AB 2213

Bill Subjects

Abstract

The California Emergency Services Act authorizes the Governor to declare a state of emergency, and local officials and local governments to declare a local emergency, when specified conditions of disaster or extreme peril to the safety of persons and property exist. Existing law establishes the Office of Emergency Services (OES) within the office of the Governor and requires the OES, among other duties, to develop model guidelines for local governmental agencies and community-based organizations planning to develop a disaster registry program. This bill would require the OES and California Volunteers, in coordination with Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster, to develop planning guidance to identify volunteers and donation management resources that could assist in responding to or recovering from local, tribal, regional, national, or international disasters, as specified. The bill would require the OES to publish and distribute the initial planning guidance, once developed, and update the Legislature on the status of the planning guidance in a written report submitted no later than May 1, 2022. Existing law provides that the OES is responsible for the state's emergency and disaster response services for natural, technological, or manmade disasters and emergencies, including responsibility for activities necessary to prevent, respond to, recover from, and mitigate the effects of emergencies and disasters to people and property. Existing law authorizes each county, including a city and county, to enter into an agreement to access the contact information of resident accountholders through the records of a public utility or other agency responsible for water service, waste and recycling services, or other property-related services for the sole purpose of enrolling county residents in a county-operated public emergency warning system. Existing law requires any county that enters into such an agreement to include procedures to enable any resident to opt out of the warning system and a process to terminate the receiving agency's access to the resident's contact information. Existing law prohibits the use of the information gathered for any purpose other than for emergency notification. This bill would expand these provisions to authorize a city to enter into an agreement to access the contact information of resident accountholders through the records of a public utility, as specified. The bill would also expand the types of public utilities that can enter into these agreements by defining public utility to include, among others, a local publicly owned electric utility, mobile telephony services, a public water agency, and an agency responsible for solid waste or recycling services. The bill would require a local government that enters into an agreement to access information of resident accountholders to, upon receipt of that information, notify residents that they have been entered into the public emergency warning system. The bill would require a local government that enters into an agreement to access information to include procedures to enable any resident to opt out of the warning system and a process to terminate the receiving agency's access to the contact information of the resident from a public utility. The bill would also authorize a governing body of a postsecondary institution that receives state funds, including funds for student financial assistance, to use its own enrollment, registration, and personnel records to access the contact information of students and employees for the sole purpose of enrolling students and employees in a university- or college-operated public emergency warning system. The bill would require the governing body of a postsecondary institution that receives state funds, including funds for student financial assistance, to notify students and employees that they have been entered into the public emergency warning system and include procedures to enable them to opt out of the warning system. Existing law requires a county, upon the next update to its emergency plan, to integrate access and functional needs into its emergency plan by addressing, at a minimum, how the access and functional needs population is served by emergency communications, emergency evacuation for individuals who are dependent on public transportation, and accessible emergency sheltering. Existing law permits an authorized employee of a county social services department to disclose the name and residential address of elderly or disabled clients to police, fire, or paramedical personnel, or other designated emergency services personnel, in the event of a public safety emergency that necessitates the possible evacuation of the area in which those elderly or disabled clients reside. Existing law requires the Director of Social Services to seek any federal approval necessary to implement these provisions, and prohibits these provisions from being implemented unless the director executes a declaration stating that any required federal approval has been obtained, and only for the duration of that approval. Existing law defines "public safety emergency" for these purposes to include, but not be limited to, specified events that jeopardize the immediate physical safety of county residents. This bill would authorize a local government to enter into an agreement with a, or to use the records of its own, social services department to access the contact information of persons from the access and functional needs population, and the contact information of the designated emergency contacts of those persons, if any, for the sole purpose of enrolling those individuals, who are residents of that local government, in a city-operated, county-operated, or city- and county-operated public emergency warning system, as specified. The bill would require a local government that enters into an agreement to access information of resident accountholders or designated emergency contacts to, upon receipt of that information, notify residents and designated emergency contacts that they have been entered into the public emergency warning system. The bill would require a local government that enters into an agreement to access information to include procedures to enable any resident or designated emergency contact to opt out of receiving messages from the warning system via their personal contact information and a process to terminate the receiving agency's access to the contact information of the resident or designated emergency contact from a county social services department. Existing law permits an authorized employee of a county social services department to disclose the name and residential address of elderly or disabled clients to police, fire, or paramedical personnel, or other designated emergency services personnel, in the event of a public safety emergency that necessitates the possible evacuation of the area in which those elderly or disabled clients reside. Existing law specifies that public safety emergencies include, but are not limited to, events that jeopardize the immediate physical safety of county residents. This bill would additionally permit those individuals' telephone numbers and email addresses to be disclosed and would specifically identify a public safety power shutoff as a public safety emergency. The bill would require a county social services agency that intends to disclose information as described above to notify elderly or disabled individuals receiving services of that fact and give the individual, beginning on January 1, 2022, the option to opt out of having that information disclosed. The bill would limit the use of the disclosed information to providing emergency services in the event of a public safety emergency described above. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 8593.3 of the Government Code proposed by AB 2730 to be operative only if this bill and AB 2730 are enacted and this bill is enacted last.