For the purposes of this project and website a mutual aid system is considered an “intrastate mutual aid compact” if it incorporates all disciplines or sectors (not necessarily including the private sector) and all political subdivisions within a statewide mutual aid system.
This website includes a page for each state in the United States and a description of its mutual aid system. If a state has a compact (as defined above) the page includes a brief accounting of the main attributes of the compact as described below. The key attribute list was developed after a review of all the compacts and NEMA’s model compact.
The following definitions and/or assumptions were made is describing compact provisions and attributes:
Date of Enactment – the date the compact was originally signed or the statute was enacted, not the date of any subsequent amendments, which are indicated separately.
Compact Type – indicates whether a state’s mutual aid plan has been codified in legislation in any form or is a separate compact
Opt-in/Opt-Out – most agreements specify whether a political entity must join (opt-in) or is automatically enrolled and must leave (opt-out) of a mutual aid agreement. If neither was specified, the assumption was made that the agreement was opt-out.
Committee – notes whether a separate committee has been established in writing for the administration of mutual aid; usually called a Intrastate Mutual Aid Committee or some entity that performs the same functions as such a committee per the Model Intrastate Mutual Aid Legislation.
Reimbursement Responsibility – the entity responsible for paying for the resources that are requested via mutual aid
- Receiving – a political entity requesting assistance under mutual aid from another entity
- Sending – a political entity responding to a request for assistance under mutual aid by sending resources
- Split – indicates a division of responsibilities between two or more political entities; does not necessarily indicate a 50-50 split
Workers Compensation – the entity responsible for paying for workers’ benefits that would normally be available to personnel in the normal course of their duties while rendering assistance to another entity
Liability – the entity legally responsible for activities performed under a mutual aid agreement
Operational Command and Control – the controlling entity of the personnel utilized from another jurisdiction under a mutual aid agreement. In many incidents, this is a split provision, in which the receiving entity has operational control, but the sending entity retains administrative control, to include standing operating procedures.
Credentialing – indicates whether the licenses/certificates/credentials of responding personnel will b recognized by the receiving entity for the duration of the mutual aid event
Time in Effect – indicates how the mutual aid agreement is implemented – “at all times” indicates that no special action is required to request resources; otherwise, an event such an emergency declaration is required to set the mutual agreement in motion
Home Rule or Dillon’s Rule– determined by the prevailing law in the state, not specifically to mutual aid
Sources: legal databases, websites of state emergency management agencies, and internet search engine queries.
