Update Colorado Disaster Emergency Act

Emergency management - recovery and mitigation - disaster policy group - authorization to establish - resiliency office - creation - duties. The act updates the Colorado disaster emergency act to include provisions related specifically to recovery, mitigation, and resiliency and to establish the roles and responsibilities of state and local agencies at all stages of emergency management. The governor is authorized to convene a disaster policy group to coordinate the response and recovery from disaster emergencies. If the governor convenes the policy group, the governor is required to appoint a chair and to delegate to the chair the authority to manage cross-departmental and interjurisdictional coordination of recovery efforts.

Existing provisions establishing the governor's expert emergency epidemic response committee are repealed and relocated. The executive director of the department of local affairs or his or her designee is added to the committee.

Subject to available grant funding, the Colorado resiliency office is created in the division of local government within the department of local affairs. Subject to the availability of grant funding or within existing resources, the office will develop a resiliency and community recovery program for the state. The office is required to consult with other state agencies and stakeholders in developing the program.

The act amends existing statutes concerning disaster planning and response at the state and local level to include references to recovery, mitigation, and preparedness. The state disaster plan must also include a comprehensive emergency management program that addresses preparation, prevention, mitigation, response, and recovery from emergencies and disasters.

Local and interjurisdictional disaster agencies are renamed as emergency management agencies. The emergency management agencies are required to develop a local or interjurisdictional plan that includes provisions for preparation, prevention, mitigation, response, and recovery from emergencies and disasters. Agencies may incorporate by reference existing locally adopted plans, plans approved by the office of emergency management or the federal emergency management agency, and other relevant plans.

The governor must consider steps that could be taken on a continuing basis for mitigation and recovery from disaster, in addition to steps to prevent and reduce the harmful consequences of disasters.

(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)