H.R. 645 . to establish national emergency centers on military bases

[Desertdog]

Will these be Internment Camps or really emergency centers where you can come and go as you want to.  Personally, I think it does not matter how they start, they will end up as Internment Camps.   Tent prisons.

Congress > Legislation > 2009-2010 (111st Congress) > H.R. 645
Text of H.R. 645: To direct the Secretary of Homeland Security to establish national emergency centers on military...
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 GovTrack's bill text viewer has been recently updated. While we work out the kinks in the new viewer, archival legislative text may not be available. Your comments and suggestions for the new viewer are welcome.This version: Introduced in House. This is the original text of the bill as it was written by its sponsor and submitted to the House for consideration. This is the latest version of the bill available on this website.

HR 645 IH

111th CONGRESS

1st Session

H. R. 645

To direct the Secretary of Homeland Security to establish national emergency centers on military installations.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

January 22, 2009

Mr. HASTINGS of Florida introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, and in addition to the Committee on Armed Services, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned


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A BILL

To direct the Secretary of Homeland Security to establish national emergency centers on military installations.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ‘National Emergency Centers Establishment Act’.

SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF NATIONAL EMERGENCY CENTERS.

(a) In General- In accordance with the requirements of this Act, the Secretary of Homeland Security shall establish not fewer than 6 national emergency centers on military installations.

(b) Purpose of National Emergency Centers- The purpose of a national emergency center shall be to use existing infrastructure--

(1) to provide temporary housing, medical, and humanitarian assistance to individuals and families dislocated due to an emergency or major disaster;

(2) to provide centralized locations for the purposes of training and ensuring the coordination of Federal, State, and local first responders;

(3) to provide centralized locations to improve the coordination of preparedness, response, and recovery efforts of government, private, and not-for-profit entities and faith-based organizations; and

(4) to meet other appropriate needs, as determined by the Secretary of Homeland Security.

SEC. 3. DESIGNATION OF MILITARY INSTALLATIONS AS NATIONAL EMERGENCY CENTERS.

(a) In General- Not later than 60 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Homeland Security, in consultation with the Secretary of Defense, shall designate not fewer than 6 military installations as sites for the establishment of national emergency centers.

(b) Minimum Requirements- A site designated as a national emergency center shall be--

(1) capable of meeting for an extended period of time the housing, health, transportation, education, public works, humanitarian and other transition needs of a large number of individuals affected by an emergency or major disaster;

(2) environmentally safe and shall not pose a health risk to individuals who may use the center;

(3) capable of being scaled up or down to accommodate major disaster preparedness and response drills, operations, and procedures;

(4) capable of housing existing permanent structures necessary to meet training and first responders coordination requirements during nondisaster periods;

(5) capable of hosting the infrastructure necessary to rapidly adjust to temporary housing, medical, and humanitarian assistance needs;

(6) required to consist of a complete operations command center, including 2 state-of-the art command and control centers that will comprise a 24/7 operations watch center as follows:

(A) one of the command and control centers shall be in full ready mode; and

(B) the other shall be used daily for training; and

(7) easily accessible at all times and be able to facilitate handicapped and medical facilities, including during an emergency or major disaster.

(c) Location of National Emergency Centers- There shall be established not fewer than one national emergency center in each of the following areas:

(1) The area consisting of Federal Emergency Management Agency Regions I, II, and III.

(2) The area consisting of Federal Emergency Management Agency Region IV.

(3) The area consisting of Federal Emergency Management Agency Regions V and VII.

(4) The area consisting of Federal Emergency Management Agency Region VI.

(5) The area consisting of Federal Emergency Management Agency Regions VIII and X.

(6) The area consisting of Federal Emergency Management Agency Region IX.

(d) Preference for Designation of Closed Military Installations- Wherever possible, the Secretary of Homeland Security, in consultation with the Secretary of Defense, shall designate a closed military installation as a site for a national emergency center. If the Secretaries of Homeland Security and Defense jointly determine that there is not a sufficient number of closed military installations that meet the requirements of subsections (b) and (c), the Secretaries shall jointly designate portions of existing military installations other than closed military installations as national emergency centers.

(e) Transfer of Control of Closed Military Installations- If a closed military installation is designated as a national emergency center, not later than 180 days after the date of designation, the Secretary of Defense shall transfer to the Secretary of Homeland Security administrative jurisdiction over such closed military installation.

(f) Cooperative Agreement for Joint Use of Existing Military Installations- If an existing military installation other than a closed military installation is designated as a national emergency center, not later than 180 days after the date of designation, the Secretary of Homeland Security and the Secretary of Defense shall enter into a cooperative agreement to provide for the establishment of the national emergency center.

(g) Reports-

(1) PRELIMINARY REPORT- Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Homeland Security, acting jointly with the Secretary of Defense, shall submit to Congress a report that contains for each designated site--

(A) an outline of the reasons why the site was selected;

(B) an outline of the need to construct, repair, or update any existing infrastructure at the site;

(C) an outline of the need to conduct any necessary environmental clean-up at the site;

(D) an outline of preliminary plans for the transfer of control of the site from the Secretary of Defense to the Secretary of Homeland Security, if necessary under subsection (e); and

(E) an outline of preliminary plans for entering into a cooperative agreement for the establishment of a national emergency center at the site, if necessary under subsection (f).

(2) UPDATE REPORT- Not later than 120 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Homeland Security, acting jointly with the Secretary of Defense, shall submit to Congress a report that contains for each designated site--

(A) an update on the information contained in the report as required by paragraph (1);

(B) an outline of the progress made toward the transfer of control of the site, if necessary under subsection (e);

(C) an outline of the progress made toward entering a cooperative agreement for the establishment of a national emergency center at the site, if necessary under subsection (f); and

(D) recommendations regarding any authorizations and appropriations that may be necessary to provide for the establishment of a national emergency center at the site.

(3) FINAL REPORT- Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Homeland Security, acting jointly with the Secretary of Defense, shall submit to Congress a report that contains for each designated site--

(A) finalized information detailing the transfer of control of the site, if necessary under subsection (e);

(B) the finalized cooperative agreement for the establishment of a national emergency center at the site, if necessary under subsection (f); and

(C) any additional information pertinent to the establishment of a national emergency center at the site.

(4) ADDITIONAL REPORTS- The Secretary of Homeland Security, acting jointly with the Secretary of Defense, may submit to Congress additional reports as necessary to provide updates on steps being taken to meet the requirements of this Act.

SEC. 4. LIMITATIONS ON STATUTORY CONSTRUCTION.

This Act does not affect--

(1) the authority of the Federal Government to provide emergency or major disaster assistance or to implement any disaster mitigation and response program, including any program authorized by the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5121 et seq.); or

(2) the authority of a State or local government to respond to an emergency.

SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

There is authorized to be appropriated $180,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2009 and 2010 to carry out this Act. Such funds shall remain available until expended.

SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS.

In this Act, the following definitions apply:

(1) CLOSED MILITARY INSTALLATION- The term ‘closed military installation’ means a military installation, or portion thereof, approved for closure or realignment under the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Act of 1990 (part A of title XXIX of Public Law 101-510; 10 U.S.C. 2687 note) that meet all, or 2 out of the 3 following requirements:

(A) Is located in close proximity to a transportation corridor.

(B) Is located in a State with a high level or threat of disaster related activities.

(C) Is located near a major metropolitan center.

(2) EMERGENCY- The term ‘emergency’ has the meaning given such term in section 102 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5122).

(3) MAJOR DISASTER- The term ‘major disaster’ has the meaning given such term in section 102 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5122).

(4) MILITARY INSTALLATION- The term ‘military installation’ has the meaning given such term in section 2910 of the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Act of 1990 (part A of title XXIX of Public Law 101-510; 10 U.S.C. 2687 note).

 

[john828]

required to consist of a complete operations command center, including 2 state-of-the art command and control centers that will comprise a 24/7 operations watch center as follows:

From the old commercials:

Roaches check in, but they don't check out!  (Or whatever the hell the saying was.)

I'd rather eat wild herbs, scavenge carrion, and wipe my ass with poison ivy leaves than stay at the Chez Uncle Sam.

[Manedwolf]

Where's that "Oh, jeez, not this sh_ again?" picture?

Did you even read the bill? They did this back with Andrew even, at Homestead. They're just formalizing things so they have procedures for setting up the tents, generators and logistics for those big MRE meal trays and the water heaters for them and stuff. They love paperwork.

That's all.

[AZRedhawk44]

Meh.

Mountain out of a mole hill.

I read this last week and couldn't find anything sinister on it.  No grounds for compulsory occupation of the facilities, or use as a mass prison.

Sounds more like it's an allocation of money to allow co-habitation of a mil base by military and fedgov or humanitarian agencies for the purposes of training and response to bad things.

None of us here will get snatched up by this stuff anyways... if stuff gets bad enough that the government actually implements this, the likes of us will be living small and quiet and under the radar.  I doubt we're like most of America is, with a pantry with a scant 3 days worth of food.  I could probably go 2 months without hitting the grocery store if I really tried.

I'm certainly not going to any government camp until all that is gone, at the earliest.  They're not going to do a neighborhood by neighborhood clean-out and doorkicking roundup.

[Firethorn]

Sounds more like it's an allocation of money to allow co-habitation of a mil base by military and fedgov or humanitarian agencies for the purposes of training and response to bad things.

That already happens, by my reading of it, the big part would be the usage of bases for temporary housing.  IE if there's a major ice/snowstorm blizzard in North Dakota, knocking out power and heat, temporary facilities may be set up on Minot and Grand Forks AFB.

I know of a number of buildings on base that could be used for quite a few people with cots.  It'd be even easier down south with tents.

[El Tejon]

Mane, oh, yeah, well what about this death camp facility in Beech Grove (Indianapolis)=>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0P-hvPJPTi4

They are fixing trains!!!  We are doooooommmmeeeeeddddd!!!

Ddddoooooommmmmmeeeeeddddd I tells ya!!!

[HankB]

Will these be Internment Camps or really emergency centers where you can come and go as you want to.  Personally, I think it does not matter how they start, they will end up as Internment Camps.   Tent prisons.

Could be.

The Feds used the Superdome in New Orleans as an emergency center during hurricane Katrina and its aftermath.

As the days went on and conditions within the Superdome deteriorated, people tried to leave.

They weren't allowed to. Men with guns kept them there.

People who were seen climbing fences to escape were chased down and forcibly brought back to that hellhole . . . for their own good, of course. 

[john828]

 

That youtube video was quite the eyeopener.  One thing might have gone unnoticed.  Randomly during the video, you could see the shadows of the people doing the taping.  A few times I caught a pretty good glimpse of their shadows and without a doubt, they were wearing hats of some kind.  Sure enough, I caught the glare and figured it out.  They were all wearing tin foil berets.

[longeyes]

It's the foreign rendition faciltiies you should be worrying about.  It's always better to move "troublemakers" far away.  Cheaper too.  Internment camps provide too many possibilities for negative photo ops and snooping journalists.

[Gewehr98]

It's a damned good idea.

I fisked some loser on madison.com who said it's the FedGov's means to create internment camps.

Jeebus.

Hint for the uninitiated - Federal property doesn't always have to be used for military purposes.  I can't count all the shared military/government installations I've been to.  Langley, Kirtland, Quantico, you name it.

If FEMA wants to use CONUS military bases as deployment staging areas, more power to them. 

They'll be able to respond to disaster sites sooner, and keep the Katrina Crybabies quiet.

Well, no, I'm wrong on one thing. There will always be Katrina Crybabies, no matter how fast the FedGov shows up with goods and services, but it's still a damned fine way to amortize taxpayer dollars on surplus military infrastructure.

Maybe they can stage extra supplies of tinfoil on those installations, too. 

If I were you, I'd request an extra roll or two, DesertDog. 

[charby]

It's a damned good idea.

I fisked some loser on madison.com who said it's the FedGov's means to create internment camps.

Jeebus.

Hint for the uninitiated - Federal property doesn't always have to be used for military purposes.  I can't count all the shared military/government installations I've been to.  Langley, Kirtland, Quantico, you name it.

If FEMA wants to use CONUS military bases as deployment staging areas, more power to them. 

They'll be able to respond to disaster sites sooner, and keep the Katrina Crybabies quiet.

Well, no, I'm wrong on one thing. There will always be Katrina Crybabies, no matter how fast the FedGov shows up with goods and services, but it's still a damned fine way to amortize taxpayer dollars on surplus military infrastructure.

Maybe they can stage extra supplies of tinfoil on those installations, too. 

If I were you, I'd request an extra roll or two, DesertDog. 

I agree. It is land that the feds already control, they can set up shop how they need it and they don't have to seize private property to do so.

[Manedwolf]

They can also tell the greenies to go pound sand, and use base MP/SP/security forces to deal with any troublemakers. Seems like a good deal all around.

[Matthew Carberry]

Note that the bill mentions CLOSED bases as priorities.  That means they'd have to be (expensively) refitted.

(d) Preference for Designation of Closed Military Installations- Wherever possible, the Secretary of Homeland Security, in consultation with the Secretary of Defense, shall designate a closed military installation as a site for a national emergency center. If the Secretaries of Homeland Security and Defense jointly determine that there is not a sufficient number of closed military installations that meet the requirements of subsections (b) and (c), the Secretaries shall jointly designate portions of existing military installations other than closed military installations as national emergency centers.

(e) Transfer of Control of Closed Military Installations- If a closed military installation is designated as a national emergency center, not later than 180 days after the date of designation, the Secretary of Defense shall transfer to the Secretary of Homeland Security administrative jurisdiction over such closed military installation.

(f) Cooperative Agreement for Joint Use of Existing Military Installations- If an existing military installation other than a closed military installation is designated as a national emergency center, not later than 180 days after the date of designation, the Secretary of Homeland Security and the Secretary of Defense shall enter into a cooperative agreement to provide for the establishment of the national emergency center.

This appears to be mostly a BRAC workaround, get some of those Federal dollars back into communities that lost their bases.  Just replace the DOD landlord with DHS.

[AZRedhawk44]

Actually, this sounds kinda like that "domestic army" Obama was talking about during the campaign.  Or whatever he called it.

As long as DHS is only equipped with pistols and carbines when they man these bases, I got no problem with it.  Other than my tax dollars getting spent, that is.  Keep 'em humanitarian focused and it is a natural improvement to a struggling FEMA.

I'm naturally skeptical and will suspect government abuse of power when these are implemented, but the core idea behind them is sound... if you're a libtard and like nannystates.

[john828]

...the core idea behind them is sound... if you're a libtard and like nannystates.

Yeah, I am skeptical as well.

[Jeff B.]

Mr. HASTINGS of Florida introduced the following bill;

Anything introduced by Mr. Al C. (Alcee) Hastings, corrupt and discredited partisan hack is worthy os suspicion.

Jeff B.

[Waitone]

The good representative's legislation is consistent with work DHS did a few years back to plan for the forcible removal of illegal aliens from the US (it is not helpful at this point for the reader to be laughing hysterically, so stop it).

Endgame:  Office of Detention and Removal--Strategic Plan 2003-2012
http://www.thenyic.org/images/uploads/ICE_Endgame_Strategic_Plan.pdf

[French G.]

This appears to be mostly a BRAC workaround, get some of those Federal dollars back into communities that lost their bases.  Just replace the DOD landlord with DHS.

Agreed. Especially in the light that Florida has taken it in the shorts on BRAC. For awhile my former boat was slated to get homeported in Mayport along with me and everyone else that owned a house in Virginia so that the idiots who thought we should keep the JFK (CV-67) would be placated. They are still sore about Homestead and Cecil Field being closed  as well.

Done right this proposal could be good. Military bases have sturdy buildings, supplies, often their own independent power generation systems. If I were in Kentucky I'd be happy to be kicking it on Ft. Campbell or Knox right about now.

As a military member I think 95% of us really want to help out our neighbors. Every command I've been at in the Navy has done disaster relief and aided mariners. We didn't execute anyone and the only people we interred were the Cuban boat guys and the Somali pirates. I would go to a military base for aid, the only problem I see is the same as the hospital problem; that being when I decide that I am okay to leave and the powers that be say otherwise. There's a saying for that,

Power creates a-holes and absolute power creates absolute a-holes.

If the folks in charge act like Americans there will be no problem.

[longeyes]

Maybe they will put all the tax cheats there...

Uh, wait a minute, I think not.

[French G.]

They are interring all of them in DC I believe. 

[HankB]

They are interring all of them in DC I believe. 

Right - Barack Hussein Obama is keeping them in a cabinet. 

[French G.]

Better than under a desk! 

[Firethorn]

As a military member I think 95% of us really want to help out our neighbors. Every command I've been at in the Navy has done disaster relief and aided mariners. We didn't execute anyone and the only people we interred were the Cuban boat guys and the Somali pirates. I would go to a military base for aid, the only problem I see is the same as the hospital problem; that being when I decide that I am okay to leave and the powers that be say otherwise.

It's out of context of what you were saying, but your mention of hospital reminded me - our 'clinic' at Minot is actually the bottom two floors of an essentially shut down hospital.  The third floor has operating theaters that should be able to be stood up in a few days, at least for minor operations, and even the second has massive spaces essentially shut down.

And you're darn right.  In the context of a proper disaster, I'd gladly help set up various shelters for people.