BILL NUMBER: AB 1863INTRODUCED BILL TEXT INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Chesbro FEBRUARY 22, 2012 An act relating to mutual aid, and making an appropriation therefor. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 1863, as introduced, Chesbro. Mutual aid: reimbursement. The California Emergency Services Act provides for the rendering of mutual aid by the state government and by the political subdivisions of this state to mitigate the effects of natural, manmade, or war-caused emergencies. The act requires aid to be rendered in accordance with approved emergency plans during any state of war emergency or state of emergency when the need arises for outside aid in any county, city and county, or city. The act authorizes state agencies and political subdivisions to exercise mutual aid powers in accordance with the Master Mutual Aid Agreement and local ordinances, resolutions, agreements, or plans in periods other than a state of war emergency, a state of emergency, or a local emergency. This bill would make certain findings and declarations regarding a 36-day manhunt that occurred in Mendocino County in 2011. This bill would appropriate $40,827.29 from the General Fund to Mendocino County to reimburse the county for the costs it incurred during the manhunt. This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation that would establish reimbursement procedures for statewide law enforcement mutual aid. Vote: 2/3. Appropriation: yes. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the following: (a) A 36-day manhunt occurred in Mendocino County from late August 2011 to October 1, 2011, for a suspect in the murders of community member Matthew Coleman and Fort Bragg City Council Member Jere Melo. (b) Law enforcement agencies throughout California, assisted by fellow emergency responders, engaged in an unprecedented manhunt. The search for the suspect centered four miles east of Fort Bragg in remote and rugged terrain. The multiagency search operation, the parameters of which were focused along the Highway 20 corridor, between Willits and Fort Bragg into the Noyo Basin, depleted the scarce financial resources of the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office. (c) The Mendocino County Sheriff's Office incurred special expenses for outside agencies that came at Mendocino County's request for mutual aid, including lodging, food, and logistical expenditures in the amount of $40,827.29. SEC. 2. The sum of forty thousand eight hundred twenty-seven dollars and twenty-nine cents ($40,827.29) is hereby appropriated from the General Fund to Mendocino County to reimburse the county for the costs it incurred for the food and lodging of outside agencies that offered mutual aid to the county in the 2011 manhunt for the suspected killer of Matthew Coleman and Fort Bragg City Council Member Jere Melo. SEC. 3. It is the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation that would establish reimbursement procedures for statewide law enforcement mutual aid.