Authority: Title 44, Chapters 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, Code of Virginia.
A.1. By September 1 of each year, the State Coordinator of Emergency Management shall assess emergencies and disasters that have been authorized sum sufficient funding by the Governor and provide to the Department of Planning and Budget and the Chairmen of the House Appropriations and Senate Finance Committees written justification to support continuing sum sufficient funding longer than one year for a locally declared emergency (or disaster), three years for a state declared disaster, and five years for a nationally declared disaster. At the same time, the state coordinator shall identify any disasters that can be closed due to fulfillment of the state's obligations.
2. The Department shall report on annual disaster expenditures and contracting. The report shall at minimum i) specify by event and state agency or locality, the amount spent per year from the Disaster Recovery Fund separate from any other state, local, federal or private contributions; ii) identify any Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) reimbursements received during the previous fiscal year, itemizing for which event such reimbursements were made; iii) any contracts executed during a disaster and the expenditures and purposes for which they were executed. The State Coordinator shall provide the report to the Governor; Director, Department of Planning and Budget; and the Chairmen of the House Appropriations and Senate Finance Committees by June 30th of each year.
B.1. Localities and eligible private non-profit organizations that have received cost reimbursement through state and/or federal assistance programs to support homeland security and eligible recovery and mitigation projects and initiatives associated with disaster events, that are subsequently notified that either a portion or all of the funds provided are to be returned, shall reimburse the Virginia Department of Emergency Management for such overpayments, including any interest accrued on such funds, within sixty (60) days of being notified and receiving the request for reimbursement.
2. Overpayment amounts shall be based on the difference between the amount reimbursed or prepaid to the entity involved by the Department of Emergency Management and the final amount approved by the granting agency. Localities and eligible private non-profit organizations shall certify that no interest was earned on overpaid funds if no interest is included in the remittance.
3. If the entity does not reimburse the Virginia Department of Emergency Management within 60 days of being notified, the Comptroller is authorized to withhold the amount of overpayment from any eligible funds to be transferred to the locality or organization and redirect the funds withheld to the Virginia Department of Emergency Management to satisfy the outstanding liability.
4. The Department of Emergency Management shall not provide future prepayments to any locality or eligible private non-profit organization once the Comptroller has been required to withhold funding.
C. Included within this appropriation is $570,901 the first year and $570,901 the second year from the general fund that shall only be used for costs associated with transforming the agency's information systems to conform with standards of the Virginia Information Technologies Agency.
D. Out of this appropriation, $173,256 the first year and $189,043 the second year from the general fund is included for the financing costs of purchasing vehicles through the state's master equipment lease purchase program. It is the intent that the department establish a schedule for replacing emergency response vehicles using the master equipment lease purchase program.
E. Included in this appropriation is $90,000 in the first year and $90,000 in the second year from the general fund to support regional satellite communications used by the agency in the event of an emergency.
F. Included in this appropriation is $42,000 the first year and $42,000 the second year from the general fund to replace radios for regional coordinators, hazardous materials officers, disaster response and recovery officers, and other regional staff. The radios shall be inter-operable with the State Agencies Radio System (STARS), and shall be acquired through the master equipment lease program.
G. The Department of Emergency Management shall review disasters over the previous six years for which sum sufficient funding was authorized under Item 54 of this act, and categorize disasters into general types, such as tornadoes, hurricanes of various categories, flooding, etc. For local financial assistance authorized under § 44-146.28 of the Code of Virginia, the report shall also detail the state and local share of spending on those events. The Department shall propose model executive orders to authorize funding from the sum sufficient authority provided in Item 54 of this act for each respective type of disaster event, based on reasonable state share, in consideration of the data collected pursuant to this paragraph, to the Governor; Secretary of Finance; Director, Department of Planning and Budget; and the Chairmen of the House Appropriations and Senate Finance Committees by September 1, 2020.