Arkansas Code of 1987 (2023) › Title 12 - LAW ENFORCEMENT, EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT, AND MILITARY AFFAIRS (§§ 12-1-101 — 12-88-109) › Subtitle 5 - EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT (§§ 12-75-101 — 12-88-109) › Chapter 75 - ARKANSAS EMERGENCY SERVICES ACT OF 1973 (§§ 12-75-101 — 12-75-201) › Subchapter 1 - GENERAL PROVISIONS (§§ 12-75-101 — 12-75-139) › Section 12-75-103 - Definitions

As used in this chapter:
(1)
"Chief executive" means a head of government, the Governor, a county judge, and a mayor or city manager of incorporated places, dependent on the form and level of government;
(2)
"Disaster" means any tornado, storm, flood, high water, earthquake, drought, fire, radiological incident, air or surface-borne toxic or other hazardous material contamination, or other catastrophe, whether caused by natural forces, enemy attack, or any other means which:
(A)
In the determination of the Governor or the Director of the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management or his or her designee is or threatens to be of sufficient severity and magnitude to warrant state action or to require assistance by the state to supplement the efforts and available resources of local governments and relief organizations in alleviating the damage, loss, hardship, or suffering caused thereby, and with respect to which the chief executive of any political subdivision in which the disaster occurs or threatens to occur certifies the need for state assistance and gives assurance of the local government for alleviating the damage, loss, hardship, or suffering resulting from such disaster; or
(B)
(i)
Results in an interruption in the delivery of utility services when emergency declarations are required and when delays in obtaining an emergency declaration from the Governor or the director or his or her designee would hamper and delay restoration of utility service.
(ii)
In those instances, the Governor or the director or his or her designee may make such emergency determination subsequent to the initiation of the restoration work;
(3)
"Emergency jurisdiction" means any one (1) of the seventy-five (75) counties or specified local offices of emergency management or interjurisdictional offices of emergency management in the state;
(4)
(A)
"Emergency management" means disaster or emergency preparedness, mitigation, response, recovery, and prevention by state and local governments other than functions for which military forces are primarily responsible to prevent, minimize, and repair injury and damage resulting from major emergencies or from disasters caused by enemy attack, domestic or foreign terrorist attacks, natural causes, human-made catastrophes, or civil disturbances.
(B)
These functions include, without limitation:
(i)
Fire fighting;
(ii)
Law and order;
(iii)
Medical and health;
(iv)
Rescue;
(v)
Engineering;
(vi)
Warning;
(vii)
Communications;
(viii)
Radiological, chemical, biological, or other special material identification, measurement, and decontamination;
(ix)
Evacuation or relocation of persons from stricken areas;
(x)
Emergency social services such as housing, feeding, and locator services;
(xi)
Emergency transportations;
(xii)
Plant protection;
(xiii)
Damage assessment and evaluation;
(xiv)
Temporary restoration of public facilities;
(xv)
Emergency restoration of publicly owned utilities, or privately owned utilities serving the public good;
(xvi)
Debris clearance;
(xvii)
Hazard vulnerability and capability analysis; and
(xviii)
Other functions related to the protection of the people and property of the state, together with all other activities necessary or incidental to the preparedness, mitigation, response, recovery, and prevention for all the functions in this subdivision (4)(B);
(5)
"Emergency management requirements" means specific actions, activities, and accomplishments required for funding of state offices of emergency management or established local offices of emergency management, or both, under applicable state and federal emergency management program guidance and regulations;
(6)
"Emergency management standards" means standards of training, education, and performance established by the director for employees of the state offices of emergency management and established local offices of emergency management designed to ensure competency and professionalism and to determine minimum qualifications for the receipt of federal or state emergency management funding, or both;
(7)
(A)
"Emergency responder" means any paid or volunteer person or entity:
(i)
With special skills, qualifications, training, knowledge, or experience in the public or private sectors that would be beneficial to an emergency jurisdiction in an emergency declared under §
12-75-108
or training exercises authorized by the United States Department of Homeland Security, the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management, or an emergency jurisdiction; and
(ii)
Who is:
(a)
Requested by a participating emergency jurisdiction to respond or assist with a declared emergency or with authorized training exercises;
(b)
Authorized to respond or assist a participating emergency jurisdiction with a declared emergency or with authorized training exercises; or
(c)
Both requested and authorized to respond or assist a participating emergency jurisdiction with a declared emergency or with authorized training exercises.
(B)
An emergency responder may include, without limitation, the following types of personnel:
(i)
Law enforcement officers;
(ii)
Firefighters;
(iii)
Hazardous material response personnel;
(iv)
Decontamination response personnel;
(v)
Certified bomb technicians;
(vi)
Emergency medical services personnel;
(vii)
Physicians;
(viii)
Nurses;
(ix)
Public health personnel;
(x)
Emergency management personnel;
(xi)
Public works personnel;
(xii)
Members of community emergency response teams;
(xiii)
Emergency personnel of nongovernmental organizations; and
(xiv)
Persons with specialized equipment operations skills or training or any other skills valuable to responding or assisting a participating emergency jurisdiction with a declared emergency or with authorized training exercises.
(C)
"Emergency responder" includes any full-time or part-time paid, volunteer, or auxiliary employee of the state, another state, a territory, a possession, the District of Columbia, the federal government, any neighboring country, or any political subdivision thereof, or of any agency or organization performing emergency management services at any place in this state subject to the order or control of, or pursuant to, a request of the state government or any political subdivision;
(8)
"Governing body" means a county quorum court, a city council, and a city board of directors;
(9)
(A)
"Hazard mitigation assistance" means funds and programs to correct, alleviate, or eliminate a condition or situation which poses a threat to life, property, or public safety from the effects of a disaster.
(B)
Hazard mitigation assistance may include, but is not limited to, raising, replacing, removing, rerouting, or reconstructing existing public facilities such as roads, bridges, buildings, equipment, drainage systems, or other public or private nonprofit property, as defined in the Disaster Relief Act of 1974,
38 U.S.C. § 3720
and
42 U.S.C. § 5121
et seq.;
(10)
"Individual assistance" means funds and programs to provide for the immediate needs, including, but not limited to, food, clothing, and shelter for individuals and families;
(11)
(A)
"Interjurisdictional agreement" means a mutual agreement between two (2) or more established local offices of emergency management that is approved by executive order of the Governor in accordance with this chapter to merge, integrate, or otherwise combine the functions of the respective established local offices of emergency management for more effective, economical, and efficient use of available personnel and resources.
(B)
An interjurisdictional agreement shall include specific provisions addressing the appointment, funding, administration, and operational control of the emergency management coordinator and staff of the interjurisdictional office of emergency management;
(12)
"Interjurisdictional office of emergency management" means an office of emergency management formed by two (2) or more local offices of emergency management under an interjurisdictional agreement;
(13)
"Local office of emergency management" means a county or municipal office of emergency management created and established in accordance with the provisions of this chapter to perform local emergency management functions within the existing political subdivisions of the state;
(14)
"Major emergency" means a condition which requires the activation of emergency response at the state or local levels, either in anticipation of a severe disaster such as an imminent enemy attack, potential civil disturbance, forecast major natural or human-caused disaster, or actual onset of conditions requiring the use of such forces which exceed the day-to-day response and activities of such forces and requires the coordinating of a complement of local, state, federal, or volunteer organizations;
(15)
(A)
(i)
"Operational control" means the assigning of missions and the exercising of immediate command and overall management of all resources committed by state or local government to a disaster operation or major emergency.
(ii)
Unless otherwise delegated by executive order, the chief executive of the state or local governments, the director, or head of the local office of emergency management as the chief executive's direct representative will exercise operational control of the occurrence and assign missions.
(B)
Each agency, department, or organization will exercise control and authority over its personnel and resources to accomplish the assigned mission.
(C)
(i)
Each agency, department, or organization will coordinate activities through the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management or local office of emergency management exercising operational control of the occurrence.
(ii)
Operational control does not imply, nor is it intended to include, administrative management, which will remain with the parent organization;
(16)
"Participating emergency jurisdiction" means an emergency jurisdiction participating in the statewide mutual aid system established in §
12-75-119
;
(17)
"Political subdivision" means all duly formed and constituted governing bodies created and established under the authority of the Arkansas Constitution and laws of this state;
(18)
"Public assistance" means funds and programs to make emergency repairs or restoration of public facilities, to include, but not be limited to, publicly owned or maintained facilities such as roads, streets, bridges, utilities, schools, and other structures and facilities;
(19)
(A)
"Public safety agency" means an agency of the State of Arkansas or a functional division of a political subdivision that provides firefighting and rescue, natural or human-caused disaster or major emergency response, law enforcement, and ambulance or emergency medical services.
(B)
State offices of emergency management and local offices of emergency management are considered in the context and definition of public safety agencies for performance or coordination of functions defined as emergency management to the extent necessary for mitigation of, planning for, response to, and recovery from disasters or major emergencies;
(20)
"Public safety officer" means those positions of state offices of emergency management and local offices of emergency management approved by the director in state and local staffing patterns and authorized by him or her to perform or coordinate emergency management functions to the extent necessary for mitigation of, planning for, response to, recovery from, or prevention of disasters or major emergencies within limitations of this chapter;
(21)
"Response assistance" means funds to defray the costs of response to an emergency that does not necessarily result in a disaster of the magnitude and scope described in this section, but which requires the deployment and utilization of state and local government and private emergency personnel, equipment, and resources to protect and preserve lives and property and for the welfare of the citizens of Arkansas; and
(22)
"Utility services" means the transmission of communications or the transmission, distribution, or delivery of electricity, water, or natural gas for public use.
Acts 1973, No. 511, § 3; 1985, No. 629, § 1; 1985, No. 687, § 2; 1985, No. 978, § 2; A.S.A. 1947, § 11-1936; Acts 1993, No. 1049, §§ 1, 2; 1995, No. 116, § 1; 1999, No. 646, §§ 7-11; 1999, No. 913, § 1; 2005, No. 1179, § 1; 2007, No. 197, § 2; 2009, No. 165, §§ 20-27.