H.B. 103

This document includes House Committee Amendments incorporated into the bill on Wed, Jan 24, 2007 at 9:31 AM by ddonat. --> 1

STATEWIDE MUTUAL AID ACT
2 2007 GENERAL SESSION
3 STATE OF UTAH
4 Chief Sponsor: Curtis Oda
5 Senate Sponsor: Dan R. Eastman
6
7 LONG TITLE
8 General Description:
9 This bill enacts provisions related to a statewide mutual aid system among political
10 subdivisions of the state.
11 Highlighted Provisions:
12 This bill:
13 . establishes a statewide mutual aid system among participating political subdivisions
14 that provide public safety service;
15 . defines terms;
16 . establishes a statewide mutual aid committee, provides for its membership, terms,
17 and procedures, and prohibits compensation for its members;
18 . allows a county, municipality, or public safety special district or interlocal entity to
19 withdraw from the statewide mutual aid system;
20 . provides for the duties of participating political subdivisions;
21 . establishes a process for a participating political subdivision to request assistance
22 from another participating political subdivision;
23 . provides for reimbursement to be paid to a responding political subdivision;
24 . establishes rules applicable to personnel who respond to a request for assistance;
25 and
26 . enacts a severability provision.
27 Monies Appropriated in this Bill:

28 None
29 Other Special Clauses:
30 None
31 Utah Code Sections Affected:
32 ENACTS:
33 53-2-401, Utah Code Annotated 1953
34 53-2-402, Utah Code Annotated 1953
35 53-2-403, Utah Code Annotated 1953
36 53-2-404, Utah Code Annotated 1953
37 53-2-405, Utah Code Annotated 1953
38 53-2-406, Utah Code Annotated 1953
39 53-2-407, Utah Code Annotated 1953
40 53-2-408, Utah Code Annotated 1953
41 53-2-409, Utah Code Annotated 1953
42 53-2-410, Utah Code Annotated 1953
43
44 Be it enacted by the Legislature of the state of Utah:
45 Section 1. Section 53-2-401 is enacted to read:
46 Part 4. Statewide Mutual Aid Act
47 53-2-401. Title.
48 This part is known as the "Statewide Mutual Aid Act."
49 Section 2. Section 53-2-402 is enacted to read:
50 53-2-402. Definitions.
51 As used in this part:
52 (1) "Committee" means the statewide mutual aid committee established in Section
53 53-2-403 .
54 (2) "Director" means the director of the division, appointed under Section 53-2-103 .
55 (3) "Division" means the Division of Emergency Services and Homeland Security,
56 created under Section 53-2-103 .
57 (4) "Emergency responder":
58 (a) means a person in the public or private sector:

59 (i) who has special skills, qualification, training, knowledge, or experience, whether or
60 not possessing a license, certificate, permit, or other official recognition for the skills,
61 qualification, training, knowledge, or experience, that would benefit a participating political
62 subdivision in responding to a locally declared emergency or in an authorized drill or exercise;
63 and
64 (ii) that a participating political subdivision requests or authorizes to assist in
65 responding to a locally declared emergency or in an authorized drill or exercise; and
66 (b) includes:
67 (i) a law enforcement officer;
68 (ii) a firefighter;
69 (iii) an emergency medical services worker;
70 (iv) a physician, nurse, or other public health worker;
71 (v) an emergency management official;
72 (vi) a public works worker; H. [ or ]
72a (vii) a building inspector;
72b (viii) an architect, engineer, or other design professional; or
73 [ (vii) ] (ix) .H a person with specialized equipment operations skills or training
73a or with any other
74 skills needed to provide aid in a declared emergency.
75 (5) "Participating political subdivision" means each county, municipality, public safety
76 special district, and public safety interlocal entity that has not adopted a resolution under
77 Section 53-2-406 withdrawing itself from the statewide mutual aid system.
78 (6) "Public safety interlocal entity" means an interlocal entity under Title 11, Chapter
79 13, Interlocal Cooperation Act, that provides public safety service.
80 (7) "Public safety service" means a service provided to the public to protect life and
81 property and includes fire protection, police protection, H. [ and ] .H emergency medical service
81a H. , and hazardous material response service .H .
82 (8) "Public safety special district" means an independent special district under Title
83 17A, Chapter 2, Independent Special Districts, or a local district under Title 17B, Chapter 2,
84 Local Districts, that provides public safety service.
85 (9) "Requesting political subdivision" means a participating political subdivision that
86 requests emergency assistance under Section 53-2-407 from one or more other participating
87 political subdivisions.
88 (10) "Responding political subdivision" means a participating political subdivision that
89 responds to a request under Section 53-2-407 from a requesting political subdivision.

90 (11) "Statewide mutual aid system" or "system" means the aggregate of all
91 participating political subdivisions.
92 Section 3. Section 53-2-403 is enacted to read:
93 53-2-403. Statewide mutual aid committee.
94 (1) (a) There is established a statewide mutual aid committee consisting of:
95 (i) the director, who shall chair the committee;
96 (ii) one or more representatives from state H. [ public safety ] .H agencies H. that
96a provide public safety service .H , appointed by the
97 director;
98 (iii) one or more representatives of counties, appointed by the director after considering
99 recommendations from the Utah Association of Counties;
100 (iv) one or more representatives of municipalities, appointed by the director after
101 considering recommendations from the Utah League of Cities and Towns; and
102 (v) one or more representatives of public safety special districts and public safety
103 interlocal entities, appointed by the director after considering recommendations from the Utah
104 Association of Special Districts.
105 (b) The term of each member appointed under Subsections (1)(a)(ii) through (v) shall
106 be two years.
107 (c) A committee member may not receive compensation for service on the committee
108 in addition to any compensation received as an employee or official of a state agency or
109 participating political subdivision.
110 (2) The committee shall meet at least annually to:
111 (a) review the progress and status of the statewide mutual aid system;
112 (b) assist in developing methods to track and evaluate activation of the system; and
113 (c) examine issues facing participating political subdivisions regarding implementation
114 of this part.
115 (3) The committee shall develop comprehensive guidelines and procedures that address
116 the operation of the system, including:
117 (a) projected or anticipated costs of responding to emergencies;
118 (b) checklists for requesting and providing assistance;
119 (c) record keeping for participating political subdivisions;
120 (d) reimbursement procedures and other necessary implementation elements and

121 necessary forms for requests; and
122 (e) other records documenting deployment and return of assets.
123 (4) The committee may prepare an annual report on the condition and effectiveness of
124 the statewide mutual aid system, make recommendations for correcting any deficiencies, and
125 submit the report to an appropriate legislative committee.
126 Section 4. Section 53-2-404 is enacted to read:
127 53-2-404. Withdrawal from the statewide mutual aid system.
128 A county, municipality, public safety special district, or public safety interlocal entity
129 may withdraw from the statewide mutual aid system by:
130 (1) enacting a resolution declaring that it elects not to participate in the system; and
131 (2) delivering a copy of the resolution to the director.
132 Section 5. Section 53-2-405 is enacted to read:
133 53-2-405. Agreements not affected by this part.
134 Nothing in this part may be construed:
135 (1) to limit a county, municipality, special district, or interlocal entity from entering
136 into an agreement allowed by law for public safety and related purposes; or
137 (2) to affect an agreement to which a county, municipality, special district, or interlocal
138 entity is a party.
139 Section 6. Section 53-2-406 is enacted to read:
140 53-2-406. Duties of participating political subdivisions.
141 Each participating political subdivision shall:
142 (1) identify potential hazards that could affect the participating political subdivision;
143 (2) conduct joint planning, intelligence sharing, and threat assessment development
144 with contiguous participating political subdivisions and conduct joint training with them at
145 least biennially;
146 (3) identify and inventory the services, equipment, supplies, personnel, and other
147 resources related to participating political subdivision's planning, prevention, mitigation,
148 response, and recovery activities; and
149 (4) adopt and implement the standardized incident management system approved by
150 the division.
151 Section 7. Section 53-2-407 is enacted to read:

152 53-2-407. Requests for disaster assistance or with an authorized drill or exercise.
153 (1) A participating political subdivision may request another participating political
154 subdivision to assist:
155 (a) in preventing, mitigating, responding to, or recovering from a disaster, if the
156 requesting political subdivision has declared a state of emergency; or
157 (b) with a drill or exercise that the requesting political subdivision has authorized.
158 (2) Each request under Subsection (1) shall be:
159 (a) made by the chief executive officer of the participating political subdivision, or the
160 officer's designee; and
161 (b) reported as soon as practical to the director.
162 (3) (a) A request under Subsection (1) may be communicated orally or in writing.
163 (b) Each request communicated orally shall be reduced to writing and delivered to the
164 other participating political subdivision:
165 (i) as soon as practical; or
166 (ii) in the number of days specified by the director.
167 (4) In responding to a request under Subsection (1), a responding political subdivision
168 may:
169 (a) donate assets of any kind to a requesting political subdivision; and
170 (b) withhold its resources to the extent necessary to provide reasonable protection and
171 services for its own residents.
172 (5) The emergency response personnel, equipment, and other assets of a responding
173 political subdivision shall be under the operational control of the incident management system
174 of the requesting political subdivision, except to the extent that the exercise of operational
175 control would result in a violation of a policy, standard, procedure, or protocol of the
176 responding political subdivision.
177 Section 8. Section 53-2-408 is enacted to read:
178 53-2-408. Reimbursement -- Resolving reimbursement disputes.
179 (1) (a) Each requesting political subdivision shall reimburse each responding political
180 subdivision providing assistance to the requesting political subdivision for any loss or damage
181 suffered or expense or cost incurred by a responding political subdivision in the operation of
182 equipment or in providing a service in response to a request under Section 53-2-407 .

183 (b) Notwithstanding Subsection (1)(a), a responding political subdivision may, in its
184 discretion:
185 (i) assume some or all of the loss, damage, expense, or cost; or
186 (ii) loan equipment or donate services to the responding political subdivision without
187 charge.
188 (2) (a) A responding political subdivision may request reimbursement from a
189 requesting political subdivision for the costs of providing disaster relief assistance.
190 (b) Each request for reimbursement shall comply with the procedures and criteria
191 developed by the committee.
192 (3) If a dispute concerning reimbursement arises between a requesting political
193 subdivision and a responding political subdivision:
194 (a) the requesting political subdivision and responding political subdivision shall make
195 every effort to resolve the dispute within 30 days after either provides written notice to the
196 other of the other's noncompliance with applicable procedures or criteria; and
197 (b) if the dispute is not resolved within 90 days after the notice under Subsection (3)(a),
198 either party may submit the dispute to the committee, whose decision shall be final.
199 Section 9. Section 53-2-409 is enacted to read:
200 53-2-409. Personnel responding to requests for assistance.
201 (1) Each person or entity holding a license, certificate, or other permit evidencing
202 qualification in a professional, mechanical, or other skill and responding to a request from a
203 requesting political subdivision shall, while providing assistance during a declared emergency
204 or during an authorized drill or exercise, be considered to be licensed, certified, or permitted in
205 the requesting political subdivision, except as limited by the chief executive officer of the
206 requesting political subdivision.
207 (2) Each law enforcement officer rendering aid as provided in this part under the
208 authority of a state of emergency declared by the governor, whether inside or outside the
209 officer's jurisdiction, shall have all law enforcement powers and the same privileges and
210 immunities that the officer has in the officer's own jurisdiction.
211 (3) Each employee of a responding political subdivision responding to a request by or
212 giving assistance to a requesting political subdivision as provided in this part:
213 (a) is entitled to:

214 (i) all applicable workers compensation benefits for injury or death occurring as a
215 result of the employee's participation in the response or assistance; and
216 (ii) any additional state or federal benefits available for line of duty injury or death; and
217 (b) is, for purposes of liability, considered to be an employee of the requesting political
218 subdivision.
219 (4) Each responding political subdivision and its employees are immune from liability
220 arising out of their actions in responding to a request from a requesting political subdivision to
221 the extent provided in Section 63-30d-201 .
222 Section 10. Section 53-2-410 is enacted to read:
223 53-2-410. Severability.
224 A court order declaring any provision of this part unconstitutional or invalid may not be
225 construed to affect the validity of any other provision of this part.




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as of 1-9-07 12:57 PM

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