HB4576 97TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB097 17909 JDS 63132 b

97TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2011 and 2012
HB4576

Introduced 2/1/2012, by Rep. Donald L. Moffitt

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

New Act

Creates the Interstate Mutual Aid Act. Authorizes the State and units of local government to enter into mutual aid agreements with units of government from another state to provide for the coordination of communications, training, response to, and stand-by for planned events and emergency responses between the units of government. Contains provisions concerning licenses and certifications, liability, and employee benefits.

FISCAL NOTE ACT MAY APPLY

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning interstate mutual emergency aid.

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 Interstate Mutual Emergency Aid Act.

Section 5. Definitions. As used in this Act:

(a) "Emergency responder" means an individual who is required to possess a license, certificate, permit, or other official recognition for his or her expertise in a particular field or area of knowledge, and whose assistance is used or is desirable during an emergency. "Emergency responder" includes, but is not limited to: emergency medical services personnel; law enforcement officers; physicians; nurses; mental health, veterinary, or other public health practitioners; emergency management personnel; public works personnel; and firefighters, including firefighters trained in the areas of hazardous materials, specialized rescue, extrication, water rescue, or any other specialized area.

(b) "Mutual aid emergency" or "emergency" means an occurrence or condition resulting in a situation that poses an immediate risk to health, life, property, or the environment, where the governing body having jurisdiction over the situation determines (1) that the situation exceeds its ability to render appropriate aid, and (2) that it is in the public's best interest to request mutual aid from a governmental jurisdiction or private entity in another state with which the governing body has a written mutual aid agreement. "Mutual aid emergency" or "emergency" does not include a situation that initially rises to the level of disaster or emergency requiring a state or local declaration of a state of emergency, unless that declaration occurs after the initial request for mutual aid has been made.

Section 10. Mutual aid agreements. In order to more adequately address emergencies that extend or exceed a jurisdiction's emergency response capabilities, either without rising to the level of a state or local declaration of a state of emergency, or in the initial stages of an event which may later become a declared emergency, the State, its departments and agencies, or a political subdivision of the State, including, but not limited to, a county, city, village, township, special district, or other unit of local government, or any combination thereof, may enter into a mutual aid agreement with one or more units of government from another state that provide for coordination of communications, training, and response to and stand-by for planned events and emergency responses between the units of government. When engaged in training, stand-by, and emergency response in accordance with the mutual aid agreements, emergency responders from outside of this State are permitted to provide services within this State in accordance with this Act and within the scope of the terms of the mutual aid agreement. This Act does not prohibit a private company or its employees from participating in the provision of mutual aid, if the participating state agency or political subdivision approves the participation and the contract between the state agency or political subdivision and the participating private company permits the participation.

Section 15. Licenses, certifications, and permits. An emergency responder from a unit of government from outside of this State who holds a license, certificate, or other permit recognized or issued by another state shall be considered to be licensed, certified, and permitted to render mutual aid within this State pursuant to a mutual aid agreement authorized by this Act, if the emergency responder is acting within the scope of his or her license, certificate, or permit and within what an equivalent license, certificate, or permit from or recognized by this State would authorize.

Section 20. Governmental functions; liability; emergency responders. Any function performed under this Act shall be considered to have been for public and governmental purposes, and all immunities from liability enjoyed by the State or the political subdivisions of this State and their officers, agents, and employees shall extend to the emergency responders from another state when providing mutual aid or while engaged in training and exercises pursuant to and within the scope of a written mutual aid agreement authorized by this Act.

Section 25. Employee benefits. Emergency responders from outside this State, while rendering mutual aid within this State pursuant to a mutual aid agreement authorized by this Act, remain employees and agents of their respective employers and jurisdictions. Nothing in this Act, or any mutual aid agreement entered into pursuant to this Act, creates an employment relationship between the jurisdiction requesting aid and the employees and agents of the jurisdiction rendering aid. All pension, relief, disability, death benefits, worker's compensation, and other benefits enjoyed by emergency responders rendering emergency mutual aid shall extend to the services they perform outside their respective jurisdictions as if those services had been rendered in their own jurisdiction.

Section 30. Limitations. This Act does not limit, modify, or abridge the emergency management compact entered into under the Emergency Management Assistance Compact Act.