Call to Order and Roll Call
The 2nd meeting of the Interim Joint Committee on Veterans, Military Affairs, and Public Protection was held on Thursday, July 13, 2017, at 1:00 PM, in Room 154 of the Capitol Annex. Senator Albert Robinson, Chair, called the meeting to order, and the secretary called the roll.
Present were:
Members: Senator Albert Robinson, Co-Chair; Representative Tim Moore, Co-Chair; Senators Julian M. Carroll, C.B. Embry Jr., Denise Harper Angel, Ernie Harris, Dennis Parrett, Wil Schroder, Whitney Westerfield, Mike Wilson, and Max Wise; Representatives Regina Bunch, Tom Burch, Will Coursey, Jeffery Donohue, Myron Dossett, Jim DuPlessis, Chris Harris, Mark Hart, Dan Johnson, DJ Johnson, Ruth Ann Palumbo, Brandon Reed, Rob Rothenburger, Dean Schamore, and Walker Thomas.
Guests: The Adjutant General, Major General Stephen R. Hogan, KYNG; Michael Dossett, Director, Division of Emergency Management; Jarred Ball, Board Administrator, Reorganization of the 911 Services Board; Mike Sunseri, Legislative Liaison, Kentucky Office of Homeland Security; and J.D. Chaney, Deputy Director, Kentucky League of Cities.
LRC Staff: Erica Warren, Jessica Zeh, Jonathan Philpot, and Rhonda Schierer.
Chairman Robinson moved to adopt the June 8, 2017, meeting minutes. Senator Parrett seconded the motion. The minutes were adopted.
Pledge of Allegiance
Co-Chairman Tim Moore led the committee members and guests in the Pledge of Allegiance.
Distinguished Veteran
The Adjutant General, Major General Stephen R. Hogan was recognized and given the distinguished veteran coin in recognition of his outstanding service to the country and the Commonwealth.
Kentucky National Guard and Department of Military Affairs
General Hogan gave a PowerPoint presentation on the vision, mission, lines of effort, and mobilizations of the Kentucky National Guard, (KYNG) and the Kentucky Air National Guard, (KYANG). KYNG fully postures leaders and units to respond to a complex catastrophe for the worst night in the Commonwealth. KYNG delivers a sense of purpose, worth, and well-being to guardsmen, their families, and employers. The mission of the KYNG is to provide relevant, ready forces prepared to respond to federal and state missions.
General Hogan discussed current unit mobilizations and stated that there are 197 Army guard and four Air guard members deployed.
General Hogan announced that the Derby City National Guard Association of the United States 139th Conference and Expo will be September 7-10th in Louisville. Attending will be approximately 3,200 National Guard officers from all 54 states and territories and over 300 defense industry representatives. This event will have an economic impact of approximately $9 million.
In response to a question from Representative Burch, General Hogan stated that the National Guard has excellent dialogue with other countries.
In response to a question from Representative Rothenburger, General Hogan stated that guardsmen have had a 72 hour training and preparation, and a focus on firefighting and partnering with other civilians in case any emergency arises during the eclipse watching event in Hopkinsville.
In response to a question from Representative Harris, General Hogan explained three venues that guardsmen can use to provide water in an emergency situation. The venues they can use are taking raw water and purifying it, having it in tanks, or providing bottled water.
Proactive Planning for Major Events: Solar Eclipse
Michael Dossett, Director, Division of Emergency Management, shared a video of the pathway of the total eclipse of the sun that will occur on August 21, 2017, across the United States. Hopkinsville is the global ground zero for the eclipse. There has not been a total eclipse in 99 years, and it will be 375 years before one will be seen again. With Hopkinsville being the global best spot for the event, there will be an influx of over 100,000 people. He outlined a year’s worth of preparation for state services through meetings. The agency has polled all 21 counties in the path of the total eclipse to see what they will need to keep safety a top priority. The counties that are not in the zone for the eclipse have volunteered to have their aircraft in the area to help. FEMA took note that this is a national event. FEMA’s normal exercises for preparation of an event as large as the eclipse to typically take six months, but it has created it in only 60 days for this event. The longest total eclipse view will last 2 minutes and 40 plus seconds in the Hopkinsville area. The path will be 96 miles in the Commonwealth. A main issues will be transportation when all of the people begin leaving the Hopkinsville. All of the main roads will be watched for safety issues.
Mr. Dossett said that the agency will have crowd control, towing services, portable signage, communications, public works, water system, firefighting, a mobile command center, shelter locations, cooling centers, bottled water, emergency POD’s, hand sanitation, portolets, emergency bus transportation, hospital centers, EMS, medevac assets, first aid stations, tent or mobile food vendors, permit inspections, HazMat teams, and social messaging to help make this a successful and safe event.
In response to a question from Senator Westerfield, Mr. Dossett explained that local people being patient will be most helpful because of the large number of visitors. No threat was been identified thus far relating to the event. The event will have a large benefit to the community’s economy.
In response to a question from Representative Dan Johnson, Mr. Dossett stated that there should be no issues with satellite or cell phones and that the total eclipse will take one and one-half hours to cross the Commonwealth.
Reorganization of the 911 Services Board, Executive Reorganization Order 2017 - 298
Mike Sunseri spoke on the Executive Reorganization Order 2017 – 298. Jarred Ball was at the meeting to help answer any questions members might have. Mr. Sunseri briefly discussed the executive reorganization order and said that it is administrative in nature and does not change any funding structure.
J. D. Chaney with the League of Cities spoke in opposition of the executive reorganization order and stated that a reorganization via legislation just went into effect last year for the purpose of adding more local elected officials for representation and the League of Cities hopes that when codification of the executive orders does happen, local officials will have a voting role. Mr. Chaney expressed disappointment that more local officials are not members of the 911 Services Board but said that the League of Cities will continue to work with the Office of Homeland Security to hopefully come to a resolution.
Chairman Robinson asked for a motion to take no action on the Executive Reorganization Order 2017 – 298. Senator Embry moved to take no action on the Executive Reorganization Order 2017 – 298. Senator Parrett seconded the motion. The motion passed with a voice vote.
Other Business
Co-Chair Tim Moore announced that the Veterans, Military Affairs, and Public Protection Committee’s August meeting would be on August 25th at the Radcliff Veterans’ Center and stated that committee staff will send out more information soon.
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned.