By: Taylor, Eiland H.B. No. 4409
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to emergency preparation and management.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter A, Chapter 418, Government Code, is
amended by adding Section 418.006 to read as follows:
Sec. 418.006. CIVIL LIABILITY. An officer or employee of a
state or local agency, or a volunteer acting at the direction of an
officer or employee of a state or local agency, is considered for
purposes of Section 431.085 to be a member of the state military
forces ordered into active service of the state by proper authority
and is considered to be discharging a duty in that capacity if the
person is performing an activity related to sheltering or housing
individuals in connection with the evacuation of an area stricken
or threatened by disaster.
SECTION 2. Section 418.043, Government Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 418.043. OTHER POWERS AND DUTIES. The division shall:
(1) determine requirements of the state and its
political subdivisions for food, clothing, and other necessities in
event of a disaster;
(2) procure and position supplies, medicines,
materials, and equipment;
(3) adopt standards and requirements for local and
interjurisdictional emergency management plans;
(4) periodically review local and interjurisdictional
emergency management plans;
(5) coordinate deployment of mobile support units;
(6) establish and operate training programs and
programs of public information or assist political subdivisions and
emergency management agencies to establish and operate the
programs;
(7) make surveys of public and private industries,
resources, and facilities in the state that are necessary to carry
out the purposes of this chapter;
(8) plan and make arrangements for the availability
and use of any private facilities, services, and property and
provide for payment for use under terms and conditions agreed on if
the facilities are used and payment is necessary;
(9) establish a register of persons with types of
training and skills important in disaster mitigation,
preparedness, response, and recovery;
(10) establish a register of mobile and construction
equipment and temporary housing available for use in a disaster;
(11) assist political subdivisions in developing
plans for the humane evacuation, transport, and temporary
sheltering of service animals and household pets in a disaster;
(12) prepare, for issuance by the governor, executive
orders and regulations necessary or appropriate in coping with
disasters;
(13) cooperate with the federal government and any
public or private agency or entity in achieving any purpose of this
chapter and in implementing programs for disaster mitigation,
preparation, response, and recovery; [and]
(14) define "individuals with special needs" in the
context of a disaster;
(15) do other things necessary, incidental, or
appropriate for the implementation of this chapter; and
(16) in coordination with the Texas Commission on
Environmental Quality, adopt rules to require a retail public
utility that serves customers in a county any territory of which is
located not more than 100 miles from the Gulf of Mexico to adopt and
submit to the commission for its approval an emergency preparedness
plan that ensures that, in the event of a local power outage during
the next year, the retail public utility maintains the ability to
provide water to the local distribution system with at least the
minimum water pressure required under commission rules and sewer
services to all existing customers.
(A) An emergency preparedness plan must provide
for:
(i) the maintenance of automatically
starting auxiliary generators for that purpose. If a retail public
utility's emergency preparedness plan provides for the maintenance
of automatically starting auxiliary generators, the retail public
utility must include with the plan a proposed schedule for the
regular servicing, testing, and operation of the generators that
complies with commission rules. A retail public utility that
maintains auxiliary generators shall maintain a log of the regular
servicing, testing, and operation of the generators and shall
submit a copy of the log to the commission with its yearly emergency
preparedness plan. The commission may inspect the log at any time
before the retail public utility submits the log to the commission;
or
(ii) the retail public utility's
participation in a recognized statewide mutual aid program, if the
commission finds that the utility's participation in the program
will provide the utility with access to auxiliary generators and
other necessary aid or equipment sufficient for the utility to
restore service not later than the 36th hour after the hour the
local power outage begins.
(B) The commission may impose an administrative
penalty on a person licensed under this chapter who violates this
section or a rule or order adopted under this section. The
commission by rule shall prescribe standards relating to the
servicing, testing, and operation of auxiliary power generators
used in the implementation of an emergency preparedness plan.
SECTION 3. Subchapter F, Chapter 418, Government Code, is
amended by adding Section 418.126 to read as follows:
Sec. 418.126. PRE-EVENT DISASTER RESPONSE CONTRACTS. (a)
The General Land Office shall solicit proposals for and enter into
one or more pre-event contracts that may be activated by the office
in the event of a weather-related disaster declaration to obtain
services for debris removal from beaches as needed following the
disaster.
(b) The Texas Department of Transportation shall solicit
proposals for and enter into one or more pre-event contracts that
may be activated by the department in the event of a weather-related
disaster declaration to obtain services for debris removal from the
state highway system as needed following the disaster.
(c) The Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs
shall solicit proposals for and enter into one or more pre-event
contracts that may be activated by the department in the event of a
weather-related disaster declaration to obtain temporary or
emergency housing as needed following the disaster.
(d) Services obtained under a pre-event contract under this
section shall be paid for with money from the disaster contingency
fund under Section 418.073.
SECTION 4. Not later than January 1, 2010, the relevant
state agencies shall adopt the contracts required by Section
418.126, Government Code, as added by this Act.
SECTION 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 2009.