{"data":{"id":"us-ky/krs-39a.010","jurisdiction":"us-ky","citation":"KRS 39A.010","heading":"Legislative intent -- Necessity.","body":"The General Assembly realizes the Commonwealth is subject at all times to disaster or\nemergency occurrences which can range from crises affecting limited areas to widespread\ncatastrophic events, and that response to these occurrences is a fundamental responsibility\nof elected government in the Commonwealth. It is the intent of the General Assembly to\nestablish and to support a statewide comprehensive emergency management program for\nthe Commonwealth, and through it an integrated emergency management system, in order\nto provide for adequate assessment and mitigation of, preparation for, response to, and\nrecovery from, the threats to public safety and the harmful effects or destruction resulting\nfrom all major hazards, including but not limited to: flood, flas h flood, tornado, blizzard,\nice storm, snow storm, wind storm, hail storm, or other severe storms; drought, extremes\nof temperature, earthquake, landslides, or other natural hazards; fire, forest fire, or other\nconflagration; enemy attack, threats to publi c safety and health involving nuclear,\nchemical, or biological agents or weapons; sabotage, riot, civil disorder or acts of\nterrorism, and other domestic or national security emergencies; explosion, power failure\nor energy shortages, major utility system f ailure, dam failure, building collapse, other\ninfrastructure failures; transportation -related emergencies on, over, or through the\nhighways, railways, air, land, and waters in the Commonwealth; emergencies caused by\nspill or release of hazardous materials or substances; mass -casualty or mass -fatality\nemergencies; other technological, biological, etiological, radiological, environmental,\nindustrial, or agricultural hazards; or other disaster or emergency occurrences; or\ncatastrophe; or other causes; and the potential, threatened, or impending occurrence of\nany of these events; and in order to protect life and property of the people of the\nCommonwealth, and to protect public peace, health, safety, and welfare, and the\nenvironment; and in order to ensure the co ntinuity and effectiveness of government in\ntime of emergency, disaster, or catastrophe in the Commonwealth, it is hereby declared to\nbe necessary:\n(1) To create a Division of Emergency Management as the emergency management\nagency of state government and to authorize the creation of local emergency\nmanagement agencies in the cities, counties, and urban -county or charter county\ngovernments of the Commonwealth;\n(2) To confer upon the Governor, the county judges/executive of the counties, the\nmayors of the ci ties and urban-county governments of the Commonwealth, and the\nchief executive of other local governments the emergency powers provided in KRS\nChapters 39A to 39F;\n(3) To establish provisions for mutual aid among the cities, counties, and urban -county\nor charter county governments of the Commonwealth, with other states, and with\nthe federal government with respect to the performance of disaster and emergency\npreparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation functions; and\n(4) To authorize the establishment o f a statewide comprehensive emergency\nmanagement program and integrated emergency management system, the\npromulgation of orders or administrative regulations, and the taking of other steps\nnecessary and appropriate to carry out the provisions of KRS Chapters 39A to 39F.","path":["KRS Chapter 39A"],"source_url":"https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/statute.aspx?id=21694","current_through":"Includes enactments through the 2026 Regular Session","vintage":"09/05/2026","retrieved_at":"2026-09-05T20:48:57Z","sha256":"694f4ad812aea4489fdc508cb881b65956df882ccf17f713a52866b7ead6958b","source_id":"us-ky","stale":false,"prev":"us-ky/krs-397.1009","next":"us-ky/krs-39a.015"},"notice":"GroundRules: Original legal text. Not legal advice."}