I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 645 

To direct the Secretary of Homeland Security to establish national emergency 

centers on military installations. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 22, 2009 

Mr. HASTINGS of Florida introduced the following bill; which was referred to 

the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, and in addition to 

the Committee on Armed Services, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions 

as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To direct the Secretary of Homeland Security to establish 

national emergency centers on military installations. 

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 ‘‘National Emergency 

5 Centers Establishment Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF NATIONAL EMERGENCY CEN7 TERS. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—In accordance with the require9 ments of this Act, the Secretary of Homeland Security 


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1 shall establish not fewer than 6 national emergency cen2 ters on military installations. 

3 (b) PURPOSE OF NATIONAL EMERGENCY CEN4 TERS.—The purpose of a national emergency center shall 

5 be to use existing infrastructure— 

6 (1) to provide temporary housing, medical, and 

7 humanitarian assistance to individuals and families 

8 dislocated due to an emergency or major disaster; 

9 (2) to provide centralized locations for the pur10 poses of training and ensuring the coordination of 

11 Federal, State, and local first responders; 

12 (3) to provide centralized locations to improve 

13 the coordination of preparedness, response, and re14 covery efforts of government, private, and not-for15 profit entities and faith-based organizations; and 

16 (4) to meet other appropriate needs, as deter17 mined by the Secretary of Homeland Security. 

18 SEC. 3. DESIGNATION OF MILITARY INSTALLATIONS AS NA19 TIONAL EMERGENCY CENTERS. 

20 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 60 days after the 

21 date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Home22 land Security, in consultation with the Secretary of De23 fense, shall designate not fewer than 6 military installa24 tions as sites for the establishment of national emergency 

25 centers. 


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1 (b) MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS.—A site designated as 

2 a national emergency center shall be— 

3 (1) capable of meeting for an extended period 

4 of time the housing, health, transportation, edu5 cation, public works, humanitarian and other transi6 tion needs of a large number of individuals affected 

7 by an emergency or major disaster; 

8 (2) environmentally safe and shall not pose a 

9 health risk to individuals who may use the center; 

10 (3) capable of being scaled up or down to ac11 commodate major disaster preparedness and re12 sponse drills, operations, and procedures; 

13 (4) capable of housing existing permanent 

14 structures necessary to meet training and first re15 sponders coordination requirements during nondis16 aster periods; 

17 (5) capable of hosting the infrastructure nec18 essary to rapidly adjust to temporary housing, med19 ical, and humanitarian assistance needs; 

20 (6) required to consist of a complete operations 

21 command center, including 2 state-of-the art com22 mand and control centers that will comprise a 24/7 

23 operations watch center as follows: 

24 (A) one of the command and control cen25 ters shall be in full ready mode; and 


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1 (B) the other shall be used daily for train2 ing; and 

3 (7) easily accessible at all times and be able to 

4 facilitate handicapped and medical facilities, includ5 ing during an emergency or major disaster. 

6 (c) LOCATION OF NATIONAL EMERGENCY CEN7 TERS.—There shall be established not fewer than one na8 tional emergency center in each of the following areas: 

9 (1) The area consisting of Federal Emergency 

10 Management Agency Regions I, II, and III. 

11 (2) The area consisting of Federal Emergency 

12 Management Agency Region IV. 

13 (3) The area consisting of Federal Emergency 

14 Management Agency Regions V and VII. 

15 (4) The area consisting of Federal Emergency 

16 Management Agency Region VI. 

17 (5) The area consisting of Federal Emergency 

18 Management Agency Regions VIII and X. 

19 (6) The area consisting of Federal Emergency 

20 Management Agency Region IX. 

21 (d) PREFERENCE FOR DESIGNATION OF CLOSED

22 MILITARY INSTALLATIONS.—Wherever possible, the Sec23 retary of Homeland Security, in consultation with the Sec24 retary of Defense, shall designate a closed military instal25 lation as a site for a national emergency center. If the 


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1 Secretaries of Homeland Security and Defense jointly de2 termine that there is not a sufficient number of closed 

3 military installations that meet the requirements of sub4 sections (b) and (c), the Secretaries shall jointly designate 

5 portions of existing military installations other than closed 

6 military installations as national emergency centers. 

7 (e) TRANSFER OF CONTROL OF CLOSED MILITARY

8 INSTALLATIONS.—If a closed military installation is des9 ignated as a national emergency center, not later than 180 

10 days after the date of designation, the Secretary of De11 fense shall transfer to the Secretary of Homeland Security 

12 administrative jurisdiction over such closed military instal13 lation. 

14 (f) COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT FOR JOINT USE OF

15 EXISTING MILITARY INSTALLATIONS.—If an existing 

16 military installation other than a closed military installa17 tion is designated as a national emergency center, not 

18 later than 180 days after the date of designation, the Sec19 retary of Homeland Security and the Secretary of Defense 

20 shall enter into a cooperative agreement to provide for the 

21 establishment of the national emergency center. 

22 (g) REPORTS.— 

23 (1) PRELIMINARY REPORT.—Not later than 90 

24 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 

25 Secretary of Homeland Security, acting jointly with 


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1 the Secretary of Defense, shall submit to Congress 

2 a report that contains for each designated site— 

3 (A) an outline of the reasons why the site 

4 was selected; 

5 (B) an outline of the need to construct, re6 pair, or update any existing infrastructure at 

7 the site; 

8 (C) an outline of the need to conduct any 

9 necessary environmental clean-up at the site; 

10 (D) an outline of preliminary plans for the 

11 transfer of control of the site from the Sec12 retary of Defense to the Secretary of Homeland 

13 Security, if necessary under subsection (e); and 

14 (E) an outline of preliminary plans for en15 tering into a cooperative agreement for the es16 tablishment of a national emergency center at 

17 the site, if necessary under subsection (f). 

18 (2) UPDATE REPORT.—Not later than 120 days 

19 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec20 retary of Homeland Security, acting jointly with the 

21 Secretary of Defense, shall submit to Congress a re22 port that contains for each designated site— 

23 (A) an update on the information con24 tained in the report as required by paragraph 

25 (1); 


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1 (B) an outline of the progress made to2 ward the transfer of control of the site, if nec3 essary under subsection (e); 

4 (C) an outline of the progress made toward 

5 entering a cooperative agreement for the estab6 lishment of a national emergency center at the 

7 site, if necessary under subsection (f); and 

8 (D) recommendations regarding any au9 thorizations and appropriations that may be 

10 necessary to provide for the establishment of a 

11 national emergency center at the site. 

12 (3) FINAL REPORT.—Not later than 1 year 

13 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec14 retary of Homeland Security, acting jointly with the 

15 Secretary of Defense, shall submit to Congress a re16 port that contains for each designated site— 

17 (A) finalized information detailing the 

18 transfer of control of the site, if necessary 

19 under subsection (e); 

20 (B) the finalized cooperative agreement for 

21 the establishment of a national emergency cen22 ter at the site, if necessary under subsection (f); 

23 and 


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1 (C) any additional information pertinent to 

2 the establishment of a national emergency cen3 ter at the site. 

4 (4) ADDITIONAL REPORTS.—The Secretary of 

5 Homeland Security, acting jointly with the Secretary 

6 of Defense, may submit to Congress additional re7 ports as necessary to provide updates on steps being 

8 taken to meet the requirements of this Act. 

9 SEC. 4. LIMITATIONS ON STATUTORY CONSTRUCTION. 

10 This Act does not affect— 

11 (1) the authority of the Federal Government to 

12 provide emergency or major disaster assistance or to 

13 implement any disaster mitigation and response pro14 gram, including any program authorized by the Rob15 ert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency As16 sistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5121 et seq.); or 

17 (2) the authority of a State or local government 

18 to respond to an emergency. 

19 SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

20 There is authorized to be appropriated $180,000,000 

21 for each of fiscal years 2009 and 2010 to carry out this 

22 Act. Such funds shall remain available until expended. 

23 SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS. 

24 In this Act, the following definitions apply: 


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1 (1) CLOSED MILITARY INSTALLATION.—The 

2 term ‘‘closed military installation’’ means a military 

3 installation, or portion thereof, approved for closure 

4 or realignment under the Defense Base Closure and 

5 Realignment Act of 1990 (part A of title XXIX of 

6 Public Law 101–510; 10 U.S.C. 2687 note) that 

7 meet all, or 2 out of the 3 following requirements: 

8 (A) Is located in close proximity to a 

9 transportation corridor. 

10 (B) Is located in a State with a high level 

11 or threat of disaster related activities. 

12 (C) Is located near a major metropolitan 

13 center. 

14 (2) EMERGENCY.—The term ‘‘emergency’’ has 

15 the meaning given such term in section 102 of the 

16 Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency 

17 Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5122). 

18 (3) MAJOR DISASTER.—The term ‘‘major dis19 aster’’ has the meaning given such term in section 

20 102 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and 

21 Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5122). 

22 (4) MILITARY INSTALLATION.—The term ‘‘mili23 tary installation’’ has the meaning given such term 

24 in section 2910 of the Defense Base Closure and ReVerDate Nov 24 2008 06:29 Jan 23, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H645.IH H645

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1 alignment Act of 1990 (part A of title XXIX of 

2 Public Law 101–510; 10 U.S.C. 2687 note). 

Æ 


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