Home » 2010 Issues » March 17, 2010 » AAM-11-10-00014-P Formation, Training, Appointment and Activation of State and County Animal Response Teams
AAM-11-10-00014-P Formation, Training, Appointment and Activation of State and County Animal Response Teams
3/17/10 N.Y. St. Reg. AAM-11-10-00014-P
NEW YORK STATE REGISTER
VOLUME XXXII, ISSUE 11
March 17, 2010
RULE MAKING ACTIVITIES
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE AND MARKETS
PROPOSED RULE MAKING
NO HEARING(S) SCHEDULED
I.D No. AAM-11-10-00014-P
Formation, Training, Appointment and Activation of State and County Animal Response Teams
PURSUANT TO THE PROVISIONS OF THE State Administrative Procedure Act, NOTICE is hereby given of the following proposed rule:
Proposed Action:
This is a consensus rule making to add Part 69 to Title 1 NYCRR.
Statutory authority:
Agriculture and Markets Law, section 410
Subject:
Formation, training, appointment and activation of State and county animal response teams.
Purpose:
To implement legislative directive by adopting a rule relating to the creation of State and county animal response teams.
Text of proposed rule:
Part 69 Animal Response Teams
(Statutory authority: section 410 of the Agriculture and Markets Law)
Section 69.1 Definitions.
For the purposes of this Part:
(a) Animal response team means a group of qualified volunteers, organized and deployed by the State or a county, to address emergencies and disasters affecting animals.
(b) CART means any county animal response team.
(c) Commissioner means the Commissioner of Agriculture and Markets.
(d) E-SART means the Empire State Animal Response Team of the State of New York, which is an association of recognized CARTS across the the State.
(e) FEMA means the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
(f) ICS means the Incident Command System of FEMA.
(g) NIMS means the National Incident Management System of FEMA.
(h) State means the State of New York.
(i) Qualified volunteer means a person who does not receive compensation for his or her services, who is an active member of an animal response team and has either been activated by directive of the commissioner or is acting in an official capacity of the animal response team pursuant to guidelines from the commissioner.
Section 69.2 Training of volunteers of animal response teams.
(a) In order to become a qualified volunteer, a person shall successfully complete the base-level training requirements established by E-SART and which may be amended by E-SART from time to time.
(b) The base-level training requirements include successful completion of on-line courses approved by E-SART. The courses shall include instruction in the following areas:
(i) E-SART orientation;
(ii) introduction to the Incident Command System (ICS);
(iii) responding to incidents;
(iv) introduction to the National Incident Management System (NIMS); and
(v) hazardous material (hazmat) awareness.
Section 69.3 Appointment of volunteers to animal response teams.
(a) Any person who successfully completes the on-line training requirements set forth in section 69.2 of this Part, as evidenced by certificates of completion from the course providers, and signs the E-SART Code of Conduct shall be deemed a qualified volunteer within the meaning of section 69.1 of this Part.
(b) The names, addresses and telephone numbers of all qualified volunteers who wish to serve on a CART shall be entered into the ServeNY database system, which is managed by the New York State Department of Health.
(c) Any qualified volunteer serving on a CART does so at the pleasure of Commissioner, his or her designee and the emergency manager of the county in which the qualified volunteer resides.
Section 69.4 Formation and activation of animal response teams.
(a) In the event of an emergency or disaster affecting animals in the State, the emergency manager of the county in which the emergency or disaster has occurred or is occurring may activate qualified volunteers in his or her county from the ServeNY database.
(b) The emergency manager activating qualified volunteers shall do so by using the ServeNY data base and shall generate a written log, advising the Commissioner of the identities of the volunteers activated.
(c) When the qualified volunteers are no longer needed, the emergency manager shall demobilize the volunteers through the ServeNY database, and shall notify the Commissioner, in writing, of the identities of the volunteers deactivated.
(d) Qualified volunteers appointed to an animal response team shall be deemed volunteer state employees for purposes of section 17 of the Public Officers Law and section 3 of the Workers' Compensation Law.
Text of proposed rule and any required statements and analyses may be obtained from:
David Smith, DVM, Asst Director, Division of Animal Industry, NYS Department of Agriculture and Markets, 10B Airline Drive, Albany, New York 12235, (518) 457-3502
Data, views or arguments may be submitted to:
Same as above.
Public comment will be received until:
45 days after publication of this notice.
This action was not under consideration at the time this agency's regulatory agenda was submitted.
Consensus Rule Making Determination
Section 410 of the Agriculture and Markets Law, effective July 7, 2008, provides that the Commissioner is authorized to establish State and county animal response teams to support the prevention of, preparedness for, response to, and recovery from emergencies and disasters affecting animals in New York State.
Establishment of animal response teams is part of the State Animal Response Team program or SART. SART was created in North Carolina in 1999, following Hurricane Floyd in which over three million companion animals and livestock were lost. Since then, North Carolina's SART program has been the model for animal response programs in 20 other states, including New York. The SART program is based on the federal National Incident Management System (NIMS) and Incident Command System (ICS). Developed and administered by the Department of Homeland Security - Federal Emergency Management Agency, NIMS is the administrative structure used by governmental and private entities in their incident management and emergency response activities. The NIMS framework offers both consistency and flexibility, thereby facilitating the diasaster response efforts of these entities. This is accomplished through ICS, which is the standardized, on-scene incident management protocol used by governmental and private entities when responding to and managing emergencies.
Section 410 also directs that the Commissioner shall promulgate rules and regulations relating to the formation, training, appointment and activation of State and county animal response teams.
The proposed rule implements that legislative directive by (1) establishing base-level training requirements for animal response team volunteers which includes SART program orientation; introduction to NIMS and ICS; training in responding to incidents; and training on hazardous material (hazmat) awareness; (2) requiring volunteers who have successfully completed the training to sign a Code of Conduct; and (3) establishing a procedure for the formation, activation and demobilization of animal response teams through use of ServeNY, a database administered by the New York State Department of Health which contains the names of volunteers who have met the training requirements to serve on animal response teams. It is also submitted that the proposed rule is non-controversial since (1) the training is available free of charge, and (2) the requirements and procedures for training, appointment, formation and activation of animal response teams are consistent with those of the federal government as well as other states.
In light of the foregoing, the Department has determined that the proposed adoption of Part 69 of 1 NYCRR is a consensus rule within the meaning of paragraphs (b) and (c) of section 102(11) of the State Administrative procedure Act in that no person is likely to object to the rule as written because it merely implements or conforms to non-discretionary statutory provisions and is otherwise non-controversial.
Job Impact Statement
1. Nature of Impact:
The proposed rule will not adversely impact any existing or prospective employment opportunities because the proposal merely implements a legislative directive to adopt a rule relating to the formation, training, appointment and activation of State and county animal response teams. Persons affected are interested volunteers who will receive training free of charge.
2. Categories and Numbers Affected:
Persons volunteering to participate on animal response teams will be affected. The actual number of such persons is unknown.
