Bill Text: MI HB4838 | 2011-2012 | 96th Legislature | Engrossed
Bill Title: State; interstate compacts and agreements; mutual aid agreements for certain emergencies; allow. Creates new act.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 14-0)
Status: (Passed) 2012-12-31 - Assigned Pa 459'12 With Immediate Effect 2012 Addenda [HB4838 Detail]
Download: Michigan-2011-HB4838-Engrossed.html
HB-4838, As Passed Senate, December 13, 2012
SUBSTITUTE FOR
HOUSE BILL NO. 4838
A bill to authorize interstate mutual aid for certain
emergency responses; to provide for the recognition of certain
credentials of emergency responders from other states; and to
provide for certain civil immunity.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:
Sec. 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the
"interstate mutual emergency aid act".
Sec. 2. As used is this act:
(a) "Emergency responder" means an individual who is required
to possess a license, certificate, permit, or other official
recognition for his or her expertise in a particular field or area
of knowledge and whose assistance is utilized or is desirable
during an emergency. Emergency responder includes, but is not
limited to, emergency medical services personnel; physicians;
nurses; mental health, veterinary, or other public health
practitioners; emergency management personnel; public works
personnel; and firefighters, including firefighters trained in the
areas of hazardous materials, specialized rescue, extrication,
water rescue, or other specialized area. Emergency responder does
not include law enforcement officers or other law enforcement
personnel.
(b) "Mutual aid emergency" or "emergency" means an occurrence
or condition resulting in a situation that poses an immediate risk
to health, life, property, or the environment, where the governing
body having jurisdiction over the situation decides that the
situation exceeds its ability to render appropriate aid and that it
is in the public's best interest to request mutual aid from a
governmental jurisdiction or private entity in another state with
which the governing body has a written mutual aid agreement. Mutual
aid emergency or emergency does not include a situation that
initially raises to the level of disaster or emergency requiring a
local or state of declaration of emergency or disaster, unless that
declaration occurs after the initial request for mutual aid.
Sec. 3. In order to more adequately address emergencies that
extend or exceed a jurisdiction's emergency response capabilities,
either without rising to the level of a state or local declaration
of state of a disaster or emergency or in the initial stages of an
event which may later become a declared disaster or emergency, the
state or any of its departments and agencies, or a political
subdivision of the state, including, but not limited to, a county,
city, village, township, special district, or other unit of local
government, or any combination thereof, may enter into a mutual aid
agreement with 1 or more units of government from another state
that provide for coordination of communications, training, and
response to and stand-by for planned events and emergency responses
between the units of government. When engaged in training, stand-
by, and emergency response in accordance with the mutual aid
agreements, emergency responders from outside this state are
permitted to provide services within this state in accordance with
this act and the terms of the mutual aid agreement. This act does
not prohibit a private company or its employees under contract with
a state agency or political subdivision in this state from
participating in mutual aid agreements for the provision of
emergency medical services personnel; physicians; nurses; mental
health, veterinary, or other public health practitioners; emergency
management personnel; or public works personnel, if the state
agency or political subdivision approves the participation and the
contract between the state agency or political subdivision and the
participating private company permits the participation.
Sec. 4. An emergency responder from a unit of government from
outside of this state who holds a license, certificate, or other
permit recognized or issued by another state shall be considered to
be licensed, certified, and permitted to render mutual aid within
this state pursuant to a mutual aid agreement authorized by this
act, if the emergency responder is acting within the scope of his
or her license, certificate, or permit and within what an
equivalent license, certificate, or permit from or recognized by
this state would authorize.
Sec. 5. Any function performed under this act shall be
considered to have been for public and governmental purposes, and
all immunities from liability enjoyed by the state or the political
subdivisions of this state and their officers, agents, and
employees shall extend to the emergency responders from another
state when providing mutual aid or while engaged in training and
exercises pursuant to a written mutual aid agreement authorized by
this act.
Sec. 6. Emergency responders from outside this state, while
rendering mutual aid within this state pursuant to a mutual aid
agreement authorized by this act, remain employees and agents of
their respective employers and jurisdictions. Nothing in this act,
or any mutual aid agreement entered into pursuant to this act,
creates an employment relationship between the jurisdiction
requesting aid and the employees and agents of the jurisdiction
rendering aid. All pension, relief, disability, death benefits,
worker's compensation, and other benefits enjoyed by emergency
responders rendering emergency mutual aid shall extend to the
services they perform outside their respective jurisdictions as if
those services had been rendered in their own jurisdiction.
Sec. 7. This act does not limit, modify, or abridge the
emergency management compact entered into under 2001 PA 247, MCL
3.991 to 3.994, the emergency management act, 1976 PA 390, MCL
30.401 to 30.421, or 2000 PA 310, MCL 3.731 to 3.734.
