Order Code RS21788
March 23, 2004
CRS Report for Congress
Received through the CRS Web
Kansas Emergency Management and
Homeland Security Authorities Summarized
Keith Bea
Specialist in American National Government
Government and Finance Division
L. Cheryl Runyon and Kae M. Warnock
Consultants
Government and Finance Division
Summary
Kansas statutes establish a procedure for assessing the need for and distribution of
basic necessities following a natural disaster. The governor is authorized to issue a state
of emergency proclamation and the legislature plays an oversight role concerning the
duration or termination of the emergency. Provisions exist for all three branches of state
government to ensure the continuity of government operations. School districts are
authorized to donate surplus property to disaster relief programs.
This report is one of a series that profiles emergency management and homeland
security statutory authorities of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the
Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico,
American Samoa, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Each profile identifies the more
significant elements of state statutes, generally as codified. Congressional readers may
wish to conduct further searches for related provisions using the Internet link presented
in the last section of this report. The National Conference of State Legislatures provided
primary research assistance in the development of these profiles under contract to the
Congressional Research Service (CRS). Summary information on all of the profiles is
presented in CRS Report RL32287. This report will be updated as developments
warrant.
Entities with Key Responsibilities
Governor: The authorities given to the governor include powers during a state of
disaster emergency in the following areas: evacuations; use of private property; transfer
of agencies and staff; ingress and egress into disaster areas; sales of alcohol, firearms,
explosives, and combustibles; and the provision of temporary emergency housing (Kan.
Stat. Ann. §48-924, 48-925).
Congressional Research Service ˜
The Library of Congress
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Division of emergency management: The authority of the Division of Emergency
Management (DEM) includes determining the needs of stricken areas during and after
disasters, procuring and distributing supplies, promulgating standards and requirements
for plans and for mutual aid, and periodically reviewing local and interjurisdictional
emergency plans, among other duties (Kan. Stat. Ann. §48-905a, 48-928).
Adjutant general: The duties of the adjutant general include the development of a
regional emergency management system and implementation of an incident management
system (Kan. Stat. Ann. §48-905a, Kan. Stat. Ann. §48-928 (n,o).
Interjurisdictional disaster agencies: The statute authorizes the governor to establish
such agencies
for two or more counties that would be better served with
interjurisdictional, rather than separate, agencies
(Kan. Stat. Ann. §48-930).
County and city disaster agencies: Each county is required to have a disaster agency;
the governor has authority to decide which cities need disaster agencies, based on an
assessment of each city’s vulnerability and response capability (Kan. Stat. Ann. §48-929).
County and city officials: Local officials are authorized to issue a local disaster
emergency declaration that may continue for a maximum period of seven days (Kan. Stat.
Ann. §48-932).
Commission on emergency planning and response: The commission is charged with
providing assistance in the coordination of state activities related to: chemical emergency
training, preparedness, and response; chemical release reporting; and the prevention,
transportation, manufacture, storage, handling, and use of chemical emergencies (Kan.
Stat. Ann. §65-5703, §65-5723).
Preparedness
DEM officials must prepare a state emergency disaster plan and a state resources
management plan to aid recovery after a disaster (Kan. Stat. Ann. §§48-926, 927). Also,
the division must develop and oversee the revision of state, local/interjurisdictional
disaster plans (Kan. Stat. Ann. §48-931) and assess communications systems and make
recommendations to the governor (Kan. Stat. Ann. §48-937).
The adjutant general, at the governor’s request, must create and establish mobile
support units in order to reinforce the emergency management activities of county, city,
and interjurisdictional disaster agencies (Kan. Stat. Ann. §48-911).
DEM is to use the incident management system during emergency and disaster
situations (Kan. Stat. Ann. §48-928(o)) and develop, implement and administer a plan for
regional emergency medical response teams (Kan. Stat. Ann. §48-928(q)).
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Declaration Procedures
The governor is authorized to issue a proclamation declaring a “state of disaster
emergency.” The disaster emergency lasts until the governor finds that the threat has
passed or conditions no longer exist, and extends for a maximum period of 15 days,
unless the legislature ratifies the proclamation with a stated period of time (with one
exception for one 30-day extension). If the legislature is not in session, the emergency
may be extended for another 30 days by majority vote of the legislators on the State
Finance Council. After the initial 30-day period, additional extensions of the emergency
(for up to 30 days) may be authorized by a unanimous vote of legislative members of the
State Finance Council. The legislature may require the governor to terminate a state of
emergency with another proclamation. The state of disaster emergency must be
terminated on the 15th day of the next regular legislative session unless ratified by
concurrent resolution. The governor may also issue a proclamation to prevent the spread
of contagious or infectious diseases among domestic animals (Kan. Stat. Ann. §48-
924(b)).
If the governor is not available or is disabled, successors can declare a state of
emergency (Kan. Stat. Ann. §48-924(c)).
Types of Assistance
DEM must develop and administer financial assistance to cities or interjurisdictional
disaster agencies for the development and implementation of a terrorism preparedness
program (Kan. Stat. Ann. §48-928(p,q).
Federal grants are authorized to be provided to individuals and families under terms
of the federal Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (Kan.
Stat. Ann. §48-938).
School districts may donate surplus personal property to disaster relief programs,
including furniture, supplies, desks, chairs, tables, bookcases, file cabinets, clothing,
books, maps, lab and shop equipment (Kan. Stat. Ann. §72-8324).
The adjutant general may lease, sell or loan state property to federal or local
governments (Kan. Stat. Ann. §48-914).
Mutual Aid
The governor is authorized to execute the terms of the
Interstate Emergency
Management Assistance Compact (Kan. Stat. Ann. §48-9a01).
The governor is authorized to establish interstate mutual aid organizations (Kan. Stat.
Ann. §48-930(c)).
The
National Guard Mutual Assistance Compact authorizes the governor to use the
national guard to cope with emergencies involving other states. The statute requires that
the responding state be paid by the host state for salary, compensation and death benefits
(Kan. Stat. Ann. §48-1701). The compact authorizes the payment of claims arising under
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implementation of the compact, with the State Finance Council authorized to make
allocations and authorize expenditures by the adjutant general from the state emergency
fund for the related expenses (Kan. Stat. Ann. §48-1702).
The
Interstate Civil Defense and Disaster Compact is codified to provide mutual aid
from enemy attack (Kan. Stat. Ann. §48-3201).
Funding
The state emergency fund is authorized to be continued in the state treasury for use
by the State Finance Council. If funds are deficient, funds must be transferred from the
general fund, not to exceed $10 million. The council, by unanimous vote of the members,
is authorized to allocate money from the fund for the repair of state facilities after a
disaster or payment of the state matching requirement (Kan. Stat. Ann. §75-3712
et seq.).
The statute authorizes the State Finance Council to provide funds to the adjutant
general from the state emergency fund for national guard expenses (Kan. Stat. Ann. §75-
3713 b).
Through the governor, the state may accept services, equipment, supplies, materials
or funds as a gift, grant, or loan for emergency management purposes (Kan. Stat. Ann.
§48-916).
Hazard Mitigation
DEM must develop a regional emergency management system to prevent, respond
to, mitigate and recover from emergency and disaster situations (Kan. Stat. Ann. §48-
928(n)).
Continuity of Government Operations
The statute directs the legislature to provide a line of succession to the office of the
governor should the offices of governor and lieutenant governor become vacant (Kan.
Constitution, Article I, Section 11).
The
Emergency Interim Executive and Judicial Succession Act provides for
successors to the office of governor and sets out requirements concerning: emergency
interim successors; enabling authority for emergency interim successors; special
emergency judges; and settling disputes and other matters (Kan. Stat. Ann. §48-1201
et
seq.).
The
Emergency Interim Legislative Succession Act includes: the designation of
emergency interim successors for legislators, status and qualifications of emergency
interim successors, the duty of emergency interim successor, place of legislative session,
procedures for convening the legislature in the event of an attack, and other provisions
(Kan. Stat. Ann. §48-1301
et seq.).
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The statute provides for the emergency location of governments for state political
subdivisions (Kan. Stat. Ann. §48-1403) and the emergency location of state governments
(Kan. Stat. Ann. §48-1503).
Any ordinance authorizing a mayor or other person to act during state of emergency
or local disaster shall be in full force and effect except in conflict with state statutes or
disaster emergency plans (Kan. Stat. Ann. §48-935).
Other
The statute provides for immunity from liability for a state and a political subdivision
for personal injury or property damage done by volunteer or agency staff engaged in
emergency management activities (Kan. Stat. Ann. §48-915(a)).
The statute provides immunity for law enforcement, military and other authorized
personnel acting during a state of disaster emergency (Kan. Stat. Ann. §48-934).
The statute provides immunity for owners of private property used to provide shelter
during nuclear practice attack and disaster (Kan. Stat. Ann. §48-936).
Persons advocating change in the U.S. government by force or violence cannot be
employed by an emergency management organization (Kan. Stat. Ann. §48-917).
A city is authorized to purchase accident insurance for emergency management
volunteer workers but such purchase does not constitute a waiver of immunity (Kan. Stat.
Ann. §48-922).
Each person is required to manage his or her affairs and property to assist and not
detract from the state’s ability to respond to a disaster. The statute addresses conditions
under which compensation is to be provided for services provided or property taken or
used (Kan. Stat. Ann. §48-933).
Key Terms
Table 1. Key Emergency Management and Homeland Security
Terms Defined in Kansas Statutes, with Citations
Terms
Citations
Adjutant general
Kan. Stat. Ann. §48-904(b)
Attack
Kan. Stat. Ann. §48-1203(d), 48-1303(a)
Catastrophic event
Kan. Stat. Ann. §59-2708(b)(1)
Disaster
Kan. Stat. Ann. §48-904(d),
72-8234(b)(1), Kan. Stat. Ann. §59-27-8(b)(2)
Disaster relief
Kan. Stat. Ann. §72-8234(b)(2)
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Terms
Citations
Division of emergency
Kan. Stat. Ann. §48-904(c)
management
Emergency interim successor
Kan. Stat. Ann. §48-1203(b)
Emergency management
Kan. Stat. Ann. §48-904(a)
Hazardous material
Kan. Stat. Ann. §48-904(h)
Local/interjurisdictional
Kan. Stat. Ann. §48-904(g)
disaster emergency plans
State disaster emergency plan
Kan. Stat. Ann. §48-904(f)
Commission on emergency
Kan. Stat. Ann. §65-5702(a), 65-5723
planning and response
State of emergency
Kan. Stat. Ann. §59-2708(b)(3), 65-5723
State of war emergency
Kan. Stat. Ann. §59-2708(b)(4)
Volunteer workers
Kan. Stat. Ann. §48-922(b)
For Further Research
The citations noted above and other elements of the state code for Kansas may be
searched at: [http://www.kslegislature.org/cgi-bin/statutes/index.cgi].