II 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 3476 

To direct the Secretary of Homeland Security to establish national emergency 

centers on military installations. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 10, 2010 

Mr. CASEY (for himself and Mr. SPECTER) introduced the following bill; which 

was read twice and referred to the Committee on Armed Services 

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; and 

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. 

16 SEC. 3. DESIGNATION OF MILITARY INSTALLATIONS AS NA17 TIONAL EMERGENCY CENTERS. 

18 (a) DESIGNATIONS.— 

19 (1) INITIAL DESIGNATIONS.—Not later than 60 

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

21 Secretary of Homeland Security, in consultation 

22 with the Secretary of Defense, shall designate 2 mili23 tary installations as sites for the establishment of 

24 national emergency centers, of which— 


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1 (A) 1 shall be located in the area con2 sisting of Federal Emergency Management 

3 Agency Regions I, II, III, IV and V; and 

4 (B) 1 shall be located in the area con5 sisting of Federal Emergency Management 

6 Agency Regions VI, VII, VIII, IX, and X. 

7 (2) ADDITIONAL DESIGNATIONS.—Not later 

8 than 18 months after the date of the enactment of 

9 this Act, the Secretary of Homeland Security, in 

10 consultation with the Secretary of Defense, shall 

11 designate not fewer than 4 military installations as 

12 sites for the establishment of national emergency 

13 centers in addition to the military installations des14 ignated under paragraph (1). 

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

16 a national emergency center shall be— 

17 (1) capable of meeting for an extended period 

18 of time the housing, health, transportation, edu19 cation, public works, humanitarian and other transi20 tion needs of a large number of individuals affected 

21 by an emergency or major disaster; 

22 (2) environmentally safe and shall not pose a 

23 health risk to individuals who may use the center; 


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1 (3) capable of being scaled up or down to ac2 commodate major disaster preparedness and re3 sponse drills, operations, and procedures; 

4 (4) capable of housing existing permanent 

5 structures necessary to meet training and first re6 sponders coordination requirements during nondis7 aster periods; 

8 (5) capable of hosting the infrastructure nec9 essary to rapidly adjust to temporary housing, med10 ical, and humanitarian assistance needs; 

11 (6) required to consist of a complete operations 

12 command center, including 2 state-of-the-art com13 mand and control centers that will comprise a 24/7 

14 operations watch center as follows: 

15 (A) one of the command and control cen16 ters shall be in full ready mode; and 

17 (B) the other shall be used daily for train18 ing; and 

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

20 facilitate handicapped and medical facilities, includ21 ing during an emergency or major disaster. 

22 (c) LOCATION OF NATIONAL EMERGENCY CEN23 TERS.—There shall be established not fewer than 1 na24 tional emergency center in each of the following areas: 


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1 (1) The area consisting of Federal Emergency 

2 Management Agency Regions I, II, and III. 

3 (2) The area consisting of Federal Emergency 

4 Management Agency Region IV. 

5 (3) The area consisting of Federal Emergency 

6 Management Agency Regions V and VII. 

7 (4) The area consisting of Federal Emergency 

8 Management Agency Region VI. 

9 (5) The area consisting of Federal Emergency 

10 Management Agency Regions VIII and X. 

11 (6) The area consisting of Federal Emergency 

12 Management Agency Region IX. 

13 (d) PREFERENCE FOR MILITARY INSTALLATIONS

14 DESIGNATED AS REGIONAL JOINT READINESS CENTERS

15 AND CLOSED OR MATERIALLY AFFECTED MILITARY IN16 STALLATIONS.— 

17 (1) IN GENERAL.—In making designations 

18 under subsection (a), the Secretary of Homeland Se19 curity, in consultation with the Secretary of Defense, 

20 shall— 

21 (A) give preference to any military installa22 tion designated as a Regional Joint Readiness 

23 Center under the Defense Base Closure and Re24 alignment Act of 1990 (part A of title XXIX of 

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


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1 that meets the requirements of subsections (b) 

2 and (c); and 

3 (B) after the application of subparagraph 

4 (A), give preference to any closed military in5 stallation or materially affected military instal6 lation that meets the requirements of sub7 sections (b) and (c). 

8 (2) DESIGNATION OF PORTIONS OF MILITARY

9 INSTALLATIONS.—If the Secretary of Homeland Se10 curity and the Secretary of Defense jointly deter11 mine that there is not a sufficient number of closed 

12 military installations that meet the requirements of 

13 subsections (b) and (c), the Secretaries shall jointly 

14 designate portions of military installations other 

15 than closed military installations as National Emer16 gency Centers. 

17 (e) TRANSFER OF CONTROL OF CLOSED MILITARY

18 INSTALLATIONS.—If a closed military installation is des19 ignated as a national emergency center, not later than 180 

20 days after the date of designation, the Secretary of De21 fense shall transfer to the Secretary of Homeland Security 

22 administrative jurisdiction over such closed military instal23 lation. 

24 (f) COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT FOR JOINT USE OF

25 EXISTING MILITARY INSTALLATIONS.—If an existing 


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1 military installation other than a closed military installa2 tion is designated as a national emergency center, not 

3 later than 180 days after the date of designation, the Sec4 retary of Homeland Security and the Secretary of Defense 

5 shall enter into a cooperative agreement to provide for the 

6 establishment of the national emergency center. 

7 (g) REPORTS.— 

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

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

10 Secretary of Homeland Security, acting jointly with 

11 the Secretary of Defense, shall submit to Congress 

12 a report that contains for each designated site— 

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

14 was selected; 

15 (B) an outline of the need to construct, re16 pair, or update any existing infrastructure at 

17 the site; 

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

19 necessary environmental clean-up at the site; 

20 (D) an outline of preliminary plans for the 

21 transfer of control of the site from the Sec22 retary of Defense to the Secretary of Homeland 

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

24 (E) an outline of preliminary plans for en25 tering into a cooperative agreement for the esVerDate Mar 15 2010 23:32 Jun 10, 2010 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3476.IS S3476

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1 tablishment of a national emergency center at 

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

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

4 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec5 retary of Homeland Security, acting jointly with the 

6 Secretary of Defense, shall submit to Congress a re7 port that contains for each designated site— 

8 (A) an update on the information con9 tained in the report as required by paragraph 

10 (1); 

11 (B) an outline of the progress made to12 ward the transfer of control of the site, if nec13 essary under subsection (e); 

14 (C) an outline of the progress made toward 

15 entering a cooperative agreement for the estab16 lishment of a national emergency center at the 

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

18 (D) recommendations regarding any au19 thorizations and appropriations that may be 

20 necessary to provide for the establishment of a 

21 national emergency center at the site. 

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

23 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec24 retary of Homeland Security, acting jointly with the 


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1 Secretary of Defense, shall submit to Congress a re2 port that contains for each designated site— 

3 (A) finalized information detailing the 

4 transfer of control of the site, if necessary 

5 under subsection (e); 

6 (B) the finalized cooperative agreement for 

7 the establishment of a national emergency cen8 ter at the site, if necessary under subsection (f); 

9 and 

10 (C) any additional information pertinent to 

11 the establishment of a national emergency cen12 ter at the site. 

13 (4) ADDITIONAL REPORTS.—The Secretary of 

14 Homeland Security, acting jointly with the Secretary 

15 of Defense, may submit to Congress additional re16 ports as necessary to provide updates on steps being 

17 taken to meet the requirements of this Act. 

18 SEC. 4. LIMITATIONS ON STATUTORY CONSTRUCTION. 

19 This Act does not affect— 

20 (1) the authority of the Federal Government to 

21 provide emergency or major disaster assistance or to 

22 implement any disaster mitigation and response pro23 gram, including any program authorized by the Rob24 ert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency As25 sistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5121 et seq.); or 


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

2 to respond to an emergency. 

3 SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

4 There are authorized to be appropriated such sums 

5 as necessary to carry out this Act. 

6 SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act, the following definitions apply: 

8 (1) CLOSED MILITARY INSTALLATION.—The 

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

10 installation, or portion thereof, approved for closure 

11 or realignment under the Defense Base Closure and 

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

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

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

15 (A) Is located in close proximity to a 

16 transportation corridor. 

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

18 or threat of disaster related activities. 

19 (C) Is located near a major metropolitan 

20 center. 

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

22 the meaning given such term in section 102 of the 

23 Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency 

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


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1 (3) MAJOR DISASTER.—The term ‘‘major dis2 aster’’ has the meaning given such term in section 

3 102 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and 

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

5 (4) MILITARY INSTALLATION.—The term ‘‘mili6 tary installation’’ has the meaning given such term 

7 in section 2910 of the Defense Base Closure and Re8 alignment Act of 1990 (part A of title XXIX of 

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

Æ 


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