20 ILCS 3305/10

(20 ILCS 3305/10) (from Ch. 127, par. 1060)

Sec. 10. Emergency Services and Disaster Agencies.

(a) Each political subdivision within this State shall be within the jurisdiction of and served by the Illinois Emergency Management Agency and by an emergency services and disaster agency responsible for emergency management programs. A township, if the township is in a county having a population of more than 2,000,000, must have approval of the county coordinator before establishment of a township emergency services and disaster agency.

(b) Unless multiple county emergency services and disaster agency consolidation is authorized by the Illinois Emergency Management Agency with the consent of the respective counties, each county shall maintain an emergency services and disaster agency that has jurisdiction over and serves the entire county, except as otherwise provided under this Act and except that in any county with a population of over 3,000,000 containing a municipality with a population of over 500,000 the jurisdiction of the county agency shall not extend to the municipality when the municipality has established its own agency.

(c) Each municipality with a population of over 500,000 shall maintain an emergency services and disaster agency which has jurisdiction over and serves the entire municipality. A municipality with a population less than 500,000 may establish, by ordinance, an agency or department responsible for emergency management within the municipality's corporate limits.

(d) The Governor shall determine which municipal corporations, other than those specified in paragraph (c) of this Section, need emergency services and disaster agencies of their own and require that they be established and maintained. The Governor shall make these determinations on the basis of the municipality's disaster vulnerability and capability of response related to population size and concentration. The emergency services and disaster agency of a county or township, shall not have a jurisdiction within a political subdivision having its own emergency services and disaster agency, but shall cooperate with the emergency services and disaster agency of a city, village or incorporated town within their borders. The Illinois Emergency Management Agency shall publish and furnish a current list to the municipalities required to have an emergency services and disaster agency under this subsection.

(e) Each municipality that is not required to and does not have an emergency services and disaster agency shall have a liaison officer designated to facilitate the cooperation and protection of that municipal corporation with the county emergency services and disaster agency in which it is located in the work of disaster mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery.

(f) The principal executive officer or his or her designee of each political subdivision in the State shall annually notify the Illinois Emergency Management Agency of the manner in which the political subdivision is providing or securing emergency management, identify the executive head of the agency or the department from which the service is obtained, or the liaison officer in accordance with paragraph (d) of this Section and furnish additional information relating thereto as the Illinois Emergency Management Agency requires.

(g) Each emergency services and disaster agency shall prepare an emergency operations plan for its geographic boundaries that complies with planning, review, and approval standards promulgated by the Illinois Emergency Management Agency. The Illinois Emergency Management Agency shall determine which jurisdictions will be required to include earthquake preparedness in their local emergency operations plans.

(h) The emergency services and disaster agency shall prepare and distribute to all appropriate officials in written form a clear and complete statement of the emergency responsibilities of all local departments and officials and of the disaster chain of command.

(i) Each emergency services and disaster agency shall have a Coordinator who shall be appointed by the principal executive officer of the political subdivision in the same manner as are the heads of regular governmental departments. If the political subdivision is a county and the principal executive officer appoints the sheriff as the Coordinator, the sheriff may, in addition to his or her regular compensation, receive compensation at the same level as provided in Section 3 of "An Act in relation to the regulation of motor vehicle traffic and the promotion of safety on public highways in counties", approved August 9, 1951, as amended. The Coordinator shall have direct responsibility for the organization, administration, training, and operation of the emergency services and disaster agency, subject to the direction and control of that principal executive officer. Each emergency services and disaster agency shall coordinate and may perform emergency management functions within the territorial limits of the political subdivision within which it is organized as are prescribed in and by the State Emergency Operations Plan, and programs, orders, rules and regulations as may be promulgated by the Illinois Emergency Management Agency and by local ordinance and, in addition, shall conduct such functions outside of those territorial limits as may be required under mutual aid agreements and compacts as are entered into under subparagraph (5) of paragraph (c) of Section 6.

(j) In carrying out the provisions of this Act, each political subdivision may enter into contracts and incur obligations necessary to place it in a position effectively to combat the disasters as are described in Section 4, to protect the health and safety of persons, to protect property, and to provide emergency assistance to victims of those disasters. If a disaster occurs, each political subdivision may exercise the powers vested under this Section in the light of the exigencies of the disaster and, excepting mandatory constitutional requirements, without regard to the procedures and formalities normally prescribed by law pertaining to the performance of public work, entering into contracts, the incurring of obligations, the employment of temporary workers, the rental of equipment, the purchase of supplies and materials, and the appropriation, expenditure, and disposition of public funds and property.

(k) Volunteers who, while engaged in a disaster, an exercise, training related to the emergency operations plan of the political subdivision, or a search-and-rescue team response to an occurrence or threat of injury or loss of life that is beyond local response capabilities, suffer disease, injury or death, shall, for the purposes of benefits under the Workers' Compensation Act or Workers' Occupational Diseases Act only, be deemed to be employees of the State, if: (1) the claimant is a duly qualified and enrolled (sworn in) as a volunteer of the Illinois Emergency Management Agency or an emergency services and disaster agency accredited by the Illinois Emergency Management Agency, and (2) if: (i) the claimant was participating in a disaster as defined in Section 4 of this Act, (ii) the exercise or training participated in was specifically and expressly approved by the Illinois Emergency Management Agency prior to the exercise or training, or (iii) the search-and-rescue team response was to an occurrence or threat of injury or loss of life that was beyond local response capabilities and was specifically and expressly approved by the Illinois Emergency Management Agency prior to the search-and-rescue team response. The computation of benefits payable under either of those Acts shall be based on the income commensurate with comparable State employees doing the same type work or income from the person's regular employment, whichever is greater.

Volunteers who are working under the direction of an emergency services and disaster agency accredited by the Illinois Emergency Management Agency, pursuant to a plan approved by the Illinois Emergency Management Agency (i) during a disaster declared by the Governor under Section 7 of this Act, or (ii) in circumstances otherwise expressly approved by the Illinois Emergency Management Agency, shall be deemed exclusively employees of the State for purposes of Section 8(d) of the Court of Claims Act, provided that the Illinois Emergency Management Agency may, in coordination with the emergency services and disaster agency, audit implementation for compliance with the plan.

(l) If any person who is entitled to receive benefits through the application of this Section receives, in connection with the disease, injury or death giving rise to such entitlement, benefits under an Act of Congress or federal program, benefits payable under this Section shall be reduced to the extent of the benefits received under that other Act or program.

(m) (1) Prior to conducting an exercise, the principal executive officer of a political subdivision or his or her designee shall provide area media with written notification of the exercise. The notification shall indicate that information relating to the exercise shall not be released to the public until the commencement of the exercise. The notification shall also contain a request that the notice be so posted to ensure that all relevant media personnel are advised of the exercise before it begins.

(2) During the conduct of an exercise, all messages, two-way radio communications, briefings, status reports, news releases, and other oral or written communications shall begin and end with the following statement: "This is an exercise message".

(Source: P.A. 94-733, eff. 4-27-06.)