Minnesota Emergency Management Act of 1996 (Minnesota Statutes: Chapter 12 - Emergency Management)

This act regulates emergency management. Specifically, it provides that, because of the existing and increasing possibility of the occurrence of natural and other disasters of major size and destructiveness and in order to (1) ensure that preparations of this state will be adequate to deal with disasters, (2) generally protect the public peace, health, and safety, and (3) preserve the lives and property of the people of the state, the legislature finds and declares it necessary: (1) to create a state Division of Emergency Management, and to require the creation of local organizations for emergency management in the political subdivisions of the state; (3) to provide for the rendering of mutual aid among the political subdivisions of the state, with other states, and with Canadian provinces and to cooperate with the federal government with respect to carrying out of emergency management functions; and (4) to ensure that financial assistance made available to the state of Minnesota and to eligible applicants in the state, as a result of natural or other disasters, is provided in accord with established rules and regulations. It is further declared to be the purpose of this chapter and the policy of the state that all emergency management functions of this state be coordinated to the maximum extent with the comparable functions of the federal government, including its various departments and agencies, of other states and localities, and of private agencies of every type, to the end that the most effective preparations and use may be made of the nation's labor supply, resources, and facilities for dealing with any disaster that may occur.