Bill Text: VA HB2312 | 2019 | Regular Session | Comm Sub
Bill Title: Emergency Services and Disaster Law; definition of disaster, incidents involving cyber systems.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 8-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2019-02-05 - Left in Appropriations [HB2312 Detail]
Download: Virginia-2019-HB2312-Comm_Sub.html
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. That §44-146.16 of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted as follows:
§44-146.16. Definitions.
As used in this chapter, unless the context requires a different meaning:
"Communicable disease of public health threat" means
an illness of public health significance, as determined by the State Health
Commissioner in accordance with regulations of the Board of Health, caused by a
specific or suspected infectious agent that may be reasonably expected or is
known to be readily transmitted directly or indirectly from one individual to
another and has been found to create a risk of death or significant injury or
impairment; this definition shall not, however, be construed to include human
immunodeficiency viruses or tuberculosis, unless used as a bioterrorism weapon.
"Individual" shall include any companion animal. Further, whenever
"person or persons" is used in Article 3.02 (§32.1-48.05 et seq.) of
Chapter 2 of Title 32.1, it shall be deemed, when the context requires it, to
include any individual;.
"Cyber incident" means an event occurring on or conducted through a computer network that actually or imminently jeopardizes the integrity, confidentiality, or availability of computers, information or communications systems or networks, physical or virtual infrastructure controlled by computers or information systems, or information resident thereon. A cyber incident may include a vulnerability in information systems, system security procedures, internal controls, or implementations that could be exploited by a threat source.
"Disaster" means (i) any man-made disaster,
including any condition following an attack by any enemy or foreign nation upon
the United States resulting in substantial damage of property or injury to
persons in the United States and may be including by use of
bombs, missiles, shell fire, or nuclear, radiological, chemical, or
biological means or other weapons or by overt paramilitary actions; terrorism,
foreign and domestic; also cyber incidents; and any industrial,
nuclear, or transportation accident, explosion, conflagration, power failure,
resources shortage, or other condition such as sabotage, oil spills, and other
injurious environmental contaminations that threaten or cause damage to
property, human suffering, hardship, or loss of life; and (ii) any
natural disaster, including any hurricane, tornado, storm, flood, high water,
wind-driven water, tidal wave, earthquake, drought, fire, communicable disease
of public health threat, or other natural catastrophe resulting in damage,
hardship, suffering, or possible loss of life;.
"Discharge" means spillage, leakage, pumping, pouring,
seepage, emitting, dumping, emptying, injecting, escaping, leaching, fire,
explosion, or other releases;.
"Emergency" means any occurrence, or threat thereof,
whether natural or man-made, which results or may result in substantial injury
or harm to the population or substantial damage to or loss of property or
natural resources and may involve governmental action beyond that authorized or
contemplated by existing law because governmental inaction for the period
required to amend the law to meet the exigency would work immediate and
irrevocable harm upon the citizens or the environment of the Commonwealth or
some clearly defined portion or portions thereof;.
"Emergency services" means the preparation for and
the carrying out of functions, other than functions for which military forces
are primarily responsible, to prevent, minimize, and repair injury and
damage resulting from disasters, together with all other activities necessary
or incidental to the preparation for and carrying out of the foregoing functions.
These functions include, without limitation, fire-fighting
firefighting services, police services, medical and health services,
rescue, engineering, warning services, communications, radiological, chemical,
and other special weapons defense, evacuation of persons from stricken areas,
emergency welfare services, emergency transportation, emergency resource
management, existing or properly assigned functions of plant protection,
temporary restoration of public utility services, and other functions related
to civilian protection. These functions also include the administration of
approved state and federal disaster recovery and assistance programs;.
"Hazard mitigation" means any action taken to reduce
or eliminate the long-term risk to human life and property from natural hazards;.
"Hazardous substances" means all materials or
substances which that now or hereafter are designated, defined,
or characterized as hazardous by law or regulation of the Commonwealth or
regulation of the United States government;.
"Interjurisdictional agency for emergency
management" is any organization established between contiguous political
subdivisions to facilitate the cooperation and protection of the subdivisions
in the work of disaster prevention, preparedness, response, and recovery;.
"Local emergency" means the condition declared by
the local governing body when in its judgment the threat or actual occurrence
of an emergency or disaster is or threatens to be of sufficient severity and
magnitude to warrant coordinated local government action to prevent or
alleviate the damage, loss, hardship, or suffering threatened or caused
thereby;, provided, however, that a local emergency arising
wholly or substantially out of a resource shortage may be declared only by the
Governor, upon petition of the local governing body, when he deems the threat
or actual occurrence of such an emergency or disaster to be of sufficient
severity and magnitude to warrant coordinated local government action to
prevent or alleviate the damage, loss, hardship, or suffering threatened
or caused thereby;, and provided, however, nothing in this
chapter shall be construed as prohibiting a local governing body from the
prudent management of its water supply to prevent or manage a water shortage;.
"Local emergency management organization" means an
organization created in accordance with the provisions of this chapter by local
authority to perform local emergency service functions;.
"Major disaster" means any natural catastrophe,
including any: hurricane, tornado, storm, high water, wind-driven water, tidal
wave, tsunami, earthquake, volcanic eruption, landslide, mudslide, snowstorm,
or drought, or regardless of cause, any fire, flood, or explosion, in any part
of the United States, which, in the determination of the President of the
United States is, or thereafter determined to be, of sufficient severity and
magnitude to warrant major disaster assistance under the Stafford Act (P.L.
93-288 as amended) to supplement the efforts and available resources of states,
local governments, and disaster relief organizations in alleviating the damage,
loss, hardship, or suffering caused thereby and is so declared by him;.
"Political subdivision" means any city or county in
the Commonwealth and, for the purposes of this chapter, the Town of
Chincoteague and any town of more than 5,000 population that chooses to have an
emergency management program separate from that of the county in which such
town is located;.
"Resource shortage" means the absence,
unavailability, or reduced supply of any raw or processed natural
resource, or any commodities, goods, or services of any kind that
bear a substantial relationship to the health, safety, welfare, and
economic well-being of the citizens of the Commonwealth;.
"State of emergency" means the condition declared by
the Governor when in his judgment, the threat or actual occurrence of an
emergency or a disaster in any part of the Commonwealth is of sufficient
severity and magnitude to warrant disaster assistance by the Commonwealth to
supplement the efforts and available resources of the several localities,
and relief organizations in preventing or alleviating the damage, loss,
hardship, or suffering threatened or caused thereby and is so declared by him.