§ 5195. Declaration of policy

§ 5195. Declaration of policy

The purpose of this subchapter is to provide a system of emergency preparedness for the protection of life and property in the United States from hazards and to vest responsibility for emergency preparedness jointly in the Federal Government and the States and their political subdivisions. The Congress recognizes that the organizational structure established jointly by the Federal Government and the States and their political subdivisions for emergency preparedness purposes can be effectively utilized to provide relief and assistance to people in areas of the United States struck by a hazard. The Federal Government shall provide necessary direction, coordination, and guidance, and shall provide necessary assistance, as authorized in this subchapter so that a comprehensive emergency preparedness system exists for all hazards.

(Pub. L. 93–288, title VI, § 601, as added Pub. L. 103–337, div. C, title XXXIV, § 3411(a)(3), Oct. 5, 1994, 108 Stat. 3100.)

Editorial Notes

Prior Provisions

Provisions similar to those in this section were contained in section 2251 of the former Appendix to Title 50, War and National Defense, prior to repeal by Pub. L. 103–337, § 3412(a).

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Transfer of Functions

For transfer of all functions, personnel, assets, components, authorities, grant programs, and liabilities of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, including the functions of the Under Secretary for Federal Emergency Management relating thereto, to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, see section 315(a)(1) of Title 6, Domestic Security.

For transfer of functions, personnel, assets, and liabilities of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, including the functions of the Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency relating thereto, to the Secretary of Homeland Security, and for treatment of related references, see former section 313(1) and sections 551(d), 552(d), and 557 of Title 6, Domestic Security, and the Department of Homeland Security Reorganization Plan of November 25, 2002, as modified, set out as a note under section 542 of Title 6.

Multihazard Preparedness and Mitigation

Pub. L. 106–74, title III, Oct. 20, 1999, 113 Stat. 1086, as amended by Pub. L. 109–295, title VI, § 612(c), Oct. 4, 2006, 120 Stat. 1410, provided in part: “That beginning in fiscal year 2000 and each fiscal year thereafter, and notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Administrator of FEMA is authorized to provide assistance from funds appropriated under this heading [EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PLANNING AND ASSISTANCE], subject to terms and conditions as the Administrator of FEMA shall establish, to any State for multi-hazard preparedness and mitigation through consolidated emergency management performance grants”.

Multihazard Research, Planning, and Mitigation; Functions, Etc., of Federal Emergency Management Agency

Pub. L. 96–472, title III, §§ 301, 302, Oct. 19, 1980, 94 Stat. 2260, as amended by Pub. L. 97–80, title III, § 301, Nov. 20, 1981, 95 Stat. 1083; Pub. L. 97–464, title II, § 201, Jan. 12, 1983, 96 Stat. 2533; Pub. L. 109–295, title VI, § 612(c), Oct. 4, 2006, 120 Stat. 1410, provided that: “Sec. 301. It is recognized that natural and manmade hazards may not be independent of one another in any given disaster, and it is also recognized that emergency personnel are often called upon to meet emergencies outside of their primary field of service. Furthermore, planning for and responding to different hazards have certain common elements. To make maximum use of these commonalities, the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (hereinafter referred to as the ‘Director’) is authorized and directed to:“(1) initiate, within one year after the date of enactment of this Act [Oct. 19, 1980], studies with the objective of defining and developing a multihazard research, planning, and implementation process within the Agency; “(2) develop, within one year after the date of enactment of this Act [Oct. 19, 1980], in cooperation with State and local governments, prototypical multihazard mitigation projects which can be used to evaluate several approaches to the varying hazard mitigation needs of State and local governments and to assess the applicability of these prototypes to other jurisdictions with similar needs; “(3) investigate and evaluate, within one year after the date of enactment of this Act [Oct. 19, 1980], the effectiveness of a range of incentives for hazard reductions that can be applied at the State and local government levels; “(4) prepare recommendations as to the need for legislation that will limit the legal liability of those third party persons or groups which are called upon to provide technical assistance and advice to public employees, including policemen, firemen, and transportation employees, who are generally the first to respond to a hazardous incident; which recommendations shall be provided to the appropriate committees of Congress within one hundred and eighty days after the date of enactment of this Act [Oct. 19, 1980]; “(5) prepare, within one hundred and eighty days after the date of enactment of this Act [Oct. 19, 1980], a report on the status of the Agency’s emergency information and communications systems which will provide recommendations on—“(A) the advisability of developing a single, unified emergency information and communication system for use by the Agency in carrying out its emergency management activities; “(B) the potential for using communication and remote sensing satellites as part of the Agency’s emergency information and communication system; and “(C) the type of system to be developed, if needed, including the relationship of the proposed system and its needs to the existing and emerging information and communication systems in other Federal agencies; “(6) conduct a program of multihazard research, planning, and mitigation in coordination with those studies and evaluations authorized in paragraphs (1) through (5), as well as other hazard research, planning, and mitigation deemed necessary by the Director; “(7) conduct emergency first response programs so as to better train and prepare emergency personnel to meet emergencies outside of their primary field of service; and “(8) conduct a program of planning, preparedness, and mitigation related to the multiple direct and indirect hazards resulting from the occurrence of large earthquakes. “Sec. 302. (a) For the fiscal year ending September 30, 1981, there are authorized to be appropriated to the Director $1,000,000 to carry out paragraphs (1) through (5) of section 301 and such sums as may be necessary to carry out paragraph (6) of such section. “(b) For the fiscal year ending September 30, 1982, there are authorized to be appropriated to the Director—“(1) $4,939,000 to carry out section 301, which amount shall include—“(A) not less than $700,000 to carry out the purposes of paragraphs (1) through (6) of such section; “(B) such sums as may be necessary, but in any case not less than $939,000, for use by the United States Fire Administration in carrying out paragraph (7) of such section; and “(C) not less than $3,300,000 to carry out paragraph (8) of such section with respect to those large California earthquakes which were identified by the National Security Council’s Ad Hoc Committee on Assessment of Consequences and Preparations for a Major California Earthquake; and “(2) such further sums as may be necessary for adjustments required by law in salaries, pay, retirement, and employee benefits incurred in the conduct of activities for which funds are authorized by paragraph (1) of this subsection. “(c) For the fiscal year ending September 30, 1983, there are authorized to be appropriated to the Director—“(1) $2,774,000 to carry out section 301, which amount shall include—“(A) not less than $300,000 to carry out the purposes of paragraphs (1) through (6) of such section; “(B) such sums as may be necessary, but in any case not less than $939,000, for use by the United States Fire Administration in carrying out paragraph (7) of such section; and “(C) not less than $1,535,000 to carry out paragraph (8) of such section with respect to those large California earthquakes which were identified by the National Security Council’s Ad Hoc Committee on Assessment of Consequences and Preparations for a Major California Earthquake and with respect to other high seismic risk areas in the United States; and “(2) such further sums as may be necessary for adjustments required by law in salaries, pay, retirement, and employee benefits incurred in the conduct of activities for which funds are authorized by paragraph (1) of this subsection.”

Executive Documents

REORGANIZATION PLAN NO. 1 OF 1958

Eff. July 1, 1958, 23 F.R. 4991, 72 Stat. 1799, as amended Pub. L. 85–763, Aug. 26, 1958, 72 Stat. 861; Pub. L. 87–296, § 1, Sept. 22, 1961, 75 Stat. 630; Pub. L. 87–367, title I, § 103(10), Oct. 4, 1961, 75 Stat. 788; Pub. L. 88–426, title III, § 305(11), Aug. 14, 1964, 78 Stat. 423; Pub. L. 90–608, ch. IV, § 402, Oct. 21, 1968, 82 Stat. 1194; Reorg. Plan No. 1 of 1973, § 3(a), eff. July 1, 1973, 38 F.R. 9579, 87 Stat. 1089

Prepared by the President and transmitted to the Senate and the House of Representatives in Congress assembled, April 24, 1958, pursuant to the provisions of the Reorganization Act of 1949, approved June 20, 1949, as amended [see 5 U.S.C. 901 et seq.].

CIVILIAN MOBILIZATION

Section 1. Transfer of Functions to the President

(a) There are hereby transferred to the President of the United States all functions vested by law (including reorganization plan) in the following: The Office of Defense Mobilization, the Director of the Office of Defense Mobilization, the Federal Civil Defense Administration, and the Federal Civil Defense Administrator.

(b) The President may from time to time delegate any of the functions transferred to him by subsection (a) of this section to any officer, agency, or employee of the executive branch of the Government, and may authorized such officer, agency, or employee to redelegate any of such functions delegated to him.

Sec. 2. Office of Emergency Preparedness

[The Office of Emergency Preparedness including the offices of Director and Deputy Director, and all offices of Assistant Director, were abolished by Reorg. Plan No. 1 of 1973, § 3(a)(1), eff. July 1, 1973, 38 F.R. 9579, 87 Stat. 1089, set out below.]

Sec. 3. Regional Directors

[All offices of Regional Director of the Office of Emergency Preparedness were abolished by Reorg. Plan No. 1 of 1973, § 3(a)(1), eff. July 1, 1973, 38 F.R. 9579, 87 Stat. 1089, set out below.]

Sec. 4. Membership on National Security Council

[The functions of the Director of the Office of Emergency Preparedness as a member of the National Security Council were abolished by Reorg. Plan No. 1 of 1973, § 3(a)(2), eff. July 1, 1973, 38 F.R. 9579, 87 Stat. 1089, set out below.]

Sec. 5. Civil Defense Advisory Council

[The Civil Defense Advisory Council, together with its functions, was abolished by Reorg. Plan No. 1 of 1973, § 3(a)(3), eff. July 1, 1973, 38 F.R. 9579, 87 Stat. 1089, set out below.]

Sec. 6. Abolitions

The offices of Federal Civil Defense Administrator and Deputy Administrator provided for in section 101 of the Federal Civil Defense Act ([former] 50 U.S.C. App. 2271) and the offices of the Director of the Office of Defense Mobilization and Deputy Director of the Office of Defense Mobilization provided for in section 1 of Reorganization Plan Numbered 3 of 1953 (67 Stat. 634) are hereby abolished. The Director of the Office of Emergency Preparedness shall make such provisions as may be necessary in order to wind up any outstanding affairs of the offices abolished by this section which are not otherwise provided for in this reorganization plan. [As amended Pub. L. 90–608, ch. IV, § 402, Oct. 21, 1968, 82 Stat. 1194.]

Sec. 7. Records, Property, Personnel, and Funds

(a) The records, property, personnel, and unexpended balances, available or to be made available, of appropriations, allocations, and other funds of the Office of Defense Mobilization and of the Federal Civil Defense Administration shall, upon the taking effect of the provisions of this reorganization plan, become records, property, personnel, and unexpended balances of the Office of Emergency Preparedness.

(b) Records, property, personnel, and unexpended balances, available or to be made available, of appropriations, allocations, and other funds of any agency (including the Office of Emergency Preparedness), relating to functions vested in or delegated or assigned to the Office of Defense Mobilization or the Federal Civil Defense Administration immediately prior to the taking effect of the provisions of this reorganization plan, may be transferred from time to time to any other agency of the Government by the Director of the Bureau of the Budget under authority of this subsection for use, subject to the provisions of the Reorganization Act of 1949, as amended, in connection with any of the said functions authorized at time of transfer under this subsection to be performed by the transferee agency.

(c) Such further measures and dispositions as the Director of the Bureau of the Budget shall determine to be necessary in connection with the provisions of subsections (a) and (b) of this section shall be carried out in such manner as he shall direct and by such agencies as he shall designate. [As amended Pub. L. 90–608, ch. IV, § 402, Oct. 21, 1968, 82 Stat. 1194.]

Sec. 8. Interim Provisions

The President may authorize any person who immediately prior to the effective date of this reorganization plan holds an office abolished by section 6 hereof to hold any office established by section 2 of this reorganization plan until the latter office is filled pursuant to the said section 2 or by recess appointment, as the case may be, but in no event for any period extending more than 120 days after the said effective date.

Sec. 9. Effective Date

The provisions of this reorganization plan shall take effect at the time determined under the provisions of section 6(a) of the Reorganization Act of 1949, as amended, or on July 1, 1958, whichever is later.

Message of the President

To the Congress of the United States:

I transmit herewith Reorganization Plan No. 1 of 1958, prepared in accordance with the Reorganization Act of 1949, as amended. The reorganization plan provides new arrangements for the conduct of Federal defense mobilization and civil defense functions.

In formulating Reorganization Plan No. 1, I have had the benefit of several studies made by the executive branch as well as those conducted by the Congress. The reorganization plan will overcome the major difficulties revealed by those studies and mentioned in my 1959 budget message where I made the following statement:

The structure of Federal organization for the planning, coordination, and conduct of our nonmilitary defense programs has been reviewed, and I have concluded that the existing statues assigning responsibilities for the central coordination and direction of these programs are out of date. The rapid technical advances of military science have led to a serious overlap among agencies carrying on these leadership and planning functions. Because the situation will continue to change and because these functions transcend the responsibility of any single department or agency, I have concluded that they should be vested in no one short of the President. I will make recommendations to the Congress on this subject.

The principal effects of the organization plan are—

First, it transfers to the President the functions vested by law in the Federal Civil Defense Administration and those so vested in the Office of Defense Mobilization. The result is to establish a single pattern with respect to the vesting of defense mobilization and civil defense functions. At the present time disparity exists in that civil defense functions are vested in the President only to a limited degree while a major part of the functions administered by the Office of Defense Mobilization are vested by law in the President and delegated by him to that Office. Under the plan, the broad program responsibilities for coordinating and conducting the interrelated defense mobilization and civil defense functions will be vested in the President for appropriate delegation as the rapidly changing character of the nonmilitary preparedness program warrants.