Emergency Management PoliciesCommonwealth of Virginia Group

Anne CurtisTony HumphreyElisa JohnsonJeremy Lasich

State Agencies

• Virginia Governor’s Cabinet

• Secretary of Public Safety oversees 11 agencies

• Emergency Management (VDEM)

• Alcohol Beverage Control

• Education• Corrections• Criminal Justice Services• Fire Programs• Forensic Science

• Juvenile Justice• Military Affairs• Virginia Parole Board• Virginia State Police

State History

1942 - Virginia General Assembly creates Office

of Civilian Defense to protect citizens against

enemy attack with an emphasis on coastal areas

and military centers. The office was abolished

after World War II ended.

State History

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

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 emergency services from nuclear toward other types of natural and human-caused disasters.

State History

1972 - Tropical Storm

Agnes hits Virginia, killing

16 people and causing

more than $222 million in

damages.

State History

1973 - Governor Linwood Holton signed

the Emergency Services and Disaster Act

that replaced the Office of Civil Defense

with the Virginia Office of Emergency

Services (VOES).

Agency staffing expanded from 24 to 40,

including training, communications, public

information, and regional staff.

State History

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

(OEES).

State History

1985 - Roanoke River system floods due

to Hurricane Juan on Election Day,

affecting large portions of central and

western Virginia.

Energy services activities transferred to

the new agency and OEES became the

Department of Emergency Services.

Downtown Roanoke

State History

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

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.

Walmart in Colonial Heights hit by tornado

State History

2000 - OEES’ name was changed to the Virginia

Department of Emergency Management (VDEM).

State History

2001 - Terrorists hijacked

American Airlines Flight 77

and intentionally flew it into

the Pentagon, killing 189

people.

Pentagon

State History

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

2003 - 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

2006 - The $6.5 million state-of-the-art Virginia

Emergency Operations Center opened in

Chesterfield County.

State History

2008 - The Virginia Interoperability Picture for

Emergency Response (VIPER) was launched,

providing a GIS supported common operating picture

for emergency response.

State History

2011 - Governor Bob McDonnell established the

Virginia Disaster Relief Fund following an

onslaught of tornadoes nearly every week in April.

State History

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

2013 – VDEM Celebrates its 40th anniversary.

State History

2013 - SB381 transfers

homeland security

responsibilities from the

Secretary of Veterans Affairs

to the Secretary of Public

Safety.

Brian Moran

State Policy

Virginia Emergency Services and Disaster Law

• Established in 1973

• Amended in 2000 and 2008

• Title 44-146.13 - 44-146.40; Code of Virginia

VESD Law

Established for three reasons:

1. Create a “State Department of Emergency

Management” (now VDEM)

2. Confer emergency powers to the Governor and

executive heads

3. Provide for rendering of mutual

aid with other states and the

federal government

VESD Law

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

Powers and duties of the Governor

and VDEM:

• Control and regulate resources

• Commit state resources

• Request federal assistance

• Conduct an annual statewide

drill

Tornado Drill

VDEM

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 Leadership

• Jeff Stern – State

Coordinator

• Curtis Brown – Deputy

Coordinator

• Brett Burdick – Deputy

State Coordinator

VDEM

• Receives 80% of funding from Stafford Act

• Divided into 7 regions

• Region 7 is Northern Virginia

VDEM

Key responsibilities

• Support local agencies

• Respond to request for

resources

• Personnel

• Equipment

• Water

• National Guard

VDEM

Key responsibilities

• Monitor for situational

awareness

• Regions are eyes and

ears for decision

makers in Richmond

• State office works with

national agencies

• Coordinate with other

state partners

• Police and Fire

• Health

• Transportation

• Schools

• Social

Services

Interviews

• Dave McKernan, Fairfax

County OEM Coordinator

• Jeff Kezele, VDEM Region 7

Deputy Coordinator

• Dawn Eischen, VDEM

Director of Public Affairs

Analysis

Kingdon Streams

•Problems: WWII, Cold War, Hurricane Camille, 9/11 were focusing events, opening policy windows that enabled change.

Analysis

Kingdon Streams

• Policy: Stafford Act largely defined state role as “middle man,” facilitator of resource allocation from federal to local governments. “Policy entrepreneurs” primarily in Governor/Secretary offices, VDEM is more operations-focused.

• Political: 9/11 “national mood” particularly intense in jurisdictions actually targeted, including Virginia.

Analysis

Baumgartner and Jones’ Punctuated Equilibrium (Smith)

• 9/11 in particular, created “shift in policy, and a new point of equilibrium” - definition of EM focused on terrorism, received greater resources dedicated to function and heightened level of importance among state agencies.

• In Virginia that single terrorism incident was the exception: natural disasters continue to be EMS’ primary reason for being.

Analysis

Baumgartner and Jones’ Punctuated Equilibrium (Smith)

• “Changes in issue definition altered structural arrangements of policy…system”

• “Venue shopping” –Punctuated equilibrium provides opportunity for more optimal venue. In Virginia, VDEM recently moved from Veterans Affairs to Public Safety.

Analysis

Schneider and Ingram’s Burden/Benefit Model (cited by Smith)

• Advantaged – Northern Virginia, business owners (who have developed own emergency mgmt. procedures) –minimum burden, maximum benefits.

• Contenders – the “rest” of Virginia (gun owners, “old South”) –medium burden, medium benefits.

Analysis

Schneider and Ingram’s Burden/Benefit Model (cited by Smith)

• Dependent – disabled, Hispanics, poor –maximum burden, minimum benefits.

• Deviant – illegal immigrants –maximum burden, minimum benefits.

Analysis

Pareto Model (cited by Smith)

• “Northern Virginia gets too much – everyone understands this.” J. Kezele, Region 7 Deputy Coordinator)

• Pareto Inferior Model: Northern Virginia needs the least, gets the most.

Analysis

Funding

• “Budget Game” (Bardach, cited by Smith): expenditures are short-term assessment measures, “spending money shows that something is being done.”

• “Power Law” (Baumgartner and Jones, cited by Smith): “Shock to the system” – i.e., 9/11 – overcomes institutional inertia and results in dramatic budget increases.

• Concept of causality to rationalize significant resources: “Generating an estimate of the counterfactual, or what happens to Y in the absence of X” (Smith) – i.e., potential risks of NOT dedicating significant funding to emergency management.

Analysis

Implementation

• Top Down/Bottom Up (Pressman & Wildavsky):

• Inter-governmental is Top Down: Funding in particular goes from Federal through State to Local. Stafford Act defined roles for each level, and Dillon Rule applies relative to state/local relationship.

• Intra-governmental (state) is Top Down: Region is “eyes and ears” for Richmond but direction comes from HQ.

• Implementation is Bottom Up: Localities are primary agencies responsible for EM.

Analysis

Implementation

• Decision points (Pressman & Wildasky): The more approvals that have to be granted for action to be taken, the higher the likelihood that action will not be taken.

• “System is overwhelmed” – D. McKernan, Fairfax County OEM Coordinator. Too much paperwork and too many bureaucratic barriers result in “fed/state versus local” as opposed to state and local working together.