§ 38. Special funds

There is created a Hazardous Chemical and Substance Emergency Response Fund that shall include all monies paid to the State pursuant to section 39 of this title. The Fund shall be managed pursuant to the provisions of 32 Vt. Stat. Ann. chapter 7, subchapter 5. The Fund shall be used to implement and administer this chapter, including planning, training, and response activities as well as the purchase of equipment and assisting local organizations referred to in section 6 of this chapter to develop emergency plans. Each local emergency planning committee shall receive an annual grant from the Commissioner of Public Safety. The annual total grant amount to be allocated to local emergency planning committees statewide shall not exceed $52,000.00, and the Commissioner shall divide the total annual grant amount equally among the local emergency planning committees. After disbursement of the funding and after consideration of the comments and evaluation received from the local emergency planning committee and the State Emergency Response Commission, the Commissioner of Public Safety at the Commissioner’s discretion may make additional grants from the Fund to any local emergency planning committee or regional emergency response commission as well as to any political subdivisions including any city, town, fire district, incorporated village and other incorporated entities in the State in accordance with rules adopted by the State Emergency Response Commission. Unless waived by the State Emergency Response Commission, grants shall be matched by local governments in the amount of 25 percent of the grant. The matching may be by contribution or by privately furnished funds or by in-kind services, space, or equipment that would otherwise be purchased by a local emergency planning committee. (Added 1989, No. 252 (Adj. Sess.), § 26; amended 1993, No. 194 (Adj. Sess.), § 6, eff. June 14, 1994; 1995, No. 178 (Adj. Sess.), § 425, eff. May 22, 1996; 1997, No. 59, § 5, eff. June 30, 1997; 1999, No. 49, § 206; 2001, No. 142 (Adj. Sess.), § 114; 2003, No. 66, §§ 97a, 97b; 2005, No. 209 (Adj. Sess.), § 26; 2005, No. 215 (Adj. Sess.), § 68b; 2007, No. 65, § 71a; 2007, No. 192 (Adj. Sess.), § 5.904; 2009, No. 33, § 41; 2021, No. 20, § 126; 2021, No. 52, § 16.)