Florida Statutes 252.365 – Emergency coordination officers; disaster-preparedness plans
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(1) The head of each executive department, the executive director of each water management district, the Public Service Commission, the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, and the Department of Military Affairs shall select from within such agency a person to be designated as the emergency coordination officer for the agency and an alternate.
(2) The emergency coordination officer is responsible for coordinating with the division on emergency preparedness issues, preparing and maintaining emergency preparedness and postdisaster response and recovery plans for such agency, maintaining rosters of personnel to assist in disaster operations, and coordinating appropriate training for agency personnel.
(3) Emergency coordination officers shall ensure that each state agency and facility, such as a prison, office building, or university, has a disaster preparedness plan that is coordinated with the applicable local emergency management agency and approved by the division.
(a) The disaster-preparedness plan must outline a comprehensive and effective program to ensure continuity of essential state functions under all circumstances, including, but not limited to, a pandemic or other public health emergency. The plan must identify a baseline of preparedness for a full range of potential emergencies to establish a viable capability to perform essential functions during any emergency or other situation that disrupts normal operations. This baseline must consider and include preparedness for rapid and large-scale increases in the public’s need to access government services through technology or other means during an emergency, including, but not limited to, a public health emergency.
Terms Used In Florida Statutes 252.365
- Baseline: Projection of the receipts, outlays, and other budget amounts that would ensue in the future without any change in existing policy. Baseline projections are used to gauge the extent to which proposed legislation, if enacted into law, would alter current spending and revenue levels.
- Disaster: means any natural, technological, or civil emergency that causes damage of sufficient severity and magnitude to result in a declaration of a state of emergency by a county, the Governor, or the President of the United States. See Florida Statutes 252.34
- Division: means the Division of Emergency Management within the Executive Office of the Governor, or the successor to that division. See Florida Statutes 252.34
- Emergency: means any occurrence, or threat thereof, whether natural, technological, or manmade, in war or in peace, which results or may result in substantial injury or harm to the population or substantial damage to or loss of property. See Florida Statutes 252.34
- Emergency management: means the preparation for, the mitigation of, the response to, and the recovery from emergencies and disasters. See Florida Statutes 252.34
- person: includes individuals, children, firms, associations, joint adventures, partnerships, estates, trusts, business trusts, syndicates, fiduciaries, corporations, and all other groups or combinations. See Florida Statutes 1.01
- Personal protective equipment: means protective clothing or equipment designed to protect an individual person from injury or the spread of infection. See Florida Statutes 252.34
- Public health emergency: means any occurrence, or threat thereof, whether natural or manmade, which results or may result in substantial injury or harm to the public health from infectious disease, chemical agents, nuclear agents, biological toxins, or situations involving mass casualties or natural disasters, declared as a public health emergency as declared by the State Health Officer. See Florida Statutes 252.34
- writing: includes handwriting, printing, typewriting, and all other methods and means of forming letters and characters upon paper, stone, wood, or other materials. See Florida Statutes 1.01
(b) The plan must include, at a minimum, the following elements: identification of essential functions, programs, and personnel; procedures to implement the plan and personnel notification and accountability; delegations of authority and lines of succession; identification of alternative facilities and related infrastructure, including those for communications; identification and protection of vital records and databases; provisions regarding the availability of, and distribution plans for, personal protective equipment; and schedules and procedures for periodic tests, training, and exercises.
(c) The division shall develop and distribute guidelines for developing and implementing the plan. By December 31, 2022, each agency must update its plan to include provisions related to preparation for pandemics and other public health emergencies consistent with the plan developed pursuant to s. 381.00315. Each agency plan must be updated as needed to remain consistent with the state public health emergency management plan.
(4) The head of each agency shall notify the Governor and the division in writing of the person initially designated as the emergency coordination officer for such agency and her or his alternate and of any changes in persons so designated thereafter.