[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3552 Introduced in House (IH)]

113th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3552

To improve emergency response activities in the United States, and for 
                            other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           November 20, 2013

 Mr. Andrews introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
             Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To improve emergency response activities in the United States, and for 
                            other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Emergency Response Improvement 
Act''.

SEC. 2. STATE OFFICES OF EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT.

    (a) In General.--To be eligible for assistance under the Robert T. 
Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5121 
et seq.) on or after October 1, 2014, the chief executive officer of a 
State shall be required to maintain a State Office of Emergency 
Management.
    (b) Duties.--The State Office of Emergency Management referred to 
in subsection (a)--
            (1) shall coordinate the State response to an emergency; 
        and
            (2) may request Federal assistance with respect to an 
        emergency.

SEC. 3. EMERGENCY RESPONSE.

    (a) Federal Incident Commander.--If one or more Federal departments 
or agencies provides assistance to a State in response to an emergency, 
the President shall designate an individual from one such department or 
agency to serve as the Federal incident commander for that emergency.
    (b) Functions.--As soon as practicable after designation under 
subsection (a), a Federal incident commander shall--
            (1) meet with representatives of Federal, State, and local 
        entities involved in the response to the emergency; and
            (2) assist such representatives in--
                    (A) creating a plan to respond to the emergency 
                that specifies the responsibilities of each entity 
                involved in the response;
                    (B) designating an individual to lead the response; 
                and
                    (C) drafting and executing a memorandum of 
                understanding with respect to the plan described in 
                subparagraph (A) that describes the responsibilities of 
                each entity involved in the response.
    (c) Failure To Agree.--In the absence of a memorandum of 
understanding described in subsection (b)(2)(C), the Federal incident 
commander shall report to the President or the President's designee and 
recommend if, and to what extent, the relevant Federal departments or 
agencies should be involved in the response to the emergency.

SEC. 4. EFFECT.

    Nothing in this Act shall be construed to limit, expand, or change 
any authority granted to a Federal, State, or local entity to respond 
to an emergency under Federal, State, or local law.

SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS.

    (a) In General.--In this Act, the terms ``emergency'', ``Indian 
tribal government'', and ``State'' have the meanings given such terms 
in section 102 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency 
Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5122).
    (b) Treatment of Indian Tribal Governments.--For the purposes of 
this Act, any reference to ``State'' shall be treated as a reference 
also to ``Indian tribal government''.
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