Draft state group presenation

1. Emergency Management Policies
State Group
Anne Curtis
Tony Humphrey
Elisa Johnson
Jeremy Lasich

2. • Virginia Governor’s Cabinet
• Secretary of Public Safety Oversees 11 agencies
• Dept. of Emergency Management (VDEM)
• Department of Alcohol Beverage Control
Department of Correctional Education
• Department of Corrections
• Department of Criminal Justice Services
State Agencies

3. • Department of Fire Programs
• Department of Forensic Science
• Department of Juvenile Justice
• Department of Military Affairs
• Virginia Parole Board
• Virginia State Police
State Agencies

4. • 1942 - Virginia General Assembly creates Office of
Civilian Defense to protect citizens against enemy
attack with an emphasis was on coastal areas and
military centers. The office was abolished after
World War II ended.
State History

5. • 1950 - The Office of Civilian Defense was re-
established in response to the atomic age and the
Cold War and re-named the Office of Civil
Defense. Many cities and counties maintained
stocked fallout shelters complete with medical
supplies.
State History

6. • 1969 - The remnants of Hurricane Camille in
Virginia, centered in Nelson County, killed more
than 150 people and caused $113 million in
damages. This storm began to shift the focus of
State History
emergency services from
nuclear toward other types
of natural and human-caused
disasters.

7. • 1972 - Tropical Storm Agnes hits Virginia, killing
16 people and causing more than $222 million in
damages.
State History

8. • 1973 - Governor Linwood Holton signed the
Emergency Services and Disaster Act that
replaced the Office of Civil Defense with the Office
of Emergency Services, led by a state coordinator
of civil defense appointed by the governor.
State History

9. • 1973 - Agency staffing expanded from
about 24 to 40, including training,
communications, radiological
monitoring, planning, public information,
regional staff, recovery officers and
administrative staff.
State History

10. • 1976-78 - During the oil embargo, VOES absorbed
the Governor’s Energy Office and added about 20
people to the agency. In 1978, the agency’s name
was changed to the Office of Emergency and
Energy Services.
State History

11. • 1985 - Roanoke River system floods
due to Hurricane Juan on Election
Day, affecting large portions of
central and western Virginia.
State History
• Energy services activities transferred to
the new agency and OEES became the
Department of Emergency Services.

12. • 1989 - The federal Robert T. Stafford
Disaster Relief and Emergency
Assistance Act (Stafford Act)
became law and created a systematic
method in place today of coordinated
federal assistance to states and local
governments for disasters.
State History

13. • 1993 - The “Blizzard of the Century” buried western
Virginia in as much as three feet of snow, and an
historic F4 tornado hit Petersburg/Colonial Heights.
State History
Walmart in Colonial
Heights hit by tornado

14. • 2000 - The agency’s name was changed to the
Virginia Department of Emergency Management
(VDEM)
State History

15. • 2011 - Terrorists hijacked American Airlines Flight
77 and intentionally flew it into the Pentagon,
killing 189 people.
State History

16. • 2003 - Virginia’s most costly natural disaster,
Hurricane Isabel, caused 36 deaths and $1.9 billion
in damage. Five million people were without
power, the highest number on record.
State History

17. • 2005 - VDEM became accredited by the
Emergency Management Accreditation Program
(EMAP), the fifth state organization to do
so. VDEM was re-certified by EMAP in 2010.
State History

18. • 2006 -The $6.5 million state-of-the-art Virginia
Emergency Operations Center opened in
Chesterfield County
State History

19. • 2008 - The Virginia Interoperability Picture for
Emergency Response (VIPER) was launched,
providing a GIS supported common operating
picture for emergency response.
State History

20. • 2011 - Governor Bob McDonnell established the
Virginia Disaster Relief Fund following an
onslaught of tornadoes nearly every week in April
State History

21. • 2011 - A disaster trifecta included an historic 5.8
magnitude earthquake and severe flooding from
Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee killed 10
and caused an estimated $129 million in damage.
State History

22. • 2013 – VDEM celebrates its 40th anniversary.
State History

23. • 2014 – SB381 transfers
homeland security
responsibilities from the
Secretary of Veterans Affairs to
the Secretary of Public Safety.
State History

24. • Virginia Emergency Services and Disaster Law
• Established in 1973
• Amended in 2000 and 2008
• Title 44-146.13 - 44-146.40; Code of Virginia
State Policy

25. • Established for 3 reasons:
• Create a “State Department of Emergency
Management” (now VDEM)
• Confer emergency powers to the Governor and
executive heads
• Provide for rendering of mutual aid with other
states and the federal government
VESD Law

26. • Powers and duties of the Governor and VDEM:
• Governor serves as the Director of Emergency
Management
• VDEM lead is Coordinator of EM
• Direct mandatory evacuations
• Declare a state of emergency
VESD Law

27. • Powers and duties of the Governor and VDEM:
• Control and regulate resources
• Commit state resources
• Request federal assistance
• Conduct an annual statewide drill
VESD Law

28. • Works with local government, state and federal
agencies and voluntary organizations to provide
resources and expertise through the four phases of
emergency management:
• Prepare
• Response
• Recovery
• Mitigation
VDEM

29. • New Leadership
• Jeff Stern – State Coordinator as
of May
• Curtis Brown – Deputy
Coordinator started June 23
VDEM

30. • Receives 80% of funding from Stafford Act
• Divided into 7 regions
• Region 7 is Northern Virginia
VDEM

31. • Key responsibilities
• Support local agencies
• Respond to request for resources
• Personnel
• Equipment
• Water
• National Guard
VDEM

32. • Key responsibilities
• Monitor for situational awareness
• Regions are eyes and ears for decision makers in
Richmond
• State office works with national agencies
VDEM

33. • Key responsibilities
• Coordinate with other state partners
• Police and Fire
• Health
• Transportation
• Schools
• Social Services
VDEM
Virginia Tech Press Conference

34. • Challenges/Concerns
• “System is broken”
• Should be local and state working together
more instead of feds and state ganging up
• State is overwhelmed and understaffed to fully
support localities
• Too much paperwork and too many
bureaucratic barriers
VDEM

35. • Interviews with:
• Dave McKernan, Fairfax
County OEM Coordinator
• Jeff Kezele, VDEM
Region 7 Deputy
Coordinator
VDEM

36. • Interest Groups
• Northern Virginia (“NOVA gets too much –
everyone understands this” – Jake Kezele)
• Increasing populations (per VDEM report):
• Hispanics (92 percent increase over a decade)
• Developmentally disabled
• Private business owners
Kingdon Analysis

37. • Interest Groups
• Volunteer groups (per VDEM report)
• Citizens Corps
• American Red Cross
• Media
Kingdon Analysis

38. • Problem Stream
• Threats of enemy attack in the 1940s during
World War II
• Threats during Cold War led to bomb shelters
• Threats from weather events and natural disasters,
such as Hurricane Camille
Kingdon Analysis

39. • Problems fading from view
• Heightened events in Virginia include Sept 11,
Hurricane Isabel, Virginia Tech, and a fuel train
derailment in Lynchburg
• These events reestablish emergency
management from condition to problem
Kingdon Analysis

40. • Policy Stream
• Formation of FEMA in 1979
• Stafford Act in 1989
• Department of Homeland Security in 2001
• VDEM coordinates policy of other state agencies
• State acts as facilitator between local and federal
Kingdon Analysis

41. • Technical feasibility, value acceptability, and
anticipation of constraints:
• State’s role less dominant than fed, local roles
• Community values clearer in local and national
emergency management
• Impact of FEMA’s response to Katrina likely
on the state
• Sniper response seen as Maryland
Kingdon Analysis

42. • Political Stream
• Mood – focusing events (above) influenced
national, state and local mood supportive of
enhanced resources dedicated to emergency
management.
• As mood and/or policies fade from view, so
did support for resource dedication.
Kingdon Analysis

43. • Political Stream
• Leadership changes – VDEM coordinator and
deputy have a combined 2 months of experience
in their roles.
• Jeff Stern replaced Michael Cline, who had 42
years of experience.
Kingdon Analysis

44. • Political Stream
• “Now that VDEM leadership is in place, people
are jockeying for position – it’s too soon to tell
how leadership styles will evolve and how
political the environment will be.”
• Dawn Eischen, VDEM PIO (also new!)
Kingdon Analysis

45. • Political Stream
• “Secretary Moran’s office is more focused on
political maneuvering than VDEM – they are
closer to the action, less operations-oriented, and
more policy-oriented”
• Dawn Eischen
Kingdon Analysis

46. • Policy Window
Kingdon Analysis

47. • New federal mandate from USDOT that crude oil
carriers report shipments to states as they travel
through them, a result of Lynchburg crash
• Governor formed task force to determine state
protocol
• “Top down” in that first it came from feds, then
protocol determined by higher level
government execs (Stern was on task force)
Implementation

48. • CFX (oil company) willing to comply but concerned
about turning proprietary documents over to
government, subjecting them subject to FOIA.
• VDEM working with them on non-disclosure
agreement
Implementation