(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 |