(a) The Office of Emergency Services, in coordination with all interested state agencies with designated response roles in the state emergency plan and interested local emergency management agencies shall jointly establish by regulation a standardized emergency management system for use by all emergency response agencies. The public water systems identified in Section 8607.2 may review and comment on these regulations prior to adoption. This system shall be applicable, but not limited to, those emergencies or disasters referenced in the state emergency plan. The standardized emergency management system shall include all of the following systems as a framework for responding to and managing emergencies and disasters involving multiple jurisdictions or multiple agency responses:
(1) The Incident Command Systems adapted from the systems originally developed by the FIRESCOPE Program, including those currently in use by state agencies.
(2) The multiagency coordination system as developed by the FIRESCOPE Program.
(3) The mutual aid agreement, as defined in Section 8561, and related mutual aid systems such as those used in law enforcement, fire service, and coroners operations.
(4) The operational area concept, as defined in Section 8559.
(b) Individual agencies’ roles and responsibilities agreed upon and contained in existing laws or the state emergency plan are not superseded by this article.
(c) The Office of Emergency Services, in coordination with the State Fire Marshal’s office, the Department of the California Highway Patrol, the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training, the Emergency Medical Services Authority, and all other interested state agencies with designated response roles in the state emergency plan, shall jointly develop an approved course of instruction for use in training all emergency response personnel, consisting of the concepts and procedures associated with the standardized emergency management system described in subdivision (a).
(d) All state agencies shall use the standardized emergency management system as adopted pursuant to subdivision (a), to coordinate multiple jurisdiction or multiple agency emergency and disaster operations.
(e) (1) Each local agency, in order to be eligible for any funding of response-related costs under disaster assistance programs, shall use the standardized emergency management system as adopted pursuant to subdivision (a) to coordinate multiple jurisdiction or multiple agency operations.
(2) Notwithstanding paragraph (1), local agencies shall be eligible for repair, renovation, or any other nonpersonnel costs resulting from an emergency.
(f) The Office of Emergency Services shall, in cooperation with involved state and local agencies, complete an after-action report within 120 days after each declared disaster. This report shall review public safety response and disaster recovery activities and shall be made available to all interested public safety and emergency management organizations.
(Amended by Stats. 2013, Ch. 352, Sec. 167. (AB 1317) Effective September 26, 2013. Operative July 1, 2013, by Sec. 543 of Ch. 352.)
Last modified: October 25, 2018