The Senate Committee on Intergovernmental Relations (IGR), chaired by Sen. Eddie Lucio (D-Brownsville), met Monday, Mar. 18 to hear several bills on public improvement districts and others related to emergency management and hurricane preparedness. Of importance to counties, Chairman Lucio laid out SB 428, which directs the Texas Department of Emergency Management (TDEM) and Texas Health and Human Services Commission to undertake a study for developing a single intake form to capture all the necessary information needed to obtain disaster assistance from the various state and federal programs. During the interim, the IGR committee heard from county officials who testified which items they would need most during a disaster and during the recovery afterward.
SB 857, also by Lucio, provides the state’s Emergency Management Training requirements apply to emergency management coordinators of counties with a population of 500,000 or more. Current law for this training only applies to an elected law enforcement officer, county judge or appointed public officer of the state or political subdivision, whose position or role includes emergency management responsibilities.
When the committee asked why the training should apply only to larger counties, Jim Allison, general counsel to the County Judges and Commissioners Association, testified that larger counties typically have a full-time emergency management coordinator, but in small counties, while the county judge is the emergency management director, the coordinator role is typically an administrative or clerical employee. Smaller counties don’t have the money or resources to pay for a coordinator.
Sen. Lucio told the committee he will continue to work on SB 857 to ensure the emergency management training is a standard curriculum. SB 857 and SB 428 were both voted favorably from committee while SB 428 was recommended for the Local and Uncontested calendar. For more information, contact Aurora Flores.