W. Va. Code § 15-5-2 : — PUBLIC SAFETYDIVISION OF HOMELAND SECURITY AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT —5-2 - Definitions

As used in this article:

(1) "Board" means the West Virginia Disaster Recovery Board created by this article;

(2) "Code" means the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended;

(3) "Community facilities" means a specific work, or improvement within this state or a specific item of equipment or tangible personal property owned or operated by any political subdivision or nonprofit corporation and used within this state to provide any essential service to the general public;

(4) "Critical infrastructure" includes any systems and assets, whether physical or virtual, so vital to the state that the incapacity or destruction of such systems and assets would have a debilitating impact on security, state economic security, state public health or safety, or any combination of those matters;

(5) "Disaster" means the occurrence or imminent threat of widespread or severe damage, injury, or loss of life or property resulting from any natural or terrorist or man-made cause, including weapons of mass destruction, fire, flood, earthquake, wind, snow, storm, chemical or oil spill or other water or soil contamination, epidemic, air contamination, blight, drought, infestation or other public calamity requiring emergency action;

(6) "Disaster recovery activities" means activities undertaken prior to, during or following a disaster to provide, or to participate in the provision of, critical infrastructure, emergency services, temporary housing, residential housing, essential business activities, and community facilities;

(7) "Emergency services" means the preparation for and the carrying out of all emergency functions, other than functions for which military forces are primarily responsible, to protect, respond, and recover, to prevent, detect, deter, and mitigate, to minimize and repair injury and damage resulting from disasters or other event caused by flooding, terrorism, enemy attack, sabotage, or other natural or other man-made causes. These functions include, without limitation, critical infrastructure services, firefighting services, police services, medical and health services, communications, emergency telecommunications, radiological, chemical, and other special weapons defense, evacuation of persons from stricken areas, emergency welfare services, emergency transportation, existing or properly assigned functions of plant protection, temporary restoration of public utility services and other functions related to the health, safety, and welfare of the citizens of this state, together with all other activities necessary or incidental to the preparation for and carrying out of these functions. Disaster includes the imminent threat of disaster as well as its occurrence and any power or authority exercisable on account of a disaster that may be exercised during the period when there is an imminent threat;

(8) "Essential business activities" means a specific work or improvement within this state or a specific item of equipment or tangible personal property used within this state by any person to provide any essential goods or critical infrastructure services determined by the authority to be necessary for continued operations during a disaster, state of emergency, or state of preparedness, and for recovery from a disaster;

(9) "Local organization for emergency services" means an organization created in accordance with the provisions of this article by state or local authority to perform local emergency services function functions;

(10) "Mobile support unit" means an organization for emergency services created in accordance with the provisions of this article by state or local authority to be dispatched by the Governor to supplement local organizations for emergency services in a stricken area;

(11) "Person" means any individual, corporation, voluntary organization or entity, partnership, firm, or other association, organization, or entity organized or existing under the laws of this or any other state or country;

(12) "Political subdivision" means any county or municipal corporation in this state;

(13) "Recovery fund" means the West Virginia Disaster Recovery Trust Fund created by this article;

(14) "Residential housing" means a specific work or improvement within this state undertaken primarily to provide dwelling accommodations, including the acquisition, construction or rehabilitation of land, buildings and improvements thereto, for residential housing, including, but not limited to, facilities for temporary housing and emergency housing, and any other nonhousing facilities that are incidental or appurtenant thereto;

(15) "Secretary" means the Secretary of the West Virginia Department of Military Affairs and Homeland Security; and

(16) "State of emergency" means the duly proclaimed existence of conditions of disaster or other serious threat to the health or safety of persons and property within West Virginia, or a specific geographic area thereof, including, but not limited to, an attack upon the state or the United States, a natural or man-made disaster of major proportions, a pandemic, or other large-scale threat beyond the capacity of local control;

(17) "State of preparedness" means the duly proclaimed authorization for:

(A) Specialized planning and preparation activities intended to minimize the anticipated effect of conditions constituting a state of emergency, as defined in this section, which, in the judgment of the Governor, are expected to commence within the next 30 days, or within a period of longer than 30 days if necessary to obtain funding or maintain compliance with federal or interjurisdictional requirements: Provided, That a state of preparedness which is duly proclaimed under such circumstances shall be referred to as a "Class I state of preparedness"; or

(B) Specialized planning and preparation activities intended to minimize, by use of any available and appropriate federal or state governmental resources, the anticipated impact of or anticipated threats caused by a planned or anticipated event of such large size or scope that it is beyond the capacity of local control, and which is scheduled to commence within the next 30 days, or within a period of time longer than 30 days if necessary to obtain funding or maintain compliance with federal or interjurisdictional requirements: Provided, That a state of preparedness which is duly proclaimed under such circumstances shall be referred to as a "Class II state of preparedness"; and

(18) "Temporary housing" means a specific work or improvement within this state undertaken primarily to provide dwelling accommodations, including the acquisition, construction or rehabilitation of land, buildings and improvements thereto, for temporary residential shelters or housing for victims of a disaster and such other nonhousing facilities that are incidental or appurtenant thereto.

W. Va. Code § 15-5-2

Amended by 2023 Acts, ch. TBD (SB 128), eff. 2/23/2023.

Amended by 2021 Acts, ch. 233 (HB 3089), eff. 7/9/2021.

Amended by 2020 Acts, ch. 295 (HB 4123), eff. 6/5/2020.