Court Opinions

State Laws

US Code

US Constitution

Organization - 35 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 7312

Legal Research Home > Pennsylvania Statutes

     § 7312.  Organization.
        This agency shall consist of and be organized substantially
     as follows:
        (a)  Council.--Primary responsibility for overall policy and
     direction of a Statewide civil defense and disaster program and
     response capability of the type hereinafter prescribed shall be
     vested in a body legally known as the Pennsylvania Emergency
     Management Council, which shall be composed of: the Governor,
     Lieutenant Governor, Adjutant General, Secretary of Health,
     Attorney General, General Counsel, Secretary of Community
     Affairs, Secretary of Environmental Protection, Secretary of
     Transportation, Secretary of Agriculture, Secretary of Public
     Welfare, Commissioner of the Pennsylvania State Police, Chairman
     of the Public Utility Commission, State Fire Commissioner,
     Speaker of the House of Representatives, President pro tempore
     of the Senate, Minority Leader of the Senate and Minority Leader
     of the House of Representatives. The Speaker of the House of
     Representatives, President pro tempore of the Senate, Minority
     Leader of the Senate and Minority Leader of the House of
     Representatives may authorize a member of their respective
     Houses of the General Assembly to serve in their stead. The
     Governor may authorize up to two representatives of business and
     industry, up to two representatives of labor, up to two public
     members at large and one representative respectively of the
     Pennsylvania State Association of County Commissioners, the
     Pennsylvania State Association of Township Commissioners, the
     Pennsylvania State Association of Township Supervisors, the
     Pennsylvania League of Cities and the Pennsylvania State
     Association of Boroughs to be nonvoting members of the council.
     The Governor may designate a member to serve as chairman. Five
     members shall constitute a quorum.
        (b)  Compensation and expenses.--The members shall serve
     without compensation, but may be reimbursed for their actual and
     necessary traveling and other expenses incurred in connection
     with attendance at meetings.
        (c)  Regular meetings.--For the conduct of routine business,
     including particularly the consideration of matters of basic
     policy, the council shall meet at the call of the chairman and
     at least three times during each calendar year.
        (d)  Emergency meetings.--In the event of attack or disaster
     situations determined actually or likely to be of such nature,
     magnitude, severity or duration as to necessitate extensive or
     extraordinary deployment and use of Commonwealth resources for
     emergency purposes, the chairman shall, within not more than 72
     hours immediately following such determination, call the council
     into emergency session, for consideration of actions taken or to
     be taken. In the absence of the chairman, notice of such
     meetings shall be disseminated to the membership by the State
     director.
        (e)  State director.--To supervise the work and activities
     comprising the State Civil Defense and Disaster Program, the
     Governor shall appoint an individual to act, on a full-time
     basis, as director of the agency. The director shall perform all
     such fiscal, planning, administrative, operational and other
     duties as may be assigned to him by the council and shall act as
     the chairman's principal assistant in civil defense and disaster
     matters. The director or the director's designee is also the
     State coordinating officer responsible to coordinate and
     supervise the Commonwealth and local disaster response effort
     following a presidential declaration of an emergency or a major
     disaster.
        (f)  Staff.--The council shall, within the limitations of
     appropriations made to the agency, arrange for the employment of
     such professional, technical, administrative and other staff
     personnel as may be deemed essential to the development and
     maintenance of a Statewide civil defense and disaster plan and
     program of the type hereinafter prescribed. All such personnel
     shall be employed and subject to pertinent provisions of the act
     of August 5, 1941 (P.L.752, No.286), known as the "Civil Service
     Act," and the Commonwealth Compensation Plan.
        (g)  Office space, equipment and services.--The agency shall
     be furnished necessary and appropriate office space, furniture,
     equipment, supplies and services in the same general manner as
     are other Commonwealth departments and agencies.
        (h)  Emergency communications.--The agency shall maintain an
     integrated communications capability designed to provide to all
     areas and counties weather advisories, river forecasts,
     warnings, and direction and control of all emergency
     preparedness functions within the Commonwealth. The agency shall
     coordinate the Commonwealth's emergency communication systems,
     sharing of information and weather emergency notification among
     the National Weather Service, contiguous State emergency
     management offices, local coordinators of emergency management,
     the Pennsylvania State Police, local police departments, private
     relief associations and other appropriate organizations.
     Additionally, the agency shall establish the sole Statewide
     telephone number that persons, including county and municipal
     emergency management personnel, may use to report incidences of
     radioactive and hazardous materials and other disaster
     emergencies.
        (i)  Administrative provisions.--Except as otherwise provided
     in this part, the agency shall be subject to the provisions of
     the act of April 9, 1929 (P.L.177, No.175), known as "The
     Administrative Code of 1929."
     (July 13, 1988, P.L.501, No.87, eff. imd.; Nov. 13, 1995,
     P.L.609, No.62, eff. 60 days)

        1995 Amendment.  Act 62 amended subsec. (a).
        1988 Amendment.  Act 87 amended subsecs. (a), (d), (e) and
     (h).
        References in Text.  The Secretary of Community Affairs,
     referred to in subsec. (a), was abolished by Act 58 of 1996 and
     the functions were transferred to the Secretary of Community and
     Economic Development.

Last modified: November 27, 2007