I 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3552 

To improve emergency response activities in the United States, and for 

other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 20, 2013 

Mr. ANDREWS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 

A BILL 

To improve emergency response activities in the United 

States, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Emergency Response 

5 Improvement Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. STATE OFFICES OF EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—To be eligible for assistance under 

8 the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency As9 sistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5121 et seq.) on or after October 

10 1, 2014, the chief executive officer of a State shall be reVerDate Mar 15 2010 18:32 Nov 22, 2013 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3552.IH H3552

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1 quired to maintain a State Office of Emergency Manage2 ment. 

3 (b) DUTIES.—The State Office of Emergency Man4 agement referred to in subsection (a)— 

5 (1) shall coordinate the State response to an 

6 emergency; and 

7 (2) may request Federal assistance with respect 

8 to an emergency. 

9 SEC. 3. EMERGENCY RESPONSE. 

10 (a) FEDERAL INCIDENT COMMANDER.—If one or 

11 more Federal departments or agencies provides assistance 

12 to a State in response to an emergency, the President shall 

13 designate an individual from one such department or 

14 agency to serve as the Federal incident commander for 

15 that emergency. 

16 (b) FUNCTIONS.—As soon as practicable after des17 ignation under subsection (a), a Federal incident com18 mander shall— 

19 (1) meet with representatives of Federal, State, 

20 and local entities involved in the response to the 

21 emergency; and 

22 (2) assist such representatives in— 

23 (A) creating a plan to respond to the emer24 gency that specifies the responsibilities of each 

25 entity involved in the response; 


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1 (B) designating an individual to lead the 

2 response; and 

3 (C) drafting and executing a memorandum 

4 of understanding with respect to the plan de5 scribed in subparagraph (A) that describes the 

6 responsibilities of each entity involved in the re7 sponse. 

8 (c) FAILURE TO AGREE.—In the absence of a memo9 randum of understanding described in subsection 

10 (b)(2)(C), the Federal incident commander shall report to 

11 the President or the President’s designee and recommend 

12 if, and to what extent, the relevant Federal departments 

13 or agencies should be involved in the response to the emer14 gency. 

15 SEC. 4. EFFECT. 

16 Nothing in this Act shall be construed to limit, ex17 pand, or change any authority granted to a Federal, State, 

18 or local entity to respond to an emergency under Federal, 

19 State, or local law. 

20 SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS. 

21 (a) IN GENERAL.—In this Act, the terms ‘‘emer22 gency’’, ‘‘Indian tribal government’’, and ‘‘State’’ have the 

23 meanings given such terms in section 102 of the Robert 

24 T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act 

25 (42 U.S.C. 5122). 


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1 (b) TREATMENT OF INDIAN TRIBAL GOVERN2 MENTS.—For the purposes of this Act, any reference to 

3 ‘‘State’’ shall be treated as a reference also to ‘‘Indian 

4 tribal government’’. 

Æ 


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