II

105TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. J. RES. 35

Granting the consent of Congress to the Pacific Northwest Emergency

Management Arrangement.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JULY 21, 1997

Mr. CRAIG (for himself, Mrs. MURRAY, Mr. MURKOWSKI, Mr. KEMPTHORNE,

Mr. WYDEN, and Mr. GORTON) introduced the following joint resolution;

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

JOINT RESOLUTION

Granting the consent of Congress to the Pacific Northwest

Emergency Management Arrangement.

1 Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives

2 of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. CONGRESSIONAL CONSENT.

4 Congress consents to the Pacific Northwest Emer5 gency Management Arrangement entered into between the

6 States of Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington, and the

7 Province of British Columbia and the Yukon Territory.

8 The arrangement is substantially as follows:
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1 ‘‘PACIFIC NORTHWEST EMERGENCY

2 MANAGEMENT ARRANGEMENT

3 ‘‘Whereas, Pacific Northwest emergency management

4 arrangement between the government of the States of

5 Alaska, the government of the State of Idaho, the gov6 ernment of the State of Oregon, the government of

7 the State of Washington, the government of the State

8 of the Providence of British Columbia, and the gov9 ernment of Yukon Territory hereinafter referred to

10 collectively as the ‘Signatories’ and separately as a

11 ‘Signatory’;

12 ‘‘Whereas, the Signatories recognize the importance

13 of comprehensive and coordinated civil emergency pre14 paredness, response and recovery measures for natu15 ral and technological emergencies or disasters, and for

16 declared or undeclared hostilities including enemy at17 tack;

18 ‘‘Whereas, the Signatories further recognize the bene19 fits of coordinating their separate emergency pre20 paredness, response and recovery measures with that

21 of contiguous jurisdictions for those emergencies, dis22 asters, or hostilities affecting or potentially affecting

23 any one or more of the Signatories in the Pacific

24 Northwest; and
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1 ‘‘Whereas, the Signatories further recognize that re2 gionally based emergency preparedness, response and

3 recovery measures will benefit all jurisdictions within

4 the Pacific Northwest, and best serve their respective

5 national interests in cooperative and coordinated

6 emergency preparedness as facilitated by the Consult7 ative Group on Comprehensive Civil Emergency and

8 Management established in the Agreement Between

9 the government of the United States of America and

10 the government of Canada on Cooperation and Com11 prehensive Civil Emergency Planning and Manage12 ment signed at Ottawa, Ontario, Canada on April 28,

13 1986: Now, therefore, be it is hereby agreed by and

14 between each and all of the Signatories hereto as fol15 lows:

16 ‘‘ADVISORY COMMITTEE

17 ‘‘(1) An advisory committee named the Western Re18 gional Emergency Management Advisory Committee (W–

19 REMAC) shall be established which will include one mem20 ber appointed by each Signatory.

21 ‘‘(2) The W–REMAC will be guided by the agreed22 upon Terms of Reference-Annex A.

23 ‘‘PRINCIPLES OF COOPERATION

24 ‘‘(3) Subject to the laws of each Signatory, the follow25 ing cooperative principles are to be used as a guide by
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1 the Signatories in civil emergency matters which may af2 fect more than one Signatory:

3 ‘‘(A) The authorities of each Signatory may

4 seek the advice, cooperation, or assistance of any

5 other Signatory in any civil emergency matter.

6 ‘‘(B) Nothing in the arrangement shall derogate

7 from the applicable laws within the jurisdiction of

8 any Signatory. However, the authorities of any Sig9 natory may request from the authorities of any other

10 signatory appropriate alleviation of such laws if their

11 normal application might lead to delay or difficulty

12 in the rapid execution of necessary civil emergency

13 measures.

14 ‘‘(C) Each Signatory will use its best efforts to

15 facilitate the movement of evacuees, refugees, civil

16 emergency personnel, equipment or other resources

17 into or across its territory, or to a designated stag18 ing area when it is agreed that such movement or

19 staging will facilitate civil emergency operations by

20 the affected or participating Signatories.

21 ‘‘(D) In times of emergency, each Signatory will

22 use its best efforts to ensure that the citizens or

23 residents of any other Signatory present in its terri24 tory are provided emergency health services and
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1 emergency social services in a manner no less favor2 able than that provided to its own citizens.

3 ‘‘(E) Each Signatory will use discretionary

4 power as far as possible to avoid levy of any tax, tar5 iff, business license, or user fees on the services,

6 equipment, and supplies of any other Signatory

7 which is engaged in civil emergency activities in the

8 territory of another Signatory, and will use its best

9 efforts to encourage local governments or other ju10 risdictions within its territory to do likewise.

11 ‘‘(F) When civil emergency personnel, con12 tracted firms or personnel, vehicles, equipment, or

13 other services from any Signatory are made available

14 to or are employed to assist any other Signatory, all

15 providing Signatories will use best efforts to ensure

16 that charges, levies, or costs for such use or assist17 ance will not exceed those paid for similar use of

18 such resources within their own territory.

19 ‘‘(G) Each Signatory will exchange contact lists,

20 warning and notification plans, and selected emer21 gency plans and will call to the attention of their re22 spective local governments and other jurisdictional

23 authorities in areas adjacent to intersignatory

24 boundaries, the desirability of compatibility of civil

25 emergency plans and the exchange of contact lists,
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1 warning and notification plans, and selected emer2 gency plans.

3 ‘‘(H) The authority of any Signatory conduct4 ing an exercise will ensure that all other signatories

5 are provided an opportunity to observe, and/or par6 ticipate in such exercises.

7 ‘‘COMPREHENSIVE NATURE

8 ‘‘(4) This document is a comprehensive arrangement

9 on civil emergency planning and management. To this end

10 and from time to time as necessary, all Signatories shall—

11 ‘‘(A) review and exchange their respective con12 tact lists, warning and notification plans, and se13 lected emergency plans; and

14 ‘‘(B) as appropriate, provide such plans and

15 procedures to local governments, and other emer16 gency agencies within their respective territories.

17 ‘‘ARRANGEMENT NOT EXCLUSIVE

18 ‘‘(5) This is not an exclusive arrangement and shall

19 not prevent or limit other civil emergency arrangements

20 of any nature between Signatories to this arrangement.

21 In the event of any conflicts between the provisions of this

22 arrangement and any other arrangement regarding emer23 gency service entered into by two or more States of the

24 United States who are Signatories to this arrangement,

25 the provisions of that other arrangement shall apply, with
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1 respect to the obligations of those States to each other,

2 and not the conflicting provisions of this arrangement.

3 ‘‘AMENDMENTS

4 ‘‘(6) This Arrangement and the Annex may be

5 amended (and additional Annexes may be added) by ar6 rangement of the Signatories.

7 ‘‘CANCELLATION OR SUBSTITUTION

8 ‘‘(7) Any Signatory to this Arrangement may with9 draw from or cancel their participation in this Arrange10 ment by giving sixty days, written notice in advance of

11 this effective date to all other Signatories.

12 ‘‘AUTHORITY

13 ‘‘(8) All Signatories to this Arrangement warrant

14 they have the power and capacity to accept, execute, and

15 deliver this Arrangement.

16 ‘‘EFFECTIVE DATE

17 ‘‘(9) Notwithstanding any dates noted elsewhere, this

18 Arrangement shall commence April 1, 1996.’’.

19 SEC. 2. INCONSISTENCY OF LANGUAGE.

20 The validity of the arrangements consented to by this

21 Act shall not be affected by any insubstantial difference

22 in their form or language as adopted by the States and

23 provinces.
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1 SEC. 3. RIGHT TO ALTER, AMEND, OR REPEAL.

2 The right to alter, amend, or repeal this Act is hereby

3 expressly reserved.

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