Bill Text: MI SB0109 | 2025-2026 | 103rd Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: State management: funds; cap and distribution of funds in the disaster and contingency fund; modify, and create new fund. Amends title & secs. 18 & 19 of 1976 PA 390 (MCL 30.418 & 30.419) & adds sec. 18a.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 4-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2025-02-26 - Referred To Committee On Appropriations [SB0109 Detail]
Download: Michigan-2025-SB0109-Introduced.html
SENATE BILL NO. 109
A bill to amend 1976 PA 390, entitled
"Emergency management act,"
by amending the title and sections 18 and 19 (MCL 30.418 and 30.419), the title as amended by 2006 PA 267, section 18 as amended by 2018 PA 263, and section 19 as amended by 2018 PA 264, and by adding section 18a.
the people of the state of michigan enact:
An act to provide for planning, mitigation, response, and recovery from natural and human-made disaster within and outside this state; to create the Michigan emergency management advisory council and prescribe its powers and duties; to create certain funds; to prescribe the powers and duties of certain state and local agencies and officials; to prescribe immunities and liabilities; to provide for the acceptance of gifts; and to repeal acts and parts of acts.
Sec. 18. (1) A disaster and emergency contingency fund is created. and shall be administered by the director. The director shall administer the fund. An annual accounting of expenditures under this act shall must be made to the legislature and the legislature shall annually appropriate sufficient funds to maintain the fund at a level not to exceed $10,000,000.00 $25,000,000.00 and not less than $2,500,000.00. Unexpended $10,000,000.00. Except as otherwise provided under subsection (7), unexpended and unencumbered funds remaining in the disaster and emergency contingency fund at the end of the fiscal year shall do not lapse to the general fund and shall be are carried forward and be available for expenditure in subsequent fiscal years.
(2) The director may expend money from the disaster and emergency contingency fund upon appropriation for the purpose of paying necessary and reasonable overtime, travel, and subsistence expenses incurred by an employee of an agency of this state acting at the direction of the director in a disaster or emergency related operation, and, with the concurrence of the governor or the governor's designated representative, for other needs required for the mitigation of the effects of, or in response to, a disaster or emergency.
(3) The director may place directly in the disaster and emergency contingency fund a reimbursement for expenditures out of the fund received from the federal government, or another source.
(4) If a state of major disaster or emergency is declared by the President of the United States, and when authorized by the governor, an expenditure from the fund may be made by the director upon appropriation to pay the state's matching share of grants as provided by the disaster relief act of 1974, Robert T. Stafford disaster relief and emergency assistance act, Public Law 93-288. , 88 Stat 143.
(5) The state treasurer shall direct the investment of the disaster and emergency contingency fund. The state treasurer shall credit to the disaster and emergency contingency fund interest and earnings from fund investments.
(6) The director shall submit a recommendation to the legislature concerning an amendment to this section that provides for the use of funds from the disaster and emergency contingency fund created in this section for an initiative to aid preemptive disaster resiliency programs. The recommendation described in this subsection must include information concerning how the initiative described in this subsection is designed to avoid the worst types of disasters.
(7) Except as otherwise provided in this subsection, each year, 20% of the funds remaining in the disaster and emergency contingency fund at the end of the fiscal year may be transferred and deposited into the state hazard mitigation fund created in section 18a. The transfer and deposit described in this subsection may be made only if at the end of the fiscal year the balance in the disaster and emergency contingency fund, after this transfer and deposit, will be $10,000,000.00 or more.
Sec. 18a. (1) The state hazard mitigation fund is created in the state treasury.
(2) The state treasurer shall deposit money and other assets received from the disaster and emergency contingency fund, other state or federal sources, or any other source in the state hazard mitigation fund. The state treasurer shall direct the investment of money in the state hazard mitigation fund and credit interest and earnings from the investments to the state hazard mitigation fund.
(3) The department is the administrator of the state hazard mitigation fund for audits of the state hazard mitigation fund.
(4) The unexpended and unencumbered funds remaining in the state hazard mitigation fund at the end of the fiscal year do not lapse to the general fund and are carried forward and available for expenditure in subsequent fiscal years.
(5) Subject to subsection (6), the department shall expend money from the state hazard mitigation fund, on appropriation, only for the use of hazard mitigation programs by the department of state police.
(6) Before expending any funds from the hazard mitigation fund, the department must request evidence that the activities to be completed account for future risks and hazard exposure. Hazard mitigation funds may be used to rebuild any damaged infrastructure, in conjunction with funds described under section 19, in a manner that will further reduce the exposure of the public to future hazards and mitigate against future loss.
(7) The state hazard mitigation fund may be expended by the department to support the reasonable administrative expenses related to the administration of the grant program created under this section.
(8) The director shall promulgate administrative rules governing grant applications, award determinations, eligible expenditures, and program administration that are related to the hazard mitigation fund. The rules described in this subsection must include, but are not limited to, all of the following criteria:
(a) That eligibility for funding is limited to entities eligible to apply as sub-applicants for the Federal Emergency Management Agency's hazard mitigation assistance programs managed and administered by the emergency management and homeland security division within the department. For purposes of this subdivision, eligible sub-applicants include any of the following entities:
(i) State agencies.
(ii) Local governments.
(iii) Federally recognized tribal governments.
(b) Except as otherwise provided in this subdivision, the application process for receipt of funds in the hazard mitigation fund must require a showing of evidence that each applicant for funds has adopted and maintains an adequate local hazard mitigation plan that has been approved by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. For purposes of this subdivision, an applicant without a local hazard mitigation plan that has been approved by the Federal Emergency Management Agency may apply for funding as described in this subdivision to develop a new local hazard mitigation plan or update an existing local hazard mitigation plan that has lapsed.
(c) Reimbursement from funds in the hazard mitigation fund for expenditures is limited to approved hazard mitigation activities that align with eligible activities under the Federal Emergency Management Agency's hazard mitigation assistance programs or section 406 of the Robert T. Stafford disaster relief and emergency assistance act, Public Law 93-288, for public assistance mitigation.
(d) The governor-appointed Michigan Citizen-Community Emergency Response Coordinating Council must be consulted regarding funding decisions related to the hazard mitigation fund.
Sec. 19. (1) Under extraordinary circumstances, upon the declaration of a state of disaster or a state of emergency by the governor and subject to the requirements of this subsection, the governor may authorize an expenditure from the disaster and emergency contingency fund to provide state assistance to counties and municipalities when federal assistance is not available. If the governor proclaims a state of disaster or a state of emergency, the first recourse for disaster related expenses shall must be to funds of the county or municipality. If the demands placed upon the funds of a county or municipality in coping with a particular disaster or emergency are unreasonably great, the governing body of the county or municipality may apply, by resolution of the local governing body, for a grant from the disaster and emergency contingency fund. The resolution shall must certify that the affected county or municipality emergency operations plan was implemented in a timely manner. The resolution shall must set forth the purpose for which the assistance is sought, the extent of damages sustained, and certify an exhaustion of local efforts. The assistance under this subsection is to provide grants, excluding reimbursement for capital outlay expenditures, in mitigation of the extraordinary burden of a county or municipality in relation to its available resources. Assistance grants under this section shall must not exceed the following amounts or 10% of the total annual operating budget for the preceding fiscal year of the county or municipality, whichever is less:
(a) For a county or municipality with a population under 25,000 according to the most recent federal decennial census, $250,000.00.75,000, $1,000,000.00.
(b) For a county or municipality with a population of 25,000 75,000 or more, and less than 75,000 according to the most recent federal decennial census, $500,000.00.$2,000,000.00.
(c) For a county or municipality with a population of 75,000 or more according to the most recent federal decennial census, $1,000,000.00.
(2) The director shall promulgate rules governing the application and eligibility for the use of the state disaster and emergency contingency fund. Rules that have been promulgated prior to December 31, 1988 to implement this section shall remain in effect until revised or replaced. The rules shall must include, but not be limited to, all of the following:
(a) Demonstration of exhaustion of local effort.
(b) Evidence that the applicant is a county that actively maintains an emergency management program, reviewed by and determined to be current and adequate by the emergency management division of the department, before the disaster or emergency for which assistance is being requested occurs. If the applicant is a municipality with a population of 10,000 or more, evidence that the municipality either maintains a separate emergency management program, reviewed by and determined to be current and adequate by the emergency management division of the department, before the disaster or emergency for which assistance is being requested or occurs, or the municipality is incorporated in the county emergency management program.
(c) Evidence that the applicable county or municipal emergency operations plan was implemented in a timely manner at the beginning of the disaster or emergency.
(d) Reimbursement for expenditures shall must be limited to public damage and direct loss as a result of the disaster or emergency, or expenses incurred by the applicant for reimbursing employees for disaster or emergency related activities which were not performed as a part of their normal duties, or for other needs required specifically for the mitigation of the effects, or in response to the disaster or emergency.
(e) A disaster assessment team established by the emergency management division of the department has substantiated the damages claimed by the applicant. Damage estimates submitted by the applicant shall must be based upon a disaster assessment carried out by the applicant according to standard procedures recommended by the emergency management division.
