§ 21 — Disaster preparedness commission established; meetings; powers and duties

§ 21. Disaster preparedness commission established; meetings; powers\nand duties. 1. There is hereby created in the executive department a\ndisaster preparedness commission consisting of the commissioners of\ntransportation, health, division of criminal justice services,\neducation, economic development, agriculture and markets, housing and\ncommunity renewal, general services, labor, environmental conservation,\nmental health, addiction services and supports, parks, recreation and\nhistoric preservation, corrections and community supervision, children\nand family services, homeland security and emergency services, and\npeople with developmental disabilities, the president of the New York\nstate energy research and development authority, the superintendents of\nstate police and financial services, the secretary of state, the state\nfire administrator, the chair of the public service commission, the\nadjutant general, the office of information technology services, and the\noffice of victim services, the chairs of the thruway authority, the\noffice for the aging, the metropolitan transportation authority, the\nport authority of New York and New Jersey, the chief professional\nofficer of the state coordinating chapter of the American Red Cross, the\nchief professional officer of 2-1-1 New York state and three additional\nmembers, to be appointed by the governor, two of whom shall be chief\nexecutives. Each member agency may designate an executive level officer\nof that agency, with responsibility for disaster preparedness matters,\nwho may represent that agency on the commission. The commissioner of the\ndivision of homeland security and emergency services shall serve as\nchair of the commission, and the governor shall designate the vice chair\nof the commission. The members of the commission, except those who serve\nex officio, shall be allowed their actual and necessary expenses\nincurred in the performance of their duties under this article but shall\nreceive no additional compensation for services rendered pursuant to\nthis article.\n 2. The commission, on call of the chairperson, shall meet at least\ntwice each year and at such other times as may be necessary. The agenda\nand meeting place of all regular meetings shall be made available to the\npublic in advance of such meetings and all such meetings shall be open\nto the public. The commission shall establish quorum requirements and\nother rules and procedures regarding conduct of its meetings and other\naffairs.\n 3. The commission shall have the following powers and\nresponsibilities:\n a. study all aspects of man-made or natural disaster prevention,\nresponse and recovery;\n b. request and obtain from any state or local officer or agency any\ninformation necessary to the commission for the exercise of its\nresponsibilities;\n c. prepare and, as appropriate, revise a state comprehensive emergency\nmanagement plan. The commission shall report all revisions to such plan\nby March thirty-first of each year to the governor, the legislature and\nthe chief judge of the state, unless a current version of the plan is\navailable to the public on the website of the division of homeland\nsecurity and emergency services. In preparing such plans, the commission\nshall consult with federal and local officials, emergency service\norganizations including both volunteer and commercial emergency response\norganizations, and the public as it deems appropriate. To the extent\nsuch plans impact upon administration of the civil and criminal justice\nsystems of the state, including their operational and fiscal needs in\ntimes of disaster emergency, the commission, its staff and any working\ngroup, task force, agency or other instrumentality to which it may\ndelegate responsibility to assist it in its duties shall consult with\nthe chief administrator of the courts and coordinate their preparation\nwith him or her or with his or her representatives;\n d. prepare, keep current and distribute to chief executives and others\nan inventory of programs directly relevant to prevention, minimization\nof damage, readiness, operations during disasters, and recovery\nfollowing disasters;\n e. direct state disaster operations and coordinate state disaster\noperations with local disaster operations following the declaration of a\nstate disaster emergency;\n f. (1) unless it deems it unnecessary, create, following the\ndeclaration of a state disaster emergency, a temporary organization in\nthe disaster area to provide for integration and coordination of efforts\namong the various federal, state, municipal and private agencies\ninvolved. The commission, upon a request from a municipality and with\nthe approval of the governor, shall direct the temporary organization to\nassume direction of the local disaster operations of such municipality,\nfor a specified period of time not to exceed thirty days, and in such\ncases such temporary organization shall assume direction of such local\ndisaster operations, subject to the supervision of the commission. Upon\nthe expiration of the thirty day period the commission, at the request\nof the municipality, may extend the temporary organization's direction\nof such local disaster operations for additional periods not to exceed\nthirty days. The commission, upon a finding that a municipality is\nunable to manage local disaster operations, may, with the approval of\nthe governor, direct the temporary organization to assume direction of\nthe local disaster operations of such municipality, for a specified\nperiod of time not to exceed thirty days, and in such cases such\ntemporary organization shall assume direction of such local disaster\noperations, subject to the supervision of the commission. Upon\nexpiration of the thirty day period the commission, after consultation\nwith the municipality, and with the approval of the governor, may extend\nthe temporary organization's direction of such local disaster operations\nfor additional periods not to exceed thirty days. In such event, such\ntemporary organization may utilize such municipality's local resources,\nprovided, however, that the state shall not be liable for any expenses\nincurred in using such municipality's resources. The state shall not be\nliable for the expenses incurred in using third party, non-state\nresources deployed to the affected area by the temporary organization,\nwhich are necessary to protect life and safety;\n (2) The state incident management team shall have the authority to act\nas the operational arm of the temporary organization. When called to\nduty and deployed by the state, members of any state or local incident\nmanagement team shall be deemed temporary employees of the state and\nshall have the same privileges and immunities afforded to regular state\nemployees, subject to the rules and regulations promulgated by the\npresident of the state civil service commission pursuant to section one\nhundred sixty-three of the civil service law;\n g. assist in the coordination of federal recovery efforts and\ncoordinate recovery assistance by state and private agencies;\n h. provide for periodic briefings, drills, exercises or other means to\nassure that all state personnel with direct responsibilities in the\nevent of a disaster are fully familiar with response and recovery plans\nand the manner in which they shall carry out their responsibilities, and\ncoordinate with federal, local or other state personnel. Such activities\nmay take place on a regional or county basis, and local and federal\nparticipation shall be invited and encouraged;\n i. submit to the governor, the legislature and the chief judge of the\nstate by March thirty-first of each year an annual report which shall\ninclude but need not be limited to:\n (1) a summary of commission and state agency activities for the year\nand plans for the ensuing year with respect to the duties and\nresponsibilities of the commission;\n (2) recommendations on ways to improve state and local capability to\nprevent, prepare for, respond to and recover from disasters;\n (3) the status of the state and local plans for disaster preparedness\nand response, including the name of any locality which has failed or\nrefused to develop and implement its own disaster preparedness plan and\nprogram; and the extent to which all forms of local emergency response\nassets have been included, and accounted for in planning and preparation\nfor disaster preparedness and response; and\n j. develop public service announcements to be distributed to\ntelevision and radio stations and other media throughout the state\ninforming the public how to prepare and respond to disasters. Such\npublic service announcements shall be distributed in English and such\nother languages as such commission deems appropriate.\n 4. All powers of the state civil defense commission are assigned to\nthe commission.\n 5. The state office of emergency management within the division of\nhomeland security and emergency services shall serve as the operational\narm of the commission and shall be responsible for implementing\nprovisions of this article and the rules and policies adopted by the\ncommission. The director of the state office of emergency management\nwithin the division of homeland security and emergency services shall\nexercise the authority given to the disaster preparedness commission in\nsection twenty-nine of this article, to coordinate and direct state\nagencies and assets in response to a state disaster emergency, through\ntheir respective agency heads, on behalf of the governor and the chair\nof the disaster preparedness commission, when the governor, the\nlieutenant governor, and the chair of the disaster preparedness\ncommission are incapacitated or without an available means of reliable\ncommunication with the state office of emergency management. If the\ndirector of the state office of emergency management is unable to\nexercise this authority, then the executive deputy commissioner of the\ndivision of homeland security and emergency services shall act in this\ncapacity. In the event that the executive deputy commissioner is unable\nto exercise this authority, then such authority shall be exercised by\nthe official willing and able to do so in the following order: the\nsuperintendent of the division of state police; the state fire\nadministrator; or the director of the office of counterterrorism within\nthe division of homeland security and emergency services. Nothing in\nthis subdivision shall be construed to limit the authority of the\ngovernor, lieutenant governor, or the chair of the disaster preparedness\ncommission to oversee the director of the state office of emergency\nmanagement within the division of homeland security and emergency\nservices or any official exercising authority given to the disaster\npreparedness commission in section twenty-nine of this article.\n