2001 SSL
Computer Contaminants
    This Act establishes penalties for introducing computer viruses, computer worms or other damaging
programs into computers.
Submitted as:
West Virginia
Enrolled Committee Substitute for SB 153
Status: enacted into law Chapter 57, Laws of 2000.

Field Crop Products: Civil Liability
    This Act makes people liable for knowingly damaging or destroying any field crop that is subject to testing or product development conducted under contract with a state college, university or other federal, state or local government agency. The maximum liable amount is twice the actual value of the damaged or destroyed crop.
Submitted as:
California
AB 2510
Status: enacted into law in August 2000.

Terrorism Prevention
    This Act makes it illegal to make, possess, use or threaten to use weapons of mass destruction against people, animals, property or the environment. The Act also makes it a crime to possess restricted biological agents, and requires police officers who encounter restricted biological agents to notify local health officials to determine the risk to public health from the agents.
Submitted as:
California
Chapter 563, Laws of 1999
Status: enacted into law in 1999.

1998 SSL
International Terrorism
    This Act makes it a felony offense under state law for people, charitable organizations, professional fund raisers or professional solicitors to solicit or provide material support or resources in support of international terrorism.
Submitted as:
Illinois
PA 89-515, Laws of 1996 (HB 3233)
Enacted into law, 1996.

Interstate Emergency Management Assistance Compact
    This law enacts an interstate compact that provides for mutual assistance between states in managing emergencies and disasters, whether natural or man-made. It provides for mutual cooperation in emergency-related exercises, testing or other training using equipment and personnel.
    The compact is designed to facilitate emergency services through intergovernmental coordination. States are given responsibility for reviewing potential hazards, drafting plans, developing procedures and conducting exercises to simulate responses to emergencies. The language contains procedures for requesting assistance between states and commanding disparate state personnel within a given disaster area. It provides limited immunity from tort liability to personnel from one
state who are rendering aid in another.
    This compact originated from the Southern states through the Southern Governors’ Association (SGA). This compact received Congressional consent in 1996 as H.J. Res.193. Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia were members at that time.
Submitted as:
Virginia
CH 280, Laws of 1995 (S 1121)
Enacted, 1995.

1994 SSL
Disaster Services Volunteer Leave Act (Draft Legislation from the American Red Cross)
    In response to an increasing number of disasters in the United States in recent years, and in response to their rising costs, several states have enacted legislation authorizing paid leave for state government employees who have received appropriate training and who volunteer for American Red Cross operations. Often, state employees possess skills that can be transferred to disaster operations, including shelter management, mass feeding, damage assessment and family services.
    The American Red Cross based the 1992 draft act presented below on legislation enacted in Ohio (Section 124.132, Ohio Revised Code, 1983) and Illinois (HB 2349, 1991). However, other states with disaster leave legislation include Connecticut (PA. 89-379, SHB 7368, 1989), Kansas (SB 96, 1993), Nebraska (LB 697, 1993), North Carolina (Ch. 13, HB 87, 1993), Tennessee (SB 1704, 1993) and Texas (SB 5, 1993).
    The draft act allows state employees a maximum of 30 days paid leave during a 12-month period, without loss of seniority, vacation time, sick leave, or earned overtime accumulation and does not restrict the areas in which state workers may serve. Disaster leave limits imposed by existing state legislation include 30 days (Ohio), 20 days (Illinois, Kansas), 15 days (Nebraska, North Carolina, Tennessee), 14 days (Connecticut), and five days (Texas). Also, in Nebraska and North Carolina, leave is
granted only for disasters within those respective states, while Kansas limits leave to service within the state or contiguous states. Washington's legislation limits to 500 the pool of state employees certified as disaster volunteers.

Government Mutual Aid Agreements
Aseries of disasters – more recently, 1992’s Hurricane Andrew in Florida and the extensive flooding along the Mississippi River in 1993 – have focused unprecedented attention on governmental planning and preparedness and the provision of emergency services. One mechanism that has been devised for times of actual or potential disasters or emergency situations is a mutual aid or cooperative agreement.
    In 1991, the state of North Dakota enacted legislation authorizing its division of emergency management to assist local governments in entering mutual aid agreements with other public and private agencies for aid in responding to and recovering from disasters or emergencies (Ch. 381, SB 2152). The legislation allows the governor, on behalf of the state, to join with other states or with Canadian provinces in interstate mutual aid agreements or compacts, the text of which is incorporated
into the act.
    Florida enacted legislation in 1993 calling for an interstate compact on emergency relief (Ch. 283, HB 1925). The compact formally recognizes informal agreements between the Florida National Guard and Guard organizations from other states. It is designed to protect the rights of Florida Guard members performing emergency duties in other states and to allow the Guard to pre-arrange for personnel and equipment from other states in times of emergency.
    The Act presented in SSL is based on 1991 amendments to Wisconsin legislation originally enacted in 1971. The provisions on emergency government allow the governor, on behalf of the state, to enter into mutual aid agreements with other states. The 1991 amendments allow counties, municipalities and towns to contract for emergency government services with political subdivisions, emergency government units and civil defense units within the state, and upon approval of the state adjutant general, with such entities in bordering states. Also under the enactment, employees of (or volunteers with) municipal and county emergency government units are considered employees of (or volunteers with) the municipality or county to which the unit is
attached for purposes of workers’ compensation benefits. Emergency government employees or volunteers who engage in emergency government activities upon order of any echelon in the emergency government organization other than that which carries their workers’ compensation coverage are eligible for the same benefits as though employed by the governmental unit employing them.

ANTI-TERRORISM BILLS ON SSL DOCKETS (Considered, but not included in SSL Volumes)

Docket 23A
California Chapter 299 of 2001 - Existing law provides that any person who violates specified provisions prohibiting discrimination against a member of the military or naval forces of this state or the United States is guilty of a misdemeanor. This Act prohibits a person who provides lending or financing from discriminating against any person with respect to the terms of a loan or financing based on that person's membership in the military or naval forces of this state or of the United States.

Hawaii SB1615 - This bill amends state law to add the offense of cyber-terrorism and cyber-terrorism of a law-enforcement officer. It also amends definitions of entry without disruption and computer fraud.

Indiana SB180 - This Act requires the state emergency medical services commission to provide training and certification standards for the administration of antidotes, vaccines, and antibiotics in situations related to a terrorist or military attack. It requires the state department of health to monitor dangerous communicable diseases and outbreaks of diseases known or suspected to be used as weapons.
    The Act provides civil immunity to paramedics, advanced emergency medical technicians, and
emergency medical technicians and exempts them certain provisions in the medical practice law when
they are acting in response to a terrorist attack that has been declared a disaster emergency by the
governor.  It also requires the state department of health to develop capabilities and procedures to identify
unknown bacterial substances that may be weapons.

New York SB70002 - This law establishes six new penal law offenses for people who commit terrorist acts, make terrorist threats, solicit or provide material support for terrorist acts or hinder the prosecution of terrorists. Additionally, the legislation enhances penalties for those who falsely report an incident or place a false bomb and would designate those crimes as violent felony offenses. The package will also enable New York State to immediately enter the Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC), which establishes a mutual partnership with other states to provide aid and assistance in times of emergency.
    The six new terrorism offenses created by this initiative are:
    1. Crime of terrorism. A person is guilty of this offense when he or she commits a "specified offense" with intent to accomplish one of the following three goals: 1) intimidate or coerce a civilian population; 2) influence the policy of a unit of government; or 3) affect the conduct of a unit of government.
    A "specified offense" is any class A felony (other than a drug offense), any violent felony offense, manslaughter in the second degree, criminal tampering in the first degree, or an attempt or conspiracy to commit any of the specified offenses.
    If the specified offense is a class B, C, D or E felony, the punishment shall be one category higher. For example, a person who commits Assault in the first degree, a class B violent felony (punishable by up to 25 years in state prison) with the intent to intimidate or coerce a civilian population will be subject to a class A-I felony sentence (punishable by up to life in state prison.) If the underlying specified offense is itself a class A-I felony offense, then the minimum punishment must be life imprisonment without parole. If the specified offense is murder in the first degree, a sentence of death is authorized.
    2. Making a terrorist threat. A person is guilty of this offense when he or she threatens to commit a crime of terrorism (see #1 above) and thereby causes a reasonable expectation or fear of the imminent commission of such offense. This offense is punishable as a class D violent felony, with a sentence of up to 7 years in state prison.
    3. Soliciting or providing support for an act of terrorism in the first degree. A person is guilty of this offense when he or she solicits or provides material support or resources in New York, with a value in excess of $1,000, and intends that such will be used in any phase of committing, concealing, or escaping from an act of terrorism, regardless of where the act of terrorism was committed or intended to be committed. This offense is punishable as a class C violent felony offense, with a sentence of up to
15 years in state prison.
    4. Soliciting or providing support for an act of terrorism in the second degree. This offense covers the same pernicious activities as the second degree offense (see # 3 above), without regard to the value of the material support or resources. This offense is punishable as a class D violent felony offense, with a sentence of up to 7 years in state prison.
    5 . Hindering prosecution of terrorism in the first degree. A person is guilty of this offense when he or she renders criminal assistance to a person who has committed an act of terrorism that resulted in death, knowing or believing that the person has engaged in such conduct. A person "renders criminal assistance" when he or she harbors or conceals a terrorist, provides a terrorist with money, transportation or a weapon, or suppresses physical evidence, among other types of assistance. This
offense is punishable as a class B violent felony offense, with a sentence of up to 25 years in state prison.
    6. Hindering prosecution of terrorism in the second degree. This offense covers the same activities as the second degree offense (see # 5 above), without regard to whether the act of terrorism resulted in the death of another person. This offense is punishable as a class C violent felony offense, with a sentence of up to 15 years in state prison.

Revision to the Death Penalty Statute
    The legislation amends the death penalty statute to make a person who intentionally murders another person in furtherance of an act of terrorism eligible for the death penalty. Under current law, the commission of such a heinous murder is not a sufficient basis for the death penalty.

Falsely Reporting an Incident and Placing a False Bomb
    1. Enhancing penalties for those who falsely report an incident. Under the new law, a person who falsely reports a bomb threat in any public building will be treated as a violent felon subject to up to seven years in state prison.
    2. Enhancing penalties for those who place a false bomb. Under the new law, a person who places any device that appears to be a bomb but is not in fact operational in any public building will be treated as a violent felon also subject to up to seven years in prison.

Eavesdropping and Video Surveillance Warrants
    To further enhance public safety, the legislative package adds the new crimes that are created by the terrorism bill, as well as falsely reporting an incident and placing a false bomb, to the list of designated offenses that enable law enforcement authorities to obtain eavesdropping or video surveillance warrants.

Ohio SB 173 - This bill adds a clause to state law that requires state agencies to continue or reactivate the health, medical, hospital, dental, vision, and surgical benefits for employees and the families of agency employees who are called to active duty in the Military Reserve.

Utah HB 322 - This Act creates a specific offense of commercial terrorism. A person is guilty of commercial terrorism if they enter or remains unlawfully on the premises or in a building of any business with the intent to interfere with the employees, customers, personnel, or operations of a business and also with the intent to:
· Obtain unauthorized control over any merchandise, property, records, data, or proprietary information of the business;
· Alter, eradicate, or remove any merchandise, records, data, or proprietary information of the business;
· Damage, deface, or destroy any property on the premises of the business;
· Commit an assault on any person, or
· Commit any other felony.
    This Act also enhances penalties for criminal offenses committed against animal enterprises.

Docket 22C
Washington Chapter 98, Laws of 2001- In 1999 the governor directed the state Emergency Management Council (EMC) to plan for and respond to criminal terrorists’ incidents, including the use of explosive devices, cyberterrorism, and chemical, biological or radiological attacks. As a result, public agencies across the state began conducting vulnerability assessments and developing emergency response plans for incidents involving the domestic use of chemical, biological, nuclear and radiological weapons, as well as domestic acts of terrorism involving conventional weapons with catastrophic consequences.
    The EMC asked the Legislature to exempt such plans from disclosure through the state Public Disclosure Act. Accordingly, this Act provides that those portions of records of public agencies containing specific and unique vulnerability assessments or response plans intended to prevent or mitigate criminal acts of terrorism are exempt from public inspection and copying, if the public release has a substantial likelihood of threatening public safety.

Docket 22B
Colorado Chapter 31 of 2001 - This Act creates a governor's expert emergency epidemic response committee. The duties of the committee shall be to develop a supplement to the state disaster plan that is concerned with the public health response to bioterrorism, pandemic influenza, and epidemics caused by novel and fatal infectious agents. The committee shall provide expert public health advice to the governor in case of an emergency epidemic.

Docket 21B
Nevada SB 18 - This Act prohibits the development, production, stockpiling, transfer, acquisition, retention or possession of a biological agent, toxin or biological agent or toxin delivery system. It prohibits a person from making threats or conveying false information concerning the presence, delivery, dispersion, release or use of a biological agent or toxin.