Emergency preparedness: access and functional needs.

Existing law, the California Emergency Services Act, among other things, requires the Office of Emergency Services to update the State Emergency Plan on or before January 1, 2019, and every 5 years thereafter. The act also requires the office, on or before July 31, 2015, to update the State Emergency Plan to include proposed best practices for local governments and nongovernmental entities to use to mobilize and evacuate people with access and functional needs during emergency or natural disasters. This bill would require the office, in the next update of the plan, to include the best practices provisions, described above. The bill would also require the office to develop and update annually, in coordination with organizations representing the access and functional needs population, as defined, a guidance document for local governments based, in part, on a review of recent emergency and natural disaster incidents and what did or did not go well in the response efforts. The bill would also require the office to post the guidance document, and its annual update, on the office internet website. The bill would require the office to review the emergency plans of all local governments to determine if they are consistent with the proposed best practices provisions and, upon request by a local government, provide necessary technical assistance to that local government.