[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3450 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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119th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 3450
To provide authority and reimbursement for State disaster response
duty, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
December 11, 2025
Mr. Peters introduced the following bill; which was read twice and
referred to the Committee on Armed Services
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To provide authority and reimbursement for State disaster response
duty, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Emergency Response Authority Act''.
SEC. 2. NATIONAL GUARD: ACTIVE GUARD AND RESERVE DUTY IN RESPONSE TO A
STATE DISASTER.
(a) In General.--Chapter 3 of title 32, United States Code, is
amended by inserting after section 328 the following new section:
``Sec. 328a. Active Guard and Reserve duty: State disaster response
duty
``(a) Authority.--The chief executive of a State who has declared
an emergency in such State due to a disaster, may, with the consent of
the Secretary of Defense, order a member of the National Guard of such
State, who is performing Active Guard and Reserve duty pursuant to
section 328 of this title, to perform duties in response to, or in
preparation for, such disaster. Duty performed under this section shall
be referred to as `State disaster response duty'.
``(b) Requirements.--State disaster response duty performed
pursuant to this section--
``(1) shall be on a reimbursable basis, in accordance with
subsection (c);
``(2) may be performed to the extent that the performance
of such duty does not interfere with the performance of the
member's primary Active Guard and Reserve duties of organizing,
administering, recruiting, instructing, and training the
reserve components; and
``(3) shall not exceed a total of 14 days per member per
calendar year, except that the Secretary of Defense may, if the
chief executive so requests before the end of the 14th such
day, authorize an extension of the duration of such duty, not
to exceed an additional--
``(A) 7 days, if the Secretary determines that such
extension is appropriate; and
``(B) 46 days if the Secretary determines that such
duty is in support of the response to a catastrophic
incident, as that term is defined in section 501 of the
Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 311).
``(c) Reimbursement.--(1) The Secretary of the military department
concerned shall charge a State for the fully burdened costs of manpower
for each day of State disaster response duty performed pursuant to this
section.
``(2) Such charges shall be paid from the funds of the State of the
requesting chief executive or from any other non-Federal funds.
``(3) Any amounts received by a Secretary of a military department
under this section shall be credited, at the discretion of the
Secretary of Defense, to--
``(A) the appropriation, fund, or account used to pay such
costs; or
``(B) an appropriation, fund, or account available for the
purposes for which such costs were incurred.
``(4) If the State of the requesting chief executive is more than
90 days in arrears in reimbursing the Secretary of the military
department concerned for State disaster response duty performed
pursuant to this section, such duty may not be performed--
``(A) unless authorized by the Secretary of Defense; and
``(B) after the requesting chief executive obligates funds
for the amount in arrears.
``(d) Limitation of Liability.--While performing State disaster
response duty under this section, a member of the National Guard is not
an instrumentality of the United States with respect to any act or
omission in carrying out such duty. The United States shall not be
responsible for any claim or judgment arising from the use of a member
of the National Guard under this section.
``(e) Definitions.--In this section:
``(1) The term `Active Guard and Reserve duty' has the
meaning given such term in section 101 of title 10.
``(2) The term `State' has the meaning given such term in
section 901 of this title.''.
(b) Regulations.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the
enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall prescribe
regulations under section 328a of such title, as added by subsection
(a).
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