SB 821: Emergency notification: county jurisdictions.

The California Emergency Services Act establishes the Office of Emergency Services in the office of the Governor and provides that the office is responsible for the states emergency and disaster response services for natural, technological, or manmade disasters and emergencies, including responsibility for activities necessary to prevent, respond to, recover from, and mitigate the effects of emergencies and disasters to people and property.

Existing law defines emergency plan for purposes of emergency services provided by local governments and requires each county, including a city and county, upon the next update to its emergency plan, to integrate access and functional needs into its emergency plan by addressing, at a minimum, how the access and functional needs population, as defined, is served by emergency communications, evacuation, and sheltering.

This bill would authorize each county, including a city and county, to enter into an agreement to access the contact information of resident accountholders through the records of a public utility or other agency responsible for water service, waste and recycling services, or other property-related services for the sole purpose of enrolling county residents in a county-operated public emergency warning system. The bill would require any county that enters into such an agreement to include procedures to enable any resident to opt out of the warning system and a process to terminate the receiving agencys access to the residents contact information. The bill would prohibit the use of the information gathered for any purpose other than for emergency notification.