Bill Text: CA AB1565 | 2021-2022 | Regular Session | Amended

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Emergency Management Assistance Compact.

Spectrum: Committee Bill

Status: (Passed) 2022-09-15 - Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 321, Statutes of 2022. [AB1565 Detail]

Download: California-2021-AB1565-Amended.html

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Amended  IN  Senate  August 11, 2022

Amended  IN  Assembly  June 09, 2021

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2021–2022 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill

No. 1565

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Introduced by Committee on Emergency Management

March 03, 2021

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An act to amend Section 8593.2 179.9 of the Government Code, relating to emergency services, and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect immediately. services.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

AB 1565, as amended, Committee on Emergency Management. California Emergency Services Act: toll-free telephone hotlines. Emergency Management Assistance Compact.

Existing law ratifies, approves, and sets forth the provisions of the Emergency Management Assistance Compact, an interstate agreement that provides for mutual assistance between states responding to emergencies and disasters. The compact becomes inoperative on March 1, 2023, and, as of January 1, 2024, is repealed.

This bill instead would make the compact inoperative on March 1, 2028, and repeal it on January 1, 2029.

Existing law, the California Emergency Services Act, establishes the Office of Emergency Services and sets forth its powers and duties relating to mitigating the effects of natural, manmade, or war-caused emergencies.

Existing law requires the office to investigate the feasibility of establishing a toll-free 800 telephone hotline, which would be accessible to the public, including deaf, hearing impaired, and non-English speaking persons, for use during nonemergency and emergency periods to respond to inquiries about emergency preparedness and disaster status.

This bill would authorize the office to investigate the feasibility of establishing more than one toll-free 800 telephone hotline, and consider the lessons learned and best practices of local governments and other states that established hotlines during the COVID-19 pandemic and other major disasters.

This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Digest Key

Vote: TWO_THIRDSMAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: NOYES   Local Program: NO  

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Bill Text

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.

 Section 179.9 of the Government Code is amended to read:

179.9.

 This article shall become inoperative on March 1, 2023, 2028, and, as of January 1, 2024, 2029, is repealed.

SECTION 1.Section 8593.2 of the Government Code is amended to read:

8593.2.

(a)The Office of Emergency Services shall investigate the feasibility of establishing a toll-free 800 telephone hotline or hotlines, including TDD (telecommunications device for the deaf) accessibility, which would be accessible to the public, including deaf, hard-of-hearing, and non-English-speaking persons, for use during nonemergency and emergency periods to respond to inquiries about emergency preparedness and disaster status.

(b)In investigating the feasibility of establishing a toll-free 800 telephone hotline or hotlines pursuant to subdivision (a), the office may consider the lessons learned and best practices of local governments and other states that established toll-free telephone hotlines during the COVID-19 pandemic and other major disasters.

SEC. 2.

This act is an urgency statute necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within the meaning of Article IV of the California Constitution and shall go into immediate effect. The facts constituting the necessity are:

In order to ensure all measures are being taken to preserve public health and safety and assist vulnerable populations impacted by the ongoing pandemic and threat of catastrophic wildfires, earthquakes, floods, and other hazards as soon as possible, it is necessary that this act go into effect immediately.