§ 3a - Emergency management division; duties; budget - Vermont Statutes

§ 3a. Emergency management division; duties; budget

(a) In addition to other duties required by law, the emergency management division shall:

(1) Establish and define emergency planning zones and prepare and maintain a comprehensive state emergency management strategy that includes an emergency operations plan, establish and define emergency planning zones and prepare and maintain a radiological emergency response plan for use in those zones, and prepare an all-hazards mitigation plan in cooperation with other state, regional, and local agencies for use in such zones and in compliance with adopted federal standards for emergency management. The strategy shall be designed to protect the lives and property including domestic animals of persons within this state who might be threatened as the result of all-hazards and shall align state coordination structures, capabilities, and resources into a unified and multi-disciplined all-hazards approach to incident management.

(2) Design the radiological emergency response plan to protect persons and property within this state who or which might be threatened as the result of their proximity to any operating nuclear reactor. The plan shall be formulated in accordance with procedures approved by the Federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission. At a minimum, the plan shall provide for all the following:

(A) Monitoring radiological activity within the state.

(B) Emergency evacuation routes within a ten-mile radius of any operating nuclear reactor.

(C) Adequate notification and communications systems.

(D) Contingency procedures as deemed necessary in the event of an incident or accident involving an operating nuclear reactor.

(3) Assist the state emergency response commission, the local emergency planning committees and the municipally established local organizations referred to in section 6 of this title in carrying out their designated emergency functions, including developing, implementing, and coordinating emergency response plans.

(4) Provide administrative support to the state emergency response commission.

(b) Each fiscal year, the division of emergency management, in collaboration with state and local agencies, the management of the nuclear reactor, the legislative bodies of the municipalities in the emergency planning zone where the nuclear reactor is located, the Windham regional planning commission, and any other municipality or emergency planning zone entity required by the state to support the radiological emergency response plan, shall develop the budget for expenditures from the radiological emergency response plan fund. The expenditure budget shall include all costs for evacuation notification systems.

(c) From the fund, each town within the emergency planning zone shall receive an annual base payment of no less than $5,000.00 for radiological emergency response related expenditures from the radiological emergency response plan fund. Additional expenditures by municipalities in the emergency planning zone, the Windham regional planning commission, and any other municipality or emergency planning entity defined by the state as required to support the plan, shall be determined during the budget development process established by subsection(b) of this section. (Added 1989, No. 252 (Adj. Sess.), § 5; amended 1993, No. 194 (Adj. Sess.), § 1, eff. June 14, 1994; 2005, No. 209 (Adj. Sess.), § 5; No. 215 (Adj. Sess.), § 68a.)