Oklahoma Emergency Management Act of 2003 - Purposes of The Act

Purposes of The Act

The Emergency Management Act declares its purposes:

Because of the existing and increasing possibility of the occurrence of disasters of unprecedented size and destructiveness resulting from natural and man-made causes, in order to ensure that preparations of Oklahoma will adequately deal with such disasters and emergencies, to generally provide for the common defense and to protect the public peace, health, and safety, to preserve the lives and property of the people of Oklahoma, and to carry out the objectives of state and national survival and recovery in the event of a disaster or emergency, . —Oklahoma Emergency Management Act of 2003

The Emergency Management Act:

  • Created of the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management (OEM)
  • Authorized of the creation of local organizations for emergency management in the counties and incorporated municipalities of this state
  • Provided for the formulation and execution of an Emergency Operations Plan (EOP) for the state
  • Conferred upon the Governor and upon the executive heads or governing bodies of the political subdivisions of the state emergency powers
  • Provided for the rendering of mutual aid among the political subdivisions of the state and with other states to cooperate with the federal government with respect to carrying out emergency management functions and hazard mitigation
  • Provided sufficient organization to meet, prevent or reduce emergencies in the general interest and welfare of the public and the state.

The Emergency Management Act declared the policy of Oklahoma to be that all emergency management and hazard mitigation functions of the state are to be coordinated to the maximum extent with the comparable functions of the federal government, of the other states and localities, and of private agencies of every type, to the end that the most effective preparation and use may be made of available workforce, resources and facilities for dealing with disaster and hazard mitigation. Each state agency, board, commission, department or other state entity having responsibilities either indicated in the state Emergency Operations Plan must have written plans and procedures in place to protect individual employees, administrators and visitors from natural and man-made disasters and emergencies occurring at their work place. All such plans and procedures are made in concurrence with OEM, which is responsible for establishing a OEM Guidebook titled the "Emergency Standard Operating Procedures". Each state agency, board, commission, department or other state entity must provide an annual report on the status of their emergency management program to OEM. OEM then must compile and integrate all reports into a report to the Governor and Legislature on the status of state emergency preparedness.

The National Incident Management System (NIMS) is officially declared to be the standard for incident management in Oklahoma. All on-scene management of disasters and emergencies shall be conducted using the Incident Command System (ICS).

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