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2007 Bill Watch

2007 General Assembly Session: Emergency Management Related Bills

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Passed:
Passed

Tabled:
Tabled

Combined:
Combined with another bill

The following emergency management related bills have been filed for the 2007 General Assembly session. Bills that are passed, tabled or combined with another bill or bills are marked with a graphic icon. The full text of each bill and its detailed status information is available by clicking on the bill numbers. All links open in a new browser window.

HB 1747: Emergency Evacuation Response Routes; designating portions of certain hwys. in 8th Plan. District.

Summary as introduced: Emergency Evacuation Response Routes; Eighth Planning District. Designates portions of certain highways within the Eighth Planning District as Emergency Response Evacuation Routes and prohibits impediments not approved by the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices from being placed on those portions of highways.
Patron: Robert G. Marshall

HB 2080: Disaster response; state to provide assistance to individuals if federal aid is not available.

Summary as introduced: Disaster response; creates individual assistance program. Allows the state to provide disaster assistance to individuals if federal aid is not available or is so delayed as to cause undue hardship. Funds may only be disbursed for individual assistance at the direction of the Governor through an executive order.
Patron: Robert J. Wittman
Status: Tabled

HB 2176: Disaster Response Fund; authorizes disbursements therefrom.

Summary as introduced: Virginia Disaster Response Fund; disbursements. Authorizes disbursements from the Virginia Disaster Response Fund for costs and expenses incurred by the Department of Emergency Management or any other state agency, a political subdivision, or other entity for the purpose of upgrading or hardening designated shelters to withstand damage to and breaching of the facility by wind, floodwaters, or other storm-driven hazards. The bill also provides that annual disbursements made to a political subdivision for the operation, coordination, or acquisition and maintenance of equipment by emergency preparedness organizations of the political subdivision are required to be indexed to the Consumer Price Index.
Patron: Mamye E. BaCote
Status: Tabled

HB 2271: School boards; required to annually review school crisis, emergency management, etc. response plans.

Summary as introduced: School crisis, emergency management, and medical emergency response plans. Requires that local school boards annually review the written school crisis, emergency management, and medical emergency response plans and that the local division certify that review in writing to the Virginia Center on School Safety no later than August 31 of each year.
Patron: Adam P. Ebbin
Status: Passed

HB 2294: Workers' compensation; clarifies certain government employees.

Summary as introduced: Workers' compensation; government employees. Classifies policemen, firefighters, sheriffs and their deputies, and certain other individuals who are generally deemed to be employees of their employing locality for purposes of the Virginia Workers' Compensation Act, as employees of the Commonwealth while rendering aid outside of the Commonwealth pursuant to a state-approved request under the Emergency Management Assistance Compact.
Patron: Jennifer L. McClellan
Status: Passed

HB 2304: Emergency management and preparedness; mutual aid agreements.

Summary as introduced: Emergency management and preparedness. Specifies that personnel, equipment, or supplies of the Commonwealth or a political subdivision may be used to assist another state that has declared a state of emergency upon written request of the chief executive of the other state. In addition, the bill authorizes the Governor to provide financial assistance to Virginia state agencies and political subdivisions that provide emergency aid to another state. The bill also increases from 29 to 34 the membership of the Secure Commonwealth Panel by adding the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Virginia and four members from the business or industry sector.
Patron: Beverly J. Sherwood
Status: Passed

HB 2554: Statewide Building Code; emergency communication equipment.

Summary as introduced: Statewide Building Code; emergency communication equipment. Requires all new commercial, industrial, institutional, and multifamily buildings to be constructed or equipped so that emergency public safety personnel may send and receive emergency communications from within them. Currently, the Board of Housing and Community Development is directed to promulgate regulations as part of the Statewide Building Code to require that commercial, industrial, and multifamily structures be so designed or equipped.
Patron: Adam P. Ebbin
Status: Tabled

HB 2669: Freedom of Information Act; allows public bodies to meet by electronic communication without quorum.

Summary as introduced: Freedom of Information Act; electronic communication meetings; Governor-declared state of emergency. Allows public bodies to meet by electronic communication means without a quorum of the public body physically assembled at one location when (i) the Governor has declared a state of emergency in accordance with § 44-146.17, (ii) the meeting is necessary to take action to address the emergency, and (iii) the public body otherwise complies with the electronic communication meetings law. The bill also authorizes the local governing body to meet by electronic communication means when the Governor has declared a state of emergency in accordance with § 44-146.17 in an area that includes the locality and (a) the meeting is necessary to take action to address the emergency, (b) notice, reasonable under the circumstance, of the emergency meeting shall be given contemporaneously with the notice provided members of the public body conducting the meeting, (c) the local governing body makes arrangements for public participation, and (d) the local governing body otherwise complies with the electronic communication meetings law.
Patron: Beverly J. Sherwood
Status: Passed

HB 2726: Review of certain emergency plans by localities.

Summary as introduced: Review of certain emergency plans by localities. Grants authority to localities to request the review of, and suggest amendments to, the emergency plans of nursing homes, assisted living facilities, adult day care centers, and child day care centers that are located within the locality.
Patron: Jennifer L. McClellan
Status: Passed

HB 2729: FEMA floodplain map; notification of changes.

Summary as introduced: FEMA floodplain map; notification of changes. Provides that any locality notified by the United States Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) that a change in the FEMA floodplain map concerns or relates to real property within the locality shall provide to each owner of any such property (i) written notification of such change as it concerns or relates to such property and (ii) any other relevant information FEMA provided to the locality that concerns or relates to such property.
Patron: David L. Englin
Status: Passed

HB 2845: Emergency preparedness; makes several revisions related to orders of isolation and quarantine.

Summary as introduced: Emergency preparedness; orders of isolation and quarantine. Makes several revisions to the procedures related to orders of quarantine and isolation. The bill also authorizes persons who are otherwise not authorized by law to administer or dispense all necessary drugs when the Governor has declared a disaster or a state of emergency and allows for electronic legal filings in order to protect the public from communicable diseases.
Patron: John M. O'Bannon, III
Status: Passed

HB 3048: Emergency management plans; local and interjurisdictional agency to review.

Summary as introduced: Local emergency management plans. Requires every local and interjurisdictional agency to review and update its emergency operations plan every four years. The updated plan must be formally approved by the locality's governing body.
Patron: Paula J. Miller
Status: Passed

SB 787: Animal emergency response plan; Department of Emergency Management to address needs thereof.

Summary as introduced: Emergency preparedness; animal protection. Requires the Department of Emergency Management to develop an emergency response plan to address the needs of animals in an emergency and to assist localities in developing their own emergency response plans.
Patron: Walter A. Stosch
Status: Passed

SB 868: Donations by localities.

Summary as introduced: Donations by localities. Provides that localities may make gifts and donations of personal property and may deliver such gifts and donations to another governmental entity in or outside of the Commonwealth where the recipient governmental entity has suffered a natural disaster or manmade disaster.
Patron: John C. Watkins
Status: Passed

SB 987: Secure Commonwealth Panel; adds Chief Justice of Supreme Court of Virginia to membership.

Summary as introduced: Secure Commonwealth Panel; membership. Increases from 29 to 30 the membership of the Secure Commonwealth Panel by adding the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Virginia.
Patron: R. Creigh Deeds
Status: Passed

SB 1042: Persons rendering emergency assistance; exemption from liability; towing and recovery operators.

Summary as introduced: Persons rendering emergency assistance; exemption from liability; towing and recovery operators. Provides that towing and recovery operators in compliance with Chapter 28 (§ 46.2-2800 et seq.) of Title 46.2 are exempt from liability when they are providing assistance upon the request of any police agency, fire department, rescue or emergency squad, or other governmental agency in the event of an accident or other emergency.
Patron: Jay O'Brien
Status: Passed

SB 1108: Emergency preparedness; orders of isolation and quarantine.

Summary as introduced: Emergency preparedness; orders of isolation and quarantine. Makes several revisions to the procedures related to orders of quarantine and isolation. The bill also authorizes persons who are otherwise not authorized by law to administer or dispense all necessary drugs when the Governor has declared a disaster or a state of emergency and allows for electronic legal filings in order to protect the public from communicable diseases.
Patron: William C. Wampler, Jr.
Status: Passed

SB 1167: Sales and use tax exemption; hurricane preparedness equipment.

Summary as introduced: Sales and use tax exemption; hurricane preparedness equipment. Provides a sales and use tax exemption, beginning in 2008, for certain hurricane preparedness equipment purchased during a seven-day period each year beginning on May 25.
Patron: Kenneth W. Stolle
Status: Passed

SB 1202: Emergency management and preparedness; mutual aid agreements.

Summary as introduced: Emergency management and preparedness; mutual aid agreements. Specifies that personnel, equipment, or supplies of the Commonwealth or a political subdivision may be used to assist another state that has declared a state of emergency upon written request of the chief executive of the other state. In addition, the bill authorizes the Governor to provide financial assistance to Virginia state agencies and political subdivisions that provide emergency aid to another state. The bill also increases from 29 to 34 the membership of the Secure Commonwealth Panel by adding the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Virginia and four members from the business or industry sector.
Patron: William C. Wampler, Jr.
Status: Passed

SB 1318: Local emergency management plans.

Summary as introduced: Local emergency management plans. Requires every local and interjurisdictional agency to review and update its emergency operations plan every four years. The updated plan must be formally approved by the locality's governing body.
Patron: Phillip P. Puckett
Status: Passed