National Emergency Management Reform and Enhancement Act of 2006
Latest action. Reported (Amended) by the Committee on Homeland Security. H. Rept. 109-712, Part I.
National Emergency Management Reform and Enhancement Act of 2006 - Title I: Emergency Management - (Sec. 101) Amends the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (the Act) to provide for the establishment within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) of a Directorate of Emergency Management (DEM) (replacing the Directorate of Emergency Preparedness and Response). Requires DEM to be headed by an Under Secretary for Emergency Management and to include Deputy Under Secretaries for: (1) Emergency Preparedness and Mitigation; and (2) Emergency Response and Recovery. Directs the Under Secretary to serve as a Cabinet Officer during an Incident of National Significance.
Establishes: (1) in DEM a Regional Office of Emergency Management for each region of the United States; (2) in each Regional Office a Regional Advisory Council on Emergency Management. Lists: (1) core responsibilities of each Regional Director, including identifying critical gaps in regional capabilities to respond to the needs of at-risk communities; and (2) responsibilities of the Advisory Council, including to assist the Regional Director in establishing a process to secure goods and services through coordinated, pre-negotiated contracts by federal, state, local, and tribal governments.
Establishes in DHS a Chief Medical Officer, who shall report directly to the Under Secretary for Emergency Management and shall be the principal advisor of the Secretary of Homeland Security (Secretary) on medical and public health issues. Directs the Chief Medical Officer to establish a program to assess, monitor, and study the health and safety of emergency managers, response providers, and support providers following Incidents of National Significance declared by the Secretary under the National Response Plan. Requires the Secretary, acting through the Chief Medical Officer, to establish a National Biosurveillance Integration System, which shall be designed to rapidly detect a biological event that presents a risk to the United States or U.S. infrastructure or key assets.
Establishes within DEM: (1) an Office of State, Local, and Tribal Government Coordination; and (2) an Office of National Capital Region Coordination.
The summary continues for 40 more paragraphs. Read it in full on Congress.gov
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Reported to House with amendment(s)" stage on November 9, 2006. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on November 9, 2006: Reported (Amended) by the Committee on Homeland Security. H. Rept. 109-712, Part I.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the House
- Passage by the Senate
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 109th Congress (2005-06), 482 of the 10,701 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 4.5 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
David Reichert (R-WA) introduced it on May 11, 2006, and 51 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They come from both major parties: 18 Democrats, 33 Republicans.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on May 11, 2006, 7427 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 7245 days ago, on November 9, 2006.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 109th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2007 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- HouseIn committee, no floor vote yet
- SenateAwaits House passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers