Assembly Concurrent Resolution 38 was introduced on the Assembly floor March 14 by Assemblywoman Bonnie Lowenthal, D-Long Beach. It calls for the continued existence of the Joint Legislative Committee on Emergency Management through Nov. 30 to address California’s emergency management issues.
Lowenthal told the Assembly Friday morning prior to the vote that the joint committee was “the legislature’s tool for dealing with the kind of issues that were so dramatically called to light in the wake of the Japanese Earthquake, tsunami and nuclear emergency.”
She also clarified that the re-establishment of the 14-member committee, with bipartisan membership from both the Assembly and Senate, was not prompted by the massive earthquake in Japan, calling it a “coincidence of timing.”
“But the situation in Japan does underscore the need for our body to be responsive and proactive to emergency management concerns,” she said.
According to information provided by Lowenthal’s Sacramento office, the committee has in the past examined plans for and responses to wildfires, landslides and other emergencies. Moving forward, the committee would have broad latitude to review California’s preparations and vulnerabilities to any number of disaster scenarios.
ACR 38 now heads to the Senate floor for a vote, where it is expected to gain approval.