Use of Mutual Aid Agreements

According to FEMA, “Mutual Assistance Agreements and Support Agreements are agreements between agencies, organizations, and jurisdictions that provide a mechanism for rapid emergency assistance in the form of personnel, equipment, materials, and other related services.” The U.S. Constitution states that “no state may do without the consent of Congress,. . . enter into an agreement or treaty with another State or with a foreign power … (Table 3▶).18 This provision clearly affects the legal capacity of States to conclude mutual assistance agreements between themselves or with Mexican States or Canadian provinces. Other agreements are common in small towns that have no or few resources. In these cases, local teams are able to handle small incidents themselves, but in the case of larger incidents, surrounding communities are involved with local resources during the first deployment. For example, local fire and EMS departments will typically handle fire alarm activations and car accidents, while structural fire reports will result in automatic dispatch (automatic assistance) from surrounding cities. Since the objectives of the WMA include the sharing of supplies, equipment and personnel in undeclared emergency scenarios, the WMA must address the “binding” constitutional issue in its planned intergovernmental agreements. Whether Congressional approval could be obtained through an amendment to the EMAC or some other mechanism is an open question. Regardless, MAA public health officials have begun discussions with governor`s offices and emergency management officials in MAA states about whether to pursue the authority of an “undeclared emergency.” Future directions will certainly be influenced by the outcome of these discussions.

Finally, with respect to agreements with Canadian provinces and Mexican states, maintaining labour relations will allow U.S. lawyers to rely to some extent on lawyers from Canada and Mexico to explain their laws. Nevertheless, U.S. lawyers would be well advised to develop expertise on these laws to ensure that mutual aid agreements are negotiated on a sound legal basis and that they meet the objectives of the U.S. and Mexican states and Canadian provinces. Throughout the country, analyses of the competence of States are under way to exchange information, equipment, supplies and personnel, as well as to conclude mutual aid agreements with other States or across international borders. Attorneys from the 10 states that make up the Mid-America Alliance (MAA) — Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming — conducted a preliminary assessment of the legal authority. The MAA`s mission is to “provide a framework for mutual assistance between states in a situation that strains the resources of a single state but does not initiate a governor who has declared a state of emergency.” MAA seeks to “establish a system that allows neighboring states to share services, resources, and information to effectively meet the needs of citizens in the event of a public health emergency.” 14 The results of the assessment shall be compiled and coordinated in order to determine the activities that the WMA may carry out without delay in accordance with the applicable laws and to identify the activities which must await the adoption of legislation providing for the necessary authority. Emergency managers should meet regularly with government agencies, community agencies and specialized emergency agencies to discuss potential emergencies and their ability to provide resources.

Mutual assistance agreements should allow for the rapid and short-term deployment of emergency assistance before, during and after an incident. However, the National Incident Management System (NIMS) Planning Guide states that a response from state or federal resources can take up to 72 hours or more. Depending on the type of MAA, a state legislature may need to formally approve and legally recall a state`s participation in the agreement, as in the case of EMAC (see below). State laws or regulations may also establish legal requirements that govern the creation and implementation of assistance and support agreements in the state at large. These State-specific requirements may affect internal agreements between municipalities and other parties, as well as intergovernmental agreements between the State and other parties. To operationalize MAs, the federal government, states, municipalities, and other organizations involved in aid agreements have developed guidelines, protocols, and definitions of specific resource typing that dictate the delivery of aid. In addition to the legal requirements for aid management, training, implementation and updating of aid agreements and the policies and protocols that implement them are a key factor in the effective implementation of mutual assistance. .