Florida Senate - 2019                                    SB 1094
       
       
        
       By Senator Cruz
       
       
       
       
       
       18-01097-19                                           20191094__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to the state emergency communications
    3         and warning system; amending s. 252.35, F.S.;
    4         requiring the Division of Emergency Management to
    5         include a qualified interpreter in emergency
    6         broadcasts; defining the term “qualified interpreter”;
    7         providing an effective date.
    8          
    9  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   10  
   11         Section 1. Paragraph (a) of subsection (2) of section
   12  252.35, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
   13         252.35 Emergency management powers; Division of Emergency
   14  Management.—
   15         (2) The division is responsible for carrying out the
   16  provisions of ss. 252.31-252.90. In performing its duties, the
   17  division shall:
   18         (a) Prepare a state comprehensive emergency management
   19  plan, which shall be integrated into and coordinated with the
   20  emergency management plans and programs of the Federal
   21  Government. The division must adopt the plan as a rule in
   22  accordance with chapter 120. The plan shall be implemented by a
   23  continuous, integrated comprehensive emergency management
   24  program. The plan must contain provisions to ensure that the
   25  state is prepared for emergencies and minor, major, and
   26  catastrophic disasters, and the division shall work closely with
   27  local governments and agencies and organizations with emergency
   28  management responsibilities in preparing and maintaining the
   29  plan. The state comprehensive emergency management plan shall be
   30  operations oriented and:
   31         1. Include an evacuation component that includes specific
   32  regional and interregional planning provisions and promotes
   33  intergovernmental coordination of evacuation activities. This
   34  component must, at a minimum: contain guidelines for lifting
   35  tolls on state highways; ensure coordination pertaining to
   36  evacuees crossing county lines; set forth procedures for
   37  directing people caught on evacuation routes to safe shelter;
   38  establish strategies for ensuring sufficient, reasonably priced
   39  fueling locations along evacuation routes; and establish
   40  policies and strategies for emergency medical evacuations.
   41         2. Include a shelter component that includes specific
   42  regional and interregional planning provisions and promotes
   43  coordination of shelter activities between the public, private,
   44  and nonprofit sectors. This component must, at a minimum:
   45  contain strategies to ensure the availability of adequate public
   46  shelter space in each region of the state; establish strategies
   47  for refuge-of-last-resort programs; provide strategies to assist
   48  local emergency management efforts to ensure that adequate
   49  staffing plans exist for all shelters, including medical and
   50  security personnel; provide for a postdisaster communications
   51  system for public shelters; establish model shelter guidelines
   52  for operations, registration, inventory, power generation
   53  capability, information management, and staffing; and set forth
   54  policy guidance for sheltering people with special needs.
   55         3. Include a postdisaster response and recovery component
   56  that includes specific regional and interregional planning
   57  provisions and promotes intergovernmental coordination of
   58  postdisaster response and recovery activities. This component
   59  must provide for postdisaster response and recovery strategies
   60  according to whether a disaster is minor, major, or
   61  catastrophic. The postdisaster response and recovery component
   62  must, at a minimum: establish the structure of the state’s
   63  postdisaster response and recovery organization; establish
   64  procedures for activating the state’s plan; set forth policies
   65  used to guide postdisaster response and recovery activities;
   66  describe the chain of command during the postdisaster response
   67  and recovery period; describe initial and continuous
   68  postdisaster response and recovery actions; identify the roles
   69  and responsibilities of each involved agency and organization;
   70  provide for a comprehensive communications plan; establish
   71  procedures for monitoring mutual aid agreements; provide for
   72  rapid impact assessment teams; ensure the availability of an
   73  effective statewide urban search and rescue program coordinated
   74  with the fire services; ensure the existence of a comprehensive
   75  statewide medical care and relief plan administered by the
   76  Department of Health; and establish systems for coordinating
   77  volunteers and accepting and distributing donated funds and
   78  goods.
   79         4. Include additional provisions addressing aspects of
   80  preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation as determined
   81  necessary by the division.
   82         5. Address the need for coordinated and expeditious
   83  deployment of state resources, including the Florida National
   84  Guard. In the case of an imminent major disaster, procedures
   85  should address predeployment of the Florida National Guard, and,
   86  in the case of an imminent catastrophic disaster, procedures
   87  should address predeployment of the Florida National Guard and
   88  the United States Armed Forces.
   89         6. Establish a system of communications and warning to
   90  ensure that the state’s population and emergency management
   91  agencies are warned of developing emergency situations and can
   92  communicate emergency response decisions. Such system shall
   93  require that a qualified interpreter is included in any
   94  televised broadcast of a developing emergency. As used in this
   95  subparagraph, the term “qualified interpreter” means a person
   96  who is certified by the National Registry of Interpreters for
   97  the Deaf or the Florida Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf.
   98         7. Establish guidelines and schedules for annual exercises
   99  that evaluate the ability of the state and its political
  100  subdivisions to respond to minor, major, and catastrophic
  101  disasters and support local emergency management agencies. Such
  102  exercises shall be coordinated with local governments and, to
  103  the extent possible, the Federal Government.
  104         8. Assign lead and support responsibilities to state
  105  agencies and personnel for emergency support functions and other
  106  support activities.
  107  
  108  The complete state comprehensive emergency management plan shall
  109  be submitted to the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the
  110  House of Representatives, and the Governor on February 1 of
  111  every even-numbered year.
  112         Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2019.