HOUSE BILL No. 4670

 

May 2, 2013, Introduced by Rep. McCready and referred to the Committee on Appropriations.

 

     A bill to amend 1976 PA 390, entitled

 

"Emergency management act,"

 

by amending sections 18 and 19 (MCL 30.418 and 30.419), as amended

 

by 1990 PA 50.

 

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:

 

     Sec. 18. (1) A disaster and emergency contingency fund is

 

created and shall be administered by the director. An annual

 

accounting of expenditures under this act shall be made to the

 

legislature and the legislature shall annually appropriate

 

sufficient funds to maintain the fund at a level not to exceed

 

$750,000.00 $8,500,000.00 and not less than

 

$30,000.00.$4,000,000.00. Unexpended and unencumbered funds

 

remaining in the disaster and emergency contingency fund at the end

 

of the fiscal year shall not lapse to the general fund and shall be

 


carried forward and be available for expenditure in subsequent

 

fiscal years.

 

     (2) The director may expend money from the disaster and

 

emergency contingency fund upon appropriation for the purpose of

 

paying necessary and reasonable overtime, travel, and subsistence

 

expenses incurred by an employee of an agency of the state acting

 

at the direction of the director in a disaster or emergency related

 

operation, and, with the concurrence of the governor or the

 

governor's designated representative, for other needs required for

 

the mitigation of the effects of, or in response to, a disaster or

 

emergency.

 

     (3) The director may place directly in the disaster and

 

emergency contingency fund a reimbursement for expenditures out of

 

the fund received from the federal government, or another source.

 

     (4) If a state of major disaster or emergency is declared by

 

the president of the United States, and when authorized by the

 

governor, an expenditure from the fund may be made by the director

 

upon appropriation to pay the state's matching share of grants as

 

provided by the disaster relief act of 1974, Public Law 93-288, 88

 

Stat. 143.

 

     Sec. 19. (1) Under extraordinary circumstances, upon the

 

declaration of a state of disaster or a state of emergency by the

 

governor and subject to the requirements of this subsection, the

 

governor may authorize an expenditure from the disaster and

 

emergency contingency fund to provide state assistance to counties

 

and municipalities when federal assistance is not available. If the

 

governor proclaims a state of disaster or a state of emergency, the

 


first recourse for disaster related expenses shall be to funds of

 

the county or municipality. If the demands placed upon the funds of

 

a county or municipality in coping with a particular disaster or

 

emergency are unreasonably great, the governing body of the county

 

or municipality may apply, by resolution of the local governing

 

body, for a grant from the disaster and emergency contingency fund.

 

The resolution shall certify that the affected county or

 

municipality emergency operations plan was implemented in a timely

 

manner. The resolution shall set forth the purpose for which the

 

assistance is sought, the extent of damages sustained, and certify

 

an exhaustion of local efforts. Assistance grants under this

 

section shall not exceed $30,000.00 or 10% of the total annual

 

operating budget for the preceding fiscal year of the county or

 

municipality, whichever is less. The assistance under this

 

subsection is to provide grants, excluding reimbursement for

 

capital outlay expenditures, in mitigation of the extraordinary

 

burden of a county or municipality in relation to its available

 

resources.

 

     (2) The director shall promulgate rules governing the

 

application and eligibility for the use of the state disaster and

 

emergency contingency fund. Rules that have been promulgated prior

 

to December 31, 1988 to implement this section shall remain in

 

effect until revised or replaced. The rules shall include, but not

 

be limited to, all of the following:

 

     (a) Demonstration of exhaustion of local effort.

 

     (b) Evidence that the applicant is a county that actively

 

maintains an emergency management program, reviewed by and

 


determined to be current and adequate by the emergency management

 

division of the department, before the disaster or emergency for

 

which assistance is being requested occurs. If the applicant is a

 

municipality with a population of 10,000 or more, evidence that the

 

municipality either maintains a separate emergency management

 

program, reviewed by and determined to be current and adequate by

 

the emergency management division of the department, before the

 

disaster or emergency for which assistance is being requested or

 

occurs, or the municipality is incorporated in the county emergency

 

management program.

 

     (c) Evidence that the applicable county or municipal emergency

 

operations plan was implemented in a timely manner at the beginning

 

of the disaster or emergency.

 

     (d) Reimbursement for expenditures shall be limited to public

 

damage and direct loss as a result of the disaster or emergency, or

 

expenses incurred by the applicant for reimbursing employees for

 

disaster or emergency related activities which were not performed

 

as a part of their normal duties, or for other needs required

 

specifically for the mitigation of the effects, or in response to

 

the disaster or emergency.

 

     (e) A disaster assessment team established by the emergency

 

management division of the department has substantiated the damages

 

claimed by the applicant. Damage estimates submitted by the

 

applicant shall be based upon a disaster assessment carried out by

 

the applicant according to standard procedures recommended by the

 

emergency management division.