§729. Parish homeland security and emergency preparedness agency authorities and
responsibilities
A. The parish office of homeland security and emergency preparedness, under the
parish president, shall be responsible for homeland security and emergency preparedness in
the parish.
B. The parish office of homeland security and emergency preparedness shall prepare
and maintain an all hazards emergency operations plan and keep it current. The plan shall
include the following:
(1) Prevention and minimization of injury and damage caused by disaster or
emergency.
(2) Prompt and effective response to disaster or emergency.
(3) Emergency relief.
(4) Identification of areas particularly vulnerable to disasters or emergency.
(5) Recommendations for zoning, building, and other land use controls, safety
measures for securing mobile homes or other nonpermanent or semipermanent structures,
and other preventive and preparedness measures designed to eliminate or reduce disasters
or their impact.
(6) Assistance to local officials in designing local homeland security and emergency
action plans.
(7) Authorization and procedures for the erection or other construction of temporary
works designed to protect against or mitigate danger, damage, or loss from flood,
conflagration, or other disaster.
(8) Preparation and distribution to the appropriate state and local officials of catalogs
of federal, state, and private assistance programs.
(9) Organization of manpower and chains of command.
(10) Coordination of federal, state, and local disaster or homeland security and
emergency activities.
(11) Coordination of the state operations plan with the homeland security and
emergency plans of other state agencies, local government, and the federal government.
(12) Other necessary matters as determined by GOHSEP.
C. The parish office of homeland security and emergency preparedness shall take an
integral part in the development and revision of local and interjurisdictional homeland
security and emergency plans prepared under this Chapter. To this end, it shall employ or
otherwise secure the services of professional and technical personnel capable of providing
expert assistance to political subdivisions, their homeland security and emergency
preparedness agencies, and interjurisdictional planning and homeland security and
emergency preparedness agencies. These personnel shall consult with subdivisions and
agencies on a regularly scheduled basis and shall make field examinations of the areas,
circumstances, and conditions to which particular local and interjurisdictional disaster plans
are intended to apply, and may suggest or require revisions.
D. In preparing and revising the plan, the parish office of homeland security and
emergency preparedness shall seek the advice and assistance of government, business, labor,
industry, agriculture, civic, and volunteer organizations, and community leaders.
E. The parish office of homeland security and emergency preparedness shall:
(1) Determine requirements of the parish and its political subdivisions for food,
clothing, and other necessities in the event of an emergency.
(2) Procure and pre-position supplies, medicines, materials, and equipment.
(3) Promulgate standards and requirements for local and interjurisdictional disaster
plans.
(4) Periodically review local and interjurisdictional disaster plans.
(5) Provide for mobile support units.
(6) Assist political subdivisions, their homeland security and emergency
preparedness agencies and interjurisdictional homeland security and emergency preparedness
agencies, in establishing and operating training programs and programs of information.
(7) Make surveys of industries, resources, and facilities within the parish, both public
and private, as are necessary to carry out the purposes of this Chapter.
(8) Plan and make arrangements for the availability and use of any private facilities,
services, and property and, if necessary and if in fact used, provide for payment for use under
terms and conditions agreed upon.
(9) Establish a register of persons with types of training and skills important in
emergency mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery.
(10) Establish a register of mobile and construction equipment and temporary
housing available for use in a disaster emergency.
(11) Prepare, for issuance by the parish president, executive orders, proclamations,
and regulations as necessary or appropriate in coping with disasters or emergencies.
(12) Cooperate with the state and federal government and any public or private
agency or entity in achieving any purpose of this Chapter and in implementing programs for
disaster emergency mitigation, preparation, response, and recovery.
(13)(a) In consultation with experts in the fields of animal sheltering, veterinary
medicine, public health and safety, other professional and technical personnel deemed
appropriate, and the state office of homeland security and emergency preparedness, formulate
emergency operation plans for the humane evacuation, transport, and temporary sheltering
of service animals and household pets in times of emergency or disaster that:
(i) Require that persons with disabilities who utilize service animals, as defined by
the Americans with Disabilities Act, are evacuated, transported, and sheltered with those
service animals and inform all facilities that provide shelter to persons with disabilities who
are accompanied by their service animals of their legal obligation to provide shelter to both
the person with a disability and the service animal.
(ii)(aa) Identify or establish, as the case may be, in conjunction with the state office
of homeland security and emergency preparedness, evacuation shelters designed and
equipped to accept and temporarily house household pets and canine search and rescue
teams.
(bb) Develop guidelines for such shelters which may include standards or criteria for
admission to such shelters, health and safety standards, basic minimum animal care standards
regarding nutrition, space, hygiene, and medical needs, protocols, and procedures for
ensuring adequate sheltering, management, and veterinary staffing for such shelters.
(iii)(aa) Enable, wherever possible, pet and pet-owner evacuations for residents with
disabilities, who are elderly, or who have special needs, and all other residents whenever
such evacuations can be accomplished without endangering human life.
(bb) The office shall establish an identification system to ensure that household pet
owners who are separated from their household pets during an evacuation are provided with
all information necessary to locate and reclaim such household pet.
(iv) Allow household pets in cages or carriers that safely and securely confine such
pets and are specifically designed for the containment and transport of such pets to utilize
public transportation during an impending disaster, when doing so does not endanger human
life. If such pets are not allowed to use public transportation, the primary agency designated
under the provisions of R.S. 29:729(E)(13)(b)(i) and (ii) is authorized to provide separate
transportation for these pets. The office shall, in consultation with the primary agency
designated under the provisions of R.S. 29:729(E)(13)(b)(i) and (ii) and other appropriate
agencies, develop plans to address the evacuation, transportation, and other needs of those
household pets that are not evacuated or transported pursuant to this Item.
(v) Establish protocols which require the parish designated animal control, animal
sheltering, or animal care agency in each parish to develop a plan for evacuation of
household pets.
(vi) Require that animal shelters, humane societies, veterinary offices, boarding
kennels, breeders, grooming facilities, hospitals, schools, animal testing facilities, and any
other businesses or not-for-profit agencies that normally house household pets or service
animals, create evacuation plans for such animals consistent with the provisions of this
Paragraph. Such plans shall be made available to the public upon request and shall be filed
annually with the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry, office of animal health
and food safety, and with their respective parish homeland security and emergency
preparedness agency.
(vii) Implement a public information program to provide guidance to household pet
owners in formulating their own evacuation plans for their household pets and service
animals, inform such pet owners of the resources available to assist them in such
evacuations.
(viii) Ensure the primary agency designated under the provisions of R.S.
29:729(E)(13)(b)(i) and (ii) is included in emergency preparedness exercises conducted or
arranged through the state or parish government, and that animal rescue, evacuation and
sheltering needs of residents with pets are made a part of those exercises.
(b)(i) In creating emergency operation plans pursuant to this Paragraph, the parish
office of homeland security and emergency preparedness may delegate any or all of the
evacuation, transportation, sheltering, or other functions delineated herein to the agency with
authority over animal control or animal related issues in that parish which shall serve as the
primary department or local entity, provided that such primary department or local entity may
delegate any or all such functions to public or private agencies with expertise in the areas of
animal control, animal sheltering, or animal care. Emergency operation plans created
pursuant to this Paragraph shall be submitted to the state office of homeland security and
emergency preparedness and to the Department of Agriculture and Forestry on an annual
basis with the first of such plans to be submitted on or before August 1, 2006, and on or
before March first of each year thereafter.
(ii) Any parish office of homeland security and emergency preparedness that chooses
to designate a local parish department or local entity as the primary department or entity
authorized to coordinate and provide for the evacuation, transportation, or sheltering of
household pets and service animals shall provide written notification to the Department of
Agriculture and Forestry and the state office of homeland security and emergency
preparedness as to the primary department's or entity's physical location and contact
information. The Department of Agriculture and Forestry and the state office of homeland
security and emergency preparedness shall coordinate with such designated primary
department or entity as to their duties relative to the evacuation, transportation, and sheltering
of household pets and service animals.
(c) For the purposes of this Paragraph, "household pet" shall mean any domesticated
cat, dog, and other domesticated animal normally maintained on the property of the owner
or person who cares for such domesticated animal.
(14) Do other things necessary, incidental, or appropriate for the implementation of
this Chapter.