Michigan may finally have its own stand-alone Emergency Management Agency. | stock photo
Michigan may finally have its own stand-alone Emergency Management Agency. | stock photo
Rep. Jack O'Malley (R-Lake Ann) is hoping to reform Michigan's emergency management through new legislation.
The bill hasn't been introduced yet, but O'Malley told the host of "The Frank Beckmann Show" that this bill is "beyond politics."
O'Malley explained that emergency management has changed since the September 11, 2001, attacks. Currently 48 states have taken emergency management away from their police agency and made it a stand-alone agency. He believes Michigan needs to move in that direction, too.
Rep. Jack O'Malley
| Michigan House Republicans
"We just need better coordination because the people of Michigan deserve that when something happens -- whether it be a tornado, fire, high water, Flint water, dams breaking. Michigan has a lot of emergencies," O'Malley said on Beckmann's WJR talk radio show.
The bill would create a new department in the state. The legislation would take the money already being spent on emergency management within the Michigan State Police to form the agency and create a new cabinet-level position to head it, meaning the governor would be able to select the person in charge of running emergency management for the state. O'Malley said he hasn't presented the bill to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's administration yet, but hopes she'd be on board with it.
"I think it will be very sensible legislation," O'Malley told Beckmann. "I want everybody to know that this is not an attack on MSP (Michigan State Police) -- great cops -- but every other state is moving and taking it out of their police agency and making it an independent branch of highly trained professionals, and that's what Michigan needs to do, too."
O'Malley said the agency would be in charge of coordinating all emergency responses in the state. For example, with the COVID-19 pandemic, it could have handled the distribution of personal protective equipment. And in high-water flooding situations, emergency management could provide a point person to make sure all emergency responders -- police, fire, and other frontline personnel -- are on the same page.
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