I 111 TH CONGRESS 1 ST S ESSION H. R. 645 To direct the Secretary of Homeland Security to establish national emergency centers on military installations. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES J ANUARY 22, 2009 Mr. H ASTINGS of Florida introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, and in addition to the Committee on Armed Services, for a period to be subsequently deter- mined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To direct the Secretary of Homeland Security to establish national emergency centers on military installations. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘National Emergency 4 Centers Establishment Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF NATIONAL EMERGENCY CEN- 6 TERS. 7 (a) I N G ENERAL .—In accordance with the require- 8 ments of this Act, the Secretary of Homeland Security 9 VerDate Nov 24 2008 06:29 Jan 23, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H645.IH H645 smartinez on PROD1PC64 with BILLS 2 • HR 645 IH shall establish not fewer than 6 national emergency cen- 1 ters on military installations. 2 (b) P URPOSE OF N ATIONAL E MERGENCY C EN - 3 TERS .—The purpose of a national emergency center shall 4 be to use existing infrastructure— 5 (1) to provide temporary housing, medical, and 6 humanitarian assistance to individuals and families 7 dislocated due to an emergency or major disaster; 8 (2) to provide centralized locations for the pur- 9 poses of training and ensuring the coordination of 10 Federal, State, and local first responders; 11 (3) to provide centralized locations to improve 12 the coordination of preparedness, response, and re- 13 covery efforts of government, private, and not-for- 14 profit entities and faith-based organizations; and 15 (4) to meet other appropriate needs, as deter- 16 mined by the Secretary of Homeland Security. 17 SEC. 3. DESIGNATION OF MILITARY INSTALLATIONS AS NA- 18 TIONAL EMERGENCY CENTERS. 19 (a) I N G ENERAL .—Not later than 60 days after the 20 date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Home- 21 land Security, in consultation with the Secretary of De- 22 fense, shall designate not fewer than 6 military installa- 23 tions as sites for the establishment of national emergency 24 centers. 25 VerDate Nov 24 2008 06:29 Jan 23, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H645.IH H645 smartinez on PROD1PC64 with BILLS 3 • HR 645 IH (b) M INIMUM R EQUIREMENTS .—A site designated as 1 a national emergency center shall be— 2 (1) capable of meeting for an extended period 3 of time the housing, health, transportation, edu- 4 cation, public works, humanitarian and other transi- 5 tion needs of a large number of individuals affected 6 by an emergency or major disaster; 7 (2) environmentally safe and shall not pose a 8 health risk to individuals who may use the center; 9 (3) capable of being scaled up or down to ac- 10 commodate major disaster preparedness and re- 11 sponse drills, operations, and procedures; 12 (4) capable of housing existing permanent 13 structures necessary to meet training and first re- 14 sponders coordination requirements during nondis- 15 aster periods; 16 (5) capable of hosting the infrastructure nec- 17 essary to rapidly adjust to temporary housing, med- 18 ical, and humanitarian assistance needs; 19 (6) required to consist of a complete operations 20 command center, including 2 state-of-the art com- 21 mand and control centers that will comprise a 24/7 22 operations watch center as follows: 23 (A) one of the command and control cen- 24 ters shall be in full ready mode; and 25 VerDate Nov 24 2008 06:29 Jan 23, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H645.IH H645 smartinez on PROD1PC64 with BILLS 4 • HR 645 IH (B) the other shall be used daily for train- 1 ing; and 2 (7) easily accessible at all times and be able to 3 facilitate handicapped and medical facilities, includ- 4 ing during an emergency or major disaster. 5 (c) L OCATION OF N ATIONAL E MERGENCY C EN - 6 TERS .—There shall be established not fewer than one na- 7 tional emergency center in each of the following areas: 8 (1) The area consisting of Federal Emergency 9 Management Agency Regions I, II, and III. 10 (2) The area consisting of Federal Emergency 11 Management Agency Region IV. 12 (3) The area consisting of Federal Emergency 13 Management Agency Regions V and VII. 14 (4) The area consisting of Federal Emergency 15 Management Agency Region VI. 16 (5) The area consisting of Federal Emergency 17 Management Agency Regions VIII and X. 18 (6) The area consisting of Federal Emergency 19 Management Agency Region IX. 20 (d) P REFERENCE FOR D ESIGNATION OF C LOSED 21 M ILITARY I NSTALLATIONS .—Wherever possible, the Sec- 22 retary of Homeland Security, in consultation with the Sec- 23 retary of Defense, shall designate a closed military instal- 24 lation as a site for a national emergency center. If the 25 VerDate Nov 24 2008 06:29 Jan 23, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H645.IH H645 smartinez on PROD1PC64 with BILLS 5 • HR 645 IH Secretaries of Homeland Security and Defense jointly de- 1 termine that there is not a sufficient number of closed 2 military installations that meet the requirements of sub- 3 sections (b) and (c), the Secretaries shall jointly designate 4 portions of existing military installations other than closed 5 military installations as national emergency centers. 6 (e) T RANSFER OF C ONTROL OF C LOSED M ILITARY 7 I NSTALLATIONS .—If a closed military installation is des- 8 ignated as a national emergency center, not later than 180 9 days after the date of designation, the Secretary of De- 10 fense shall transfer to the Secretary of Homeland Security 11 administrative jurisdiction over such closed military instal- 12 lation. 13 (f) C OOPERATIVE A GREEMENT FOR J OINT U SE OF 14 E XISTING M ILITARY I NSTALLATIONS .—If an existing 15 military installation other than a closed military installa- 16 tion is designated as a national emergency center, not 17 later than 180 days after the date of designation, the Sec- 18 retary of Homeland Security and the Secretary of Defense 19 shall enter into a cooperative agreement to provide for the 20 establishment of the national emergency center. 21 (g) R EPORTS .— 22 (1) P RELIMINARY REPORT .—Not later than 90 23 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 24 Secretary of Homeland Security, acting jointly with 25 VerDate Nov 24 2008 06:29 Jan 23, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H645.IH H645 smartinez on PROD1PC64 with BILLS 6 • HR 645 IH the Secretary of Defense, shall submit to Congress 1 a report that contains for each designated site— 2 (A) an outline of the reasons why the site 3 was selected; 4 (B) an outline of the need to construct, re- 5 pair, or update any existing infrastructure at 6 the site; 7 (C) an outline of the need to conduct any 8 necessary environmental clean-up at the site; 9 (D) an outline of preliminary plans for the 10 transfer of control of the site from the Sec- 11 retary of Defense to the Secretary of Homeland 12 Security, if necessary under subsection (e); and 13 (E) an outline of preliminary plans for en- 14 tering into a cooperative agreement for the es- 15 tablishment of a national emergency center at 16 the site, if necessary under subsection (f). 17 (2) U PDATE REPORT .—Not later than 120 days 18 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec- 19 retary of Homeland Security, acting jointly with the 20 Secretary of Defense, shall submit to Congress a re- 21 port that contains for each designated site— 22 (A) an update on the information con- 23 tained in the report as required by paragraph 24 (1); 25 VerDate Nov 24 2008 06:29 Jan 23, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H645.IH H645 smartinez on PROD1PC64 with BILLS 7 • HR 645 IH (B) an outline of the progress made to- 1 ward the transfer of control of the site, if nec- 2 essary under subsection (e); 3 (C) an outline of the progress made toward 4 entering a cooperative agreement for the estab- 5 lishment of a national emergency center at the 6 site, if necessary under subsection (f); and 7 (D) recommendations regarding any au- 8 thorizations and appropriations that may be 9 necessary to provide for the establishment of a 10 national emergency center at the site. 11 (3) F INAL REPORT .—Not later than 1 year 12 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec- 13 retary of Homeland Security, acting jointly with the 14 Secretary of Defense, shall submit to Congress a re- 15 port that contains for each designated site— 16 (A) finalized information detailing the 17 transfer of control of the site, if necessary 18 under subsection (e); 19 (B) the finalized cooperative agreement for 20 the establishment of a national emergency cen- 21 ter at the site, if necessary under subsection (f); 22 and 23 VerDate Nov 24 2008 06:29 Jan 23, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H645.IH H645 smartinez on PROD1PC64 with BILLS 8 • HR 645 IH (C) any additional information pertinent to 1 the establishment of a national emergency cen- 2 ter at the site. 3 (4) A DDITIONAL REPORTS .—The Secretary of 4 Homeland Security, acting jointly with the Secretary 5 of Defense, may submit to Congress additional re- 6 ports as necessary to provide updates on steps being 7 taken to meet the requirements of this Act. 8 SEC. 4. LIMITATIONS ON STATUTORY CONSTRUCTION. 9 This Act does not affect— 10 (1) the authority of the Federal Government to 11 provide emergency or major disaster assistance or to 12 implement any disaster mitigation and response pro- 13 gram, including any program authorized by the Rob- 14 ert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency As- 15 sistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5121 et seq.); or 16 (2) the authority of a State or local government 17 to respond to an emergency. 18 SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 19 There is authorized to be appropriated $180,000,000 20 for each of fiscal years 2009 and 2010 to carry out this 21 Act. Such funds shall remain available until expended. 22 SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS. 23 In this Act, the following definitions apply: 24 VerDate Nov 24 2008 06:29 Jan 23, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H645.IH H645 smartinez on PROD1PC64 with BILLS 9 • HR 645 IH (1) C LOSED MILITARY INSTALLATION .—The 1 term ‘‘closed military installation’’ means a military 2 installation, or portion thereof, approved for closure 3 or realignment under the Defense Base Closure and 4 Realignment Act of 1990 (part A of title XXIX of 5 Public Law 101–510; 10 U.S.C. 2687 note) that 6 meet all, or 2 out of the 3 following requirements: 7 (A) Is located in close proximity to a 8 transportation corridor. 9 (B) Is located in a State with a high level 10 or threat of disaster related activities. 11 (C) Is located near a major metropolitan 12 center. 13 (2) E MERGENCY .—The term ‘‘emergency’’ has 14 the meaning given such term in section 102 of the 15 Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency 16 Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5122). 17 (3) M AJOR DISASTER .—The term ‘‘major dis- 18 aster’’ has the meaning given such term in section 19 102 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and 20 Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5122). 21 (4) MILITARY INSTALLATION .—The term ‘‘mili-tary installation’’ has the meaning given such term 23 in section 2910 of the Defense Base Closure and Re- 24 VerDate Nov 24 2008 06:29 Jan 23, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H645.IH H645 smartinez on PROD1PC64 with BILLS 10 • HR 645 IH alignment Act of 1990 (part A of title XXIX of 1 Public Law 101–510; 10 U.S.C. 2687 note).
Posted on: Thu, 23 Oct 2014 13:09:49 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015