The Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC), was established in 1996 and is a nationwide mutual aid system.
EMAC is the first national disaster/relief compact since the Civil Defense and Disaster Compact of 1950 to be ratified by Congress. Since ratification and signing into law in1996 (Public Law 104-321),50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands have enacted legislation to become EMAC members.
EMAC offers assistance during governor-declared states of emergency through a responsive, straightforward system that allows states to send personnel, equipment, and commodities to help disaster relief efforts in other states. Through EMAC states can also transfer services, such as shipping newborn blood from a disaster-impacted lab to a lab in another state.
The strength of EMAC and the quality that distinguishes it from other plans and compacts lie in its governance structure, its relationship with federal organizations, states, counties, territories, and regions, the willingness of states and response and recovery personnel to deploy, and the ability to move any resource one state wishes to utilize to assist another state.
EMAC establishes a firm legal foundation. Once the conditions for providing assistance to a requesting state have been set, the terms constitute a legally binding contractual agreement that makes affected states responsible for reimbursement. The EMAC legislation solves the problems of liability and responsibilities of cost and allows for credentials, licenses, and certifications to be honored across state lines. View the standard EMAC legislation passed by the EMAC Member States and the US Congress.
Deploying resources through EMAC leverages federal grant dollars (such as the State Homeland Security Grant Program (SHSGP) &, the Emergency Management Performance Grant (EMPG)) invested in state and local emergency management resource capabilities.
Resources
- EMAC Administrative Plan
- EMAC Reimbursement Packet
- EMAC Reimbursement Workbook
- 2022 Florida EMAC Documents
Point of Contact
Denise Popish, EMAC Program Manager and Region VIII NEMA Lead State Representative