Compare versions
--- version:Edition 1+++ version:Filed@@ -1,15 +1,13 @@GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINASESSION 2025-H 1-HOUSE BILL 895+H D+HOUSE BILL DRH30361-NBf-130Short Title: Emergency Citizen Pilot Training Program. (Public)-Sponsors: Representatives Winslow, Balkcom, Bell, and Gillespie (Primary Sponsors).-For a complete list of sponsors, refer to the North Carolina General Assembly web site.-Referred to: Emergency Management and Disaster Recovery, if favorable, Finance, if-favorable, Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House-April 14, 2025-*H895-v-1*+Sponsors: Representative Winslow.+Referred to:++*DRH30361-NBf-130*A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 1AN ACT TO ESTABLISH AN EMERGENCY CITIZEN PILOT TRAINING PROGRAM. 2The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts: 3@@ -19,7 +17,7 @@"North Carolina Emergency Citizen Pilot Training Program. 7"§ 166A-70. Purpose; establishment. 8Purpose; Establishment. – There is hereby established the Emergency Citizen Pilot Training 9-Program within the Division of Emergency Management of the Department of Public Safety . 10+Program within the Division of Emergency Management of the Department of Public Safety. 10The purpose of the Program is to set standards and certification for citizen pilots to assist 11emergency response and recovery operations after declared disasters. The Director of Emergency 12Management shall administer the Program within the Division. 13@@ -27,7 +25,7 @@Definitions. – The following definitions apply in this Article: 15(1) Department. – The Department of Public Safety. 16(2) Director. – The Director of the Division. 17-(3) Division. – The Division of Emergency Management of the Department o f 18+(3) Division. – The Division of Emergency Management of the Department of 18Public Safety. 19(4) Emergency citizen pilot. – An individual who has been awarded and maintains 20a certificate from the Program. 21@@ -44,79 +42,82 @@areas, including flight paths, restricted airspace, standard operation 32procedures, permissible aircraft, emergency communication, and coordination 33of efforts. 34+(4) Any other metrics or standards the Division deems necessary. 35+H.B. 895+Apr 10, 2025+HOUSE PRINCIPAL CLERKGeneral Assembly Of North Carolina Session 2025-Page 2 House Bill 895-First Edition-(4) Any other metrics or standards the Division deems necessary. 1-(b) Fee. – The Division may charge a reasonable fee to participate in the Program. The 2-fee shall cover costs and shall not exceed five hundred dollars ($500.00) per candidate. 3-(c) Candidates. – After graduation from the Program, candidates will receive a 4-certification that allows the pilot to sign up for the Emergency Citizen Pilot Registry established 5-by this Article. 6-(d) Registry. – The Division shall maintain and update an Emergency Citizen Pilot 7-Registry that lists all certificated emergency citizen pilots who have an active or inactive 8-certificate awarded by the Program. 9-(e) Continuing Training. – An emergency citizen pilot shall be deemed "active status" if 10-the individual has been awarded a certificate and maintains any required continuing training 11-hours necessary as determined by the Division . The Division shall maintain continuing training 12-requirements for all emergency citizen pilots who have been issued a certificate under the 13-Program, unless the certificate has lapsed and the emergency citizen pilot is in "inactive status." 14-The Division shall develop criteria to develop certificate status and c ontinuing training 15-requirements. 16-"§ 166A-73. Coordination. 17-Coordination. – The Division shall work with the State Emergency Response Team, units of 18-local governments, the Civil Air Patrol Section of the Department, other State agencies, and the 19-Federal Emergency Management Agency to develop standards, criteria, best practices, safety 20-standards, and any other criteria necessary in the discretion of the Division to integrate 21-emergency citizen pilot training into the North Carolina Emergency Operations Plan and other 22-disaster response plans." 23-SECTION 2. G.S. 166A-19.76 reads as rewritten: 24-"§ 166A-19.76. Leave options for voluntary firefighters, rescue squad workers, emergency 25-citizen pilots, and emergency medical service personnel called into service. 26-(a) Leave Without Pay. – A member of a volunteer fire department, rescue squad, 27-emergency citizen pilot, or emergency medical services agency called into service of the State 28-after a declaration of a state of emergency by the Governor or by the General Assembly, or upon 29-the activation of the State Emergency Response Team in response to an emergency, shall have 30-the right to take leave without pay from his or her civilian employment. No member of a volunteer 31-fire department, rescue squad, emergency citizen pilot, or emergency medical services agency 32-shall be forced to use or exhaust his or her vacation or other accrued leave from his or her civilian 33-employment for a period of active service. The choice of leave shall be solely within the 34-discretion of the member. 35-(b) Request in Writing Required. – For the volunteer member to be entitled to take leave 36-without pay pursuant to this section, his or her services shall be requested in writing by the 37-Director of the Division or by the head of a local emergency management agency. The request 38-shall be directed to the Chief of the member's volunteer fire department, rescue squad, emergency 39-citizen pilot, or emergency medical services agency, and a copy shall be provided to the member's 40-employer. This section shall not apply t o those members whose services have been certified by 41-their employer to the Director of the Division, or to the head of a local emergency management 42-agency, as essential to the employer's own ongoing emergency relief activities. 43-(c) Definition of an Emergency Requiring Activation of the State Emergency Response 44-Team. – For purposes of this section, an emergency requiring the activation of the State 45-Emergency Response Team means an emergency at Activation Level 2 or greater according to 46-the North Carolina St ate Emergency Operations Plan of November 2002. Activation Level 2 47-requires the State Emergency Operations Center to be fully activated with 24-hour staffing from 48-all State Emergency Response Team members. 49-(d) Enforcement. – The Commissioner of Labor shall enforce the provisions of this 50-section pursuant to Chapter 95 of the General Statutes." 51+Page 2 DRH30361-NBf-130+(b) Fee. – The Division may charge a reasonable fee to participate in the Program. The 1+fee shall cover costs and shall not exceed five hundred dollars ($500.00) per candidate. 2+(c) Candidates. – After graduation from the Program, candidates will receive a 3+certification that allows the pilot to sign up for the Emergency Citizen Pilot Registry established 4+by this Article. 5+(d) Registry. – The Division shall maintain and update an Emergency Citizen Pilot 6+Registry that lists all certificated emergency citizen pilots who have an active or inactive 7+certificate awarded by the Program. 8+(e) Continuing Training. – An emergency citizen pilot shall be deemed "active status" if 9+the individual has been awarded a certificate and maintains any required continuing training 10+hours necessary as determined by the Division . The Division shall maintain continuing training 11+requirements for all emergency citizen pilots who have been issued a certificate under the 12+Program, unless the certificate has lapsed and the emergency citizen pilot is in "inactive status." 13+The Division shall develop criteria to develop certificate status and continuing training 14+requirements. 15+"§ 166A-73. Coordination. 16+Coordination. – The Division shall work with the State Emergency Response Team, units of 17+local governments, the Civil Air Patrol Section of the Department, other State agencies, and the 18+Federal Emergency Management Agency to develop standards, criteria, best practices, safety 19+standards, and any other criteria necessary in the discretion of the Division to integrate 20+emergency citizen pilot training into the North Carolina Emergency Operations Plan and other 21+disaster response plans." 22+SECTION 2. G.S. 166A-19.76 reads as rewritten: 23+"§ 166A-19.76. Leave options for voluntary firefighters, rescue squad workers, emergency 24+citizen pilots, and emergency medical service personnel called into service. 25+(a) Leave Without Pay. – A member of a volunteer fire department, rescue squad, 26+emergency citizen pilot, or emergency medical services agency called into service of the State 27+after a declaration of a state of emergency by the Governor or by the General Assembly, or upon 28+the activation of the State Emergency Response Team in response to an emergency, shall have 29+the right to take leave without pay from his or her civilian employment. No member of a volunteer 30+fire department, rescue squad, emergency citizen pilot, or emergency medical services agency 31+shall be forced to use or exhaust his or her vacation or other accrued leave from his or her civilian 32+employment for a period of active service. The choice of leave shall be solely within the 33+discretion of the member. 34+(b) Request in Writing Required. – For the volunteer member to be entitled to take leave 35+without pay pursuant to this section, his or her services shall be requested in writing by the 36+Director of the Division or by the head of a local emergency management agency. The request 37+shall be directed to the Chief of the member's volunteer fire department, rescue squad, emergency 38+citizen pilot, or emergency medical services agency, and a copy shall be provided to the member's 39+employer. This section shall not apply to those members whose services have been certified by 40+their employer to the Director of the Division, or to the head of a local emergency management 41+agency, as essential to the employer's own ongoing emergency relief activities. 42+(c) Definition of an Emergency Requiring Activation of the State Emergency Response 43+Team. – For purposes of this section, an emergency requiring the activation of the State 44+Emergency Response Team means an emergency at Activation Level 2 or greater according to 45+the North Carolina State Emergency Operations Plan of November 2002. Activation Level 2 46+requires the State Emergency Operations Center to be fully activated with 24-hour staffing from 47+all State Emergency Response Team members. 48+(d) Enforcement. – The Commissioner of Labor shall enforce the provisions of this 49+section pursuant to Chapter 95 of the General Statutes." 50+SECTION 3. G.S. 166A-19.60(e) reads as rewritten: 51General Assembly Of North Carolina Session 2025-House Bill 895-First Edition Page 3-SECTION 3. G.S. 166A-19.60(e) reads as rewritten: 1-"(e) Definition of Emergency Management Worker. – As used in this section, the term 2-"emergency management worker" shall include any full or part-time paid, volunteer, or auxiliary 3-employee of this State or other states, territories, possessions, or the District of Columbia, of the 4-federal government or any neighboring country or of any political subdivision thereof, or of any 5-agency or organization performing emergency management services services, in cluding 6-emergency citizen pilots with active status certification, at any place in this State, subject to the 7-order or control of or pursuant to a request of the State government or any political subdivision 8-thereof. The term "emergency management worker" under this section shall also include any 9-health care worker performing health care services as a member of a hospital -based or 10-county-based State Medical Assistance Te am designated by the North Carolina Office of 11-Emergency Medical Services and any person performing emergency health care services under 12-G.S. 90-12.2." 13-SECTION 4. The Department of Public Safety, Division of Emergency 14-Management, shall adopt rules to imple ment the provisions of this act. The Division shall have 15-the Emergency Citizen Pilot Training Program operational by January 1, 2027. The Division 16-shall report to the Joint Legislative Emergency Management Oversight Committee on the 17-implementation of the Program and other provisions of this act on or before October 1, 2026, and 18-one year thereafter. 19-SECTION 5. Sections 1, 2, and 3 of this act become effective October 1, 2025. The 20-remainder of this act is effective when it becomes law. 21+DRH30361-NBf-130 Page 3+"(e) Definition of Emergency Management Worker. – As used in this section, the term 1+"emergency management worker" shall include any full or part-time paid, volunteer, or auxiliary 2+employee of this State or other states, territories, possessions, or the District of Columbia, of the 3+federal government or any neighboring country or of any political subdivision thereof, or of any 4+agency or organization performing emergency management services services, in cluding 5+emergency citizen pilots with active status certification, at any place in this State, subject to the 6+order or control of or pursuant to a request of the State government or any political subdivision 7+thereof. The term "emergency management worker " under this section shall also include any 8+health care worker performing health care services as a member of a hospital -based or 9+county-based State Medical Assistance Team designated by the North Carolina Office of 10+Emergency Medical Services and any person performing emergency health care services under 11+G.S. 90-12.2." 12+SECTION 4. The Department of Public Safety, Division of Emergency 13+Management, shall adopt rules to implement the provisions of this act. The Division shall have 14+the Emergency Citizen Pilot Training Program operational by January 1, 2027. The Division 15+shall report to the Joint Legislative Emergency Management Oversight Committee on the 16+implementation of the Program and other provisions of this act on or before October 1, 2026, and 17+one year thereafter. 18+SECTION 5. Sections 1, 2, and 3 of this act become effective October 1, 2025. The 19+remainder of this act is effective when it becomes law. 20
Diffs are computed deterministically from extracted bill text and show additions, deletions, and section moves. Scanned-PDF text extracted via OCR is flagged where confidence is low; see methodology.