a) The Intrastate Mutual Aid System is established as a cooperative network of participating political subdivisions of the State that shall work together to provide mutual aid in the event of a disaster and to improve local disaster preparedness. The System shall facilitate cooperation among participants concerning: (i) the prevention of, response to, and recovery from disasters and (ii) disaster-related exercises, testing, and other training activities.

(b) Upon the effective date of this Act, all political subdivisions of the State, including home rule units, are participants in the System. Any political subdivision may elect not to be a participant and withdraw from the System if the corporate authorities of that political subdivision: (i) adopt a resolution declaring that it elects not to participate in the System and (ii) deliver a copy of that resolution to the Director. This Act does not preclude any participating political subdivision from entering into mutual aid agreements with any other political subdivision and does not affect any other existing agreement between a participating political subdivision and any other political subdivision. Participating political subdivisions shall be eligible, to the fullest extent possible, for State and federal disaster funding.

Section 20. Intrastate Mutual Aid Committee.

(a) There is hereby established the Intrastate Mutual Aid Committee. The Committee shall consist of the following members: (i) the Director or his or her designee; and (ii) 8 members appointed by the Governor with the advice and consent of the Senate who have expertise in the field of emergency management or emergency response. The Director shall serve as chairman of the Committee. Members of the Committee shall serve a 2-year term. The terms of initial members shall commence 30 days after the effective date of this Act.

(b) The Committee shall meet at the call of the chairman and must hold at least one annual meeting in order to:

(1) review the progress and status of the Intrastate Mutual Aid System;

(2) develop methods of tracking and evaluating the Intrastate Mutual Aid System; and

(3) examine issues facing participating units of local government regarding the implementation of this Act.

(4) develop comprehensive guidelines and procedures for the participants concerning:

(i) projected or anticipated costs of providing assistance;

(ii) procedures for requesting and providing assistance;

(iii) record keeping and reimbursement procedures, including the forms required for reimbursement requests; and

(iv) procedures to document the deployment and return of participants' assets.

(c) The Committee shall prepare an annual report on the condition and effectiveness of the Intrastate Mutual Aid System and shall submit it to the General Assembly within 30 days after its annual meeting. The report shall include recommendations for correcting any deficiencies in the System.

(d) Members of the committee shall serve without compensation but may be reimbursed for their reasonable travel expenses from moneys appropriated for that purpose.

Section 25. Responsibilities of participating political subdivisions. Each participating political subdivision shall:

(1) adopt, implement, and use a standardized identification system approved by the Illinois Emergency Management Agency in order to identify potential hazards;

(2) conduct joint planning, intelligence sharing, and threat assessment development sessions with contiguous participating political subdivisions;

(3) conduct biennial joint training sessions with other participants.

(4) identify and inventory its existing services, equipment, supplies, personnel, and other resources available for planning, prevention, mitigation, response, and recovery activities.

Section 30. Requests for assistance. Any participant may request assistance from any other participant in order to: (i) prevent, mitigate, respond to, or recover from a disaster or (ii) conduct disaster drills or exercises. Requests for assistance shall be made to the corporate authorities of the participant and must be reported by the requesting participant to the Director. If a written request is not practical, the request shall be put in writing as soon as is practical.

Section 35. Limitations. A participant's obligation to provide assistance to another participant is subject to the following conditions:

(1) The requesting participant must have declared a state of emergency or must have authorized drills and exercises.

(2) The responding participant may withhold resources from the requesting participant to the extent necessary to provide reasonable protection and services for the responding participant's jurisdiction.

(3) The emergency responders of a responding participant shall remain under its command and control with regard to medical protocols, standard operating procedures, and other protocols, but shall be under the operational control of the appropriate officials within the incident management system of the requesting participant.

(4) The assets and equipment of the responding participant shall continue to be the assets and equipment of the responding participant, but shall be under the operational control of the appropriate officials within the incident management system of the requesting participant.

Section 40. License, certificate, and permit reciprocity. If a person or entity holds a license, certificate, or permit issued by a participant or the State evidencing qualification in a professional, mechanical, or other skill and if the assistance of that person or entity is requested by a participant, the requesting participant may deem that person or entity to be licensed, certified, or permitted within that participant's jurisdiction while that participant is availing itself of that person's or entity's services. However, the validity of the license, certificate, or permit within the requesting participant's jurisdiction is subject to any limitations and conditions of that participant.

Section 45. Reimbursement.

(a) Any participant that receives assistance from another participant under this Act shall reimburse the responding participant for its costs incurred in providing the assistance by making a request for reimbursement to the corporate authorities of the responding participant in accordance with procedures established by the Committee. At its discretion, the responding participant may donate any of the assets or services it provided.

(b) Should a dispute arise between participants regarding reimbursement, the participants shall make every effort to resolve the dispute within 30 days after written notice of the dispute is delivered by the participant asserting noncompliance to all other participants that are parties to the dispute. If the dispute is not resolved within 90 days after the notice of the dispute, any party may request that the dispute be resolved through arbitration. Any arbitration under this Section shall be conducted under the commercial arbitration rules of the American Arbitration Association.

Section 50. Workers' benefits. Employees of a responding participant who render assistance in accordance with this Act and who sustain injury or death in the course of, and arising out of, their employment while rendering that assistance are entitled to all applicable benefits normally available to employees while performing their duties for the responding participant. Emergency responders shall receive any additional State and federal benefits that may be available to them for line of duty deaths.

Section 55. Immunity.

(a) All activities performed by any participant or employee of a participant under this Act are deemed to be governmental functions. For the purposes of liability, all persons responding under the operational control of a requesting participant are deemed to be employees of that participant. Neither a participant nor its employees, except in cases of willful misconduct, gross negligence, or bad faith, shall be liable for the death of or injury to persons, or for damage to property, when complying or attempting to comply with this Act.

(b) This Act provides no immunity, rights, or privileges for any individual responding in accordance with this Act if that individual's response is not requested or authorized by a participating political subdivision.

Section 60. Home rule. All political subdivisions of the State, including home rule units, are subject to the provisions of this Act. A home rule unit may not regulate mutual aid for disaster recovery in a manner inconsistent with the provisions of this Act. This Act is a denial and limitation of home rule functions under subsection (i) of Section 6 of Article VII of the Illinois Constitution.

Section 65. Exempt mandate. Notwithstanding Sections 6 and 8 of the State Mandates Act, no reimbursement by the State is required for the implementation of any mandate created by this Act.

Section 90. Severability. The provisions of this Act are severable under Section 1.31 of the Statute on Statutes.

Section 900. The State Mandates Act is amended by adding Section 8.29 as follows:

(30 ILCS 805/8.29 new)

Sec. 8.29. Exempt mandate. Notwithstanding Sections 6 and 8 of this Act, no reimbursement by the State is required for the implementation of any mandate created by the Intrastate Mutual Aid Act.

Section 999. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon becoming law.