California Emergency Management Agency

Governor’s Emergency Response Initiative

The Governor’s 2009–10 budget proposes to levy a 2.8 percent surcharge on insurance policy premiums statewide and to use the revenue to support emergency response activities at the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CalFire), the California Emergency Management Agency (CalEMA), and CMD. We discuss the spending proposals for CalEMA below and CMD later in this report.

Proposed Expenditures of Emergency Response Initiative Revenues

Consistent with the passage of Chapter 372, Statutes of 2008 (AB 38, Nava), the administration’s budget reflects the merger of the Office of Emergency Services and the Office of Homeland Security into CalEMA. The Governor’s budget proposes CalEMA expenditures of about $18 million ($16 million Emergency Response Fund, $2 million federal funds) beginning in 2009–10 to provide enhancements to the state’s emergency response capabilities. Proposed expenditures from the Emergency Response Fund are shown in Figure 3 and described below.

Wildland Firefighting Engine Fleet. The CalEMA currently owns 141 fire engines and related equipment used and housed by local firefighting agencies in wildfire emergencies. A 2003 Governor’s Blue Ribbon Commission recommended that the state’s fleet be expanded to 272 fire engines in order to improve the state’s ability to respond during wildfire emergencies. The budget proposes to purchase an additional 131 engines over five years for the CalEMA fleet, bringing the total number of state–owned engines to the recommended level. The cost for this proposal is about $13 million annually for five years, which includes six additional staff to manage the expanded fire engine fleet.

Addition of Staff at Regional Offices. The CalEMA’s three regional offices coordinate the efforts of state and local resources during and after emergencies. The administration’s budget requests a total of 19 additional positions in these offices to improve the state’s response in an emergency. The cost for this proposal is about $3.2 million ($1.6 million federal funds and $1.6 million Emergency Response Fund) in the budget year.

Administration of the Emergency Response Fund. The Governor’s budget requests ten positions to administer the Emergency Response Fund, collect revenues, and audit the use of the funds. The cost of this proposal is $650,000 in the budget year, increasing to $1.3 million in 2010–11 and beyond.

Law Enforcement Mutual Aid Support. There are seven mutual aid regions in the state. Five of the seven regions are overseen by a Law Enforcement Coordinator who serves as the contact person for local law enforcement when additional resources are needed to respond to an emergency. The Law Enforcement Coordinator also facilitates the deployment of state resources (for example, CHP officers) or resources from other areas to the afflicted area and trains local law enforcement on how to use the mutual aid network effectively. This proposal would provide the remaining two regions with Law Enforcement Coordinators. The proposal would also provide two Emergency Services Coordinators—one for the Mass Fatality Management Program and one for the Search and Rescue Mutual Aid Program—to improve planning and coordination in these programs. The cost of this proposal would be $560,000 in the budget year.

Study of Goods Deployment. The CalEMA reports that it has limited ability to rapidly (within the first 24 hours of an emergency) deploy emergency response goods to vulnerable populations in the event of an emergency or disaster event. The administration proposes to study how to store, manage, and transport critical goods immediately after an emergency or disaster event. The proposed cost to hire a contractor to complete the study is about $500,000 in 2009–10. (The length of time to complete the study and associated out–year costs are unknown at this time.)

Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta Task Force Study. Chapter 608, Statutes of 2008 (SB 27, Simitian), requires CalEMA to establish a Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta Multi–Hazard task force that will submit a report to the Governor and Legislature prior to January 1, 2011 on a proposed emergency preparedness and response strategy for the Delta region. The budget proposes to add two limited–term positions to establish the task force at a cost of $360,000 in the budget year.

California State Warning Center. The Legislature approved seven additional staff for the State Warning Center in 2006–07. However, the Legislature did not provide additional staff to supervise these employees. This proposal would add one additional supervisor for Warning Center staff. The cost of the proposal is $181,000 in the budget year.

State Emergency Command Center. The CalEMA currently contracts with CalFire for 3.5 fire captains to provide dispatching support in the State Emergency Command Center. State dispatching workload has increased due to the large number of fires throughout California. The administration proposes to reimburse CalFire for an additional full time fire captain at the State Emergency Command Center at a cost of $155,000 annually.

Recommend Against Funding Most of the Initiative’s Proposals

Given the state’s dire fiscal situation, we believe it is important for the Legislature to only authorize augmentations when there is a critical and immediate need. Therefore, we recommend not funding, or providing a lower level of funding, for many of the augmentations proposed for emergency response activities at CalEMA. Our funding recommendations are shown in Figure 4.

Reject Wildland Firefighting Engine Fleet. The additional fire engines requested would be used to mitigate potential deficiencies in fire fighting equipment, rather than addressing an immediate need. The existing mutual aid network—the system for sharing resources at the local, state, and national level in the event of an emergency—has allowed the state to successfully manage fire fighting resource needs in generally short timeframes when emergencies occur. Within the state, resources are often secured and relocated within a few hours. Out–of–state resources have also been generally secured in a few hours, with more distant resources available in two to five days. While expanding the state’s ability to respond to wildfires may be an appropriate goal for the Legislature to pursue in the future, we recommend rejection of the proposal to approximately double CalEMA’s fire engine fleet over the next five years given the persistence of the state‘s fiscal crisis.

Approve Some of the Regional Expansion Using Federal Funds. The requested resources would be used to mitigate potential deficiencies in services when multiple disasters occur simultaneously and in different regions of the state. This request does not address an immediate need in the emergency services being provided. The Legislature approved the use of federal funds for similar purposes in the form of grants to local governments in 2008–09 while rejecting the administration’s request for state matching funds. Consistent with the prior funding approach, we recommend rejection of the requested Emergency Response Fund matching funds, while reauthorizing the federal funds as grants to local governments.

If Insurance Surcharge Is Approved, Fund Administrative Staff at Department of Insurance. We do not recommend approval of the insurance surcharge. We instead would fund the requested programmatic augmentations with General Fund and federal dollars. However, if the Legislature does approve the insurance surcharge, then it would be more appropriate to fund administration of the program through the Department of Insurance which collects existing insurance–related taxes.

Approve Law Enforcement Mutual Aid Support. Law enforcement coordinators play a unique role in managing the deployment of law enforcement resources in an emergency. The Mass Fatality Management and Search and Rescue Mutual Aid programs have experienced increased workloads. We therefore recommend approval of the four staff requested.

Reject Study of Goods Deployment. We recommend delaying funding for the study of how to best store, manage, and transport critical goods immediately after an emergency or disaster. While this may be a reasonable request, we cannot recommend it at this time given the state’s fiscal condition.

Reject Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta Task Force Study. We recommend delaying implementation of Chapter 608, which would provide staff to establish a Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta Multi–Hazard task force. Again, while this is a reasonable proposal, we recommend that it not be approved at this time given the state’s fiscal condition.

Reject California State Warning Center. We recommend rejection of funding for the supervisor at the Warning Center. It is not clear that the requested resources would be used to mitigate a critical deficiency in services provided by the state.

Approve State Emergency Command Center. We recommend the Legislature provide CalEMA with the funds to reimburse CalFire for the cost of one additional staff. This transfer would improve CalEMA’s ability to track and manage deployed fire and rescue resources during a fire.

Recommend Rejection of Plans For New CalEMA Facility

New Facility Proposed Again. The budget proposes a $1.9 million increase in General Fund expenditures in 2009–10 for preliminary plans for the construction of a replacement facility for the Southern Region Emergency Operations Center at the Joint Forces Training Center in Los Alamitos. Additional project costs are estimated to be $30 million, including $2 million (General Fund) for the working drawings and $28 million in construction costs paid for with a future authorization of lease–revenue bonds. The project would construct (1) an approximately 30,000 square foot building that would serve as headquarters and an alternate State Operations Center and Warning Center (in addition to the main center in Sacramento), (2) a 120 foot high communications tower, (3) a 3,000 square foot warehouse, and (4) parking for 75 vehicles. According to CalEMA, the existing facility, which consists of two modular buildings totaling 7,200 square feet, has exceeded its useful life, requires increasing maintenance and ongoing repairs to remain operational, and does not meet basic facility standards such as seismic safety codes. Funding for the same purpose was requested as part of the 2008–09 Governor’s Budget, but rejected by the Legislature due to the state’s fiscal situation.

Defer Project. While the existing facility will need replacement in the future, we recommend again deferring the project given the state’s budget situation. This would reduce 2009–10 General Fund costs by $1.9 million.