Article 10 - Local Disaster Councils

California Government Code — §§ 8610-8614

Sections (7)

Amended by Stats. 2020, Ch. 254, Sec. 1. (AB 2386) Effective January 1, 2021.

(a)Counties, cities and counties, and cities may create disaster councils by ordinance. A disaster council shall 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; those plans shall provide for the effective mobilization of all of the resources within the political subdivision, both public and private. The disaster council shall supply a copy of any plans developed pursuant to this section to the Office of Emergency Services. The governing body of a county, city and county, or city may, in the ordinance or by resolution adopted pursuant to the ordinance, provide for the

organization, powers and duties, divisions, services, and staff of the emergency organization. The governing body of a county, city and county, or city may, by ordinance or resolution, authorize public officers, employees, and registered volunteers to command the aid of citizens when necessary in the execution of their duties during a state of war emergency, a state of emergency, or a local emergency.

(b)Counties, cities and counties, and cities may enact ordinances

and resolutions and either establish rules and regulations or authorize disaster councils to recommend to the director of the local emergency organization rules and regulations for dealing with local emergencies that can be adequately dealt with locally; and further may act to carry out mutual aid on a voluntary basis and, to this end, may enter into agreements.

(c)(1) The Office of Emergency Services shall annually review, at a minimum, 10 emergency plans submitted to the

office.

(2)The Office of Emergency Services shall determine if a plan reviewed pursuant to this subdivision substantially conforms to or exceeds the recommendations described in the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Comprehensive Preparedness Guide 101, or other successor emergency operations planning guidance.
(3)The Office of Emergency

Services shall prioritize, in complying with paragraph (1), a plan submitted from a county determined to be at high risk of wildfire disaster.

Amended by Stats. 2013, Ch. 352, Sec. 171. (AB 1317) Effective September 26, 2013. Operative July 1, 2013, by Sec. 543 of Ch. 352.

The Legislature hereby finds and declares as follows:

(a)The Office of Emergency Services, in consultation with the State Department of Health Care Services and affected counties, investigated the consequences of a serious nuclear powerplant accident for each of the nuclear powerplants in California with a generating capacity of 50 megawatts or more.
(b)This study culminated in the establishment of emergency planning zones for nuclear powerplant emergency preparedness.
(c)All state and local government nuclear powerplant emergency response plans have been revised to reflect the information

provided in the study.

Amended by Stats. 2022, Ch. 239, Sec. 1. (SB 846) Effective September 2, 2022. Inoperative as prescribed by its own provisions. Repealed on January 1 following the inoperative date.

(a)For purposes of this section:
(1)“Office” means the Office of Emergency Services.
(2)“Previous fiscal year” means the fiscal year immediately before the current fiscal year.
(3)“Utility” means an “electrical corporation” as defined in Section 218 of the Public Utilities Code.
(b)(1) State and local costs to carry out activities pursuant to this section and Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 114650) of Part 9 of Division 104 of the Health and Safety Code that are not reimbursed by federal funds shall be borne by a utility operating a nuclear powerplant with a generating capacity of 50 megawatts or more.
(2)The Public Utilities Commission shall develop and transmit to the office an equitable method of assessing a utility operating a powerplant for its reasonable

share of state agency costs specified in paragraph (1).

(3)Each local government involved shall submit a statement of its costs specified in paragraph (1), as required, to the office.
(4)Upon notification by the office, from time to time, of the amount of its share of the actual or anticipated state and local agency costs, a utility shall pay this amount to the Controller for deposit in the Nuclear Planning Assessment Special Account, which is continued in existence, for allocation by the Controller, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to carry out activities pursuant to this section and Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 114650) of Part 9 of Division 104 of the Health and Safety Code. The Controller shall pay from this account the state and local costs relative to carrying out this section and Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 114650) of Part 9 of Division 104 of the Health

and Safety Code, upon certification of the costs by the office.

(5)Upon appropriation by the Legislature, the Controller may disburse up to 80 percent of a fiscal year allocation from the Nuclear Planning Assessment Special Account, in advance, for anticipated local expenses, as certified by the office pursuant to paragraph (4). The office shall review program expenditures related to the balance of funds in the account and the Controller shall pay the portion, or the entire balance, of the account, based upon those approved expenditures.
(c)(1) The total annual disbursement of state costs from a utility operating a nuclear powerplant within the state for activities pursuant to this section and Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 114650) of Part 9 of Division 104 of the Health and Safety Code, shall not exceed the lesser of the actual costs or the maximum

funding levels established in this section, subject to subdivisions (e) and (f).

(2)Of the annual amount of two million forty-seven thousand dollars ($2,047,000) for the 2009–10 fiscal year, the sum of one million ninety-four thousand dollars ($1,094,000) shall be for support of the office for activities pursuant to this section and Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 114650) of Part 9 of Division 104 of the Health and Safety Code, and the sum of nine hundred fifty-three thousand dollars ($953,000) shall be for support of the State Department of Public Health for activities pursuant to this section and Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 114650) of Part 9 of Division 104 of the Health and Safety Code.
(d)(1) The total annual disbursement for each fiscal year, commencing July 1, 2009, of local costs from a utility shall not exceed the lesser of the actual

costs or the maximum funding levels established in this section, in support of activities pursuant to this section and Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 114650) of Part 9 of Division 104 of the Health and Safety Code. The maximum annual amount available for disbursement for local costs, subject to subdivisions (e) and (f), shall, for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2009, be one million seven hundred thirty-two thousand dollars ($1,732,000) for the Diablo Canyon site.

(2)The amounts paid by a utility under this section shall be allowed for ratemaking purposes by the Public Utilities Commission.
(e)The amounts available for disbursement for state and local costs as specified in this section shall be adjusted and compounded each fiscal year by the greater of the percentage change in the prevailing wage for County of San Luis Obispo employees, not to exceed 5 percent, or the percentage increase in the California Consumer Price Index from the previous fiscal year.
(f)Through the inoperative date specified in subdivision (h), the amounts available for disbursement for state and local costs as specified in this section shall be cumulative biennially. Any unexpended funds from a year shall be carried over for one year. The funds carried over from the previous year may be expended when the current year’s funding cap is exceeded.
(g)This section shall become operative on July 1, 2019.
(h)This section shall become inoperative 18 months after the permanent cessation of operations of both Diablo Canyon Units

1 and 2, which shall occur no later than December 31, 2030, and is repealed on the January 1 following the end of that 18-month period.

(i)When this section becomes inoperative, any amounts remaining in the special account shall be refunded to a utility contributing to it, to be credited to the utility’s ratepayers.

Added by Stats. 1970, Ch. 1454.

Counties, cities and counties, and cities may provide for the calling of test exercises, either singularly or jointly, whenever, in the opinion of such political subdivisions, such test exercises are needed; provided, however, that with respect to any such test exercise no one shall have the power to command the assistance of any private citizen, and the failure of a citizen to obey any order or regulation pertaining to a test exercise shall not constitute a violation of any law.

Amended by Stats. 2013, Ch. 352, Sec. 173. (AB 1317) Effective September 26, 2013. Operative July 1, 2013, by Sec. 543 of Ch. 352.

Any disaster council that both agrees to follow the rules and regulations established by the Office of Emergency Services pursuant to Section 8585.5 and substantially complies with those rules and regulations shall be certified by the office. Upon that certification, and not before, the disaster council becomes an accredited disaster council.

Amended by Stats. 2013, Ch. 352, Sec. 174. (AB 1317) Effective September 26, 2013. Operative July 1, 2013, by Sec. 543 of Ch. 352.

Should an accredited disaster council fail to comply with the rules and regulations of the Office of Emergency Services in any material degree, the office may revoke its certification and, upon the act of revocation, the disaster council shall lose its accredited status. It may again become an accredited disaster council in the same manner as is provided for a disaster council that has not previously been accredited.

Amended by Stats. 2013, Ch. 352, Sec. 175. (AB 1317) Effective September 26, 2013. Operative July 1, 2013, by Sec. 543 of Ch. 352.

(a)Each department, division, bureau, board, commission, officer, and employee of each political subdivision of the state shall render all possible assistance to the Governor and to the Director of Emergency Services in carrying out this chapter.
(b)The emergency power that may be vested in a local public official during a state of war emergency or a state of emergency shall be subject or subordinate to the powers vested in the Governor under this chapter when exercised by the Governor.
(c)Ordinances, orders, and regulations of a political subdivision shall continue in effect during a state of war emergency or a state of

emergency, except as to any provision suspended or superseded by an order or regulation issued by the Governor.