The California Emergency Services Act creates, within the office of the Governor, the Office of Emergency Services, which is responsible for addressing natural, technological, or manmade disasters and emergencies, including responsibility for activities necessary to prevent, respond to, recover from, and mitigate the effects of emergencies and disasters to people and property. Existing law authorizes cities, cities and counties, and counties to create disaster councils, by ordinance, to develop plans for meeting any condition constituting a local emergency or state of emergency, including, but not limited to, earthquakes, natural or manmade disasters specific to that jurisdiction, or state of war emergency. The law requires a disaster council to supply a copy of those plans to the Office of Emergency Services.
This bill would require the Office of
Emergency Services to annually review 10 plans described above to determine if the plans substantially conform to or exceed specified recommendations made by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The bill would require the office to prioritize in its review a plan submitted from a county determined to be at a high risk of wildfire disaster.