Legal

This webpage offers information to members of the legal community who provide assistance in the area of emergency management law.

Message From Executive Counsel - January 2010

Hope that everyone had a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Since hurricane season is less than five months away, it is time to start planning for the upcoming year. In fact, there are projects in the planning phase for the 2010 calendar year designed to enhance your skill level as an emergency manager attorney.

The flagship project is the GOHSEP annual Emergency Management Law Seminar which will be held on March 12, 2010 at the Pennington Center in Baton Rouge. There will be a charge of $25 for attendance which will cover the catering (continental breakfast, lunch and afternoon snacks and drinks) and the printing costs. Application has been made to the MCLE Committee for 6.5 hours of CLE credits. Unlike prior seminars which consisted of lecture type presentations, this seminar will feature a legal table top exercise and an hour of ethics.

The Seminar agenda is as follows:

7:45 - 8:30 8:30 - 8:45 8:45 - 9:45 9:45 - 10:00		Registration (Continental Breakfast served) Welcome & Introduction Selected Topics in Emergency Management Law Break
10:00 - 11:20 11:20 - 12:00 12:00 - 1:20 1:20 - 1:30		Module #1: Preparedness Lunch Served on Site Module #2: Response Break
1:30 - 2:50 2:50 - 3:00 3:00 - 3:30 3:30 - 4:30		Module #3: Recovery Break (Afternoon Snacks) After Action Review Ethics for the Emergency Management Lawyer
4:30		Closing Comments

In an effort to enhance the tabletop exercise, subject matter experts from local jurisdictions, GOHSEP and federal agencies will be present to assist the participants with their problem-solving activities.

Although the seminar is designed for parish and city attorneys, the seminar will be helpful to attorneys from state agencies. City and parish attorneys are encouraged to invite their parish presidents, municipal CEOs and senior staff to attend. Registration forms will be available in the first week of February.

The other project underway addresses the FEMA appeals cases. This is a two phase project. Currently, a quantitative analysis is being conducted by GOHSEP on the appeals cases to determine the main causes for de-obligation of projects by FEMA. Since funding is always at risk as a result of missteps by applicants, it only stands to reason that we should understand the risks and how to mitigate the causes. Once the study is done, the plan is to present the results in an educational package to the applicants.

The second phase of this project is to produce a data base that will be accessible to any applicant who is preparing an appeal. When completed, the data base will include every case from Louisiana that was appealed to FEMA and will be categorized similar to the FEMA appeals webpage showing category(s) of the appeal, a short description of the case and an attachment of the applicant/State and FEMA responses. New cases will be added as they become available.

I look forward to seeing many of you at the seminar. As always, should you have any questions or concerns, feel free to contact me at your convenience.

Bernard M. Plaia, Jr.
Executive Counsel
225-925-7445
ben.plaia@la.gov

Emergency Management Law Seminar Registration Form

 

The Executive Counsel of GOHSEP presents the information on this Web site as a service to our members and other Internet users. While the information on this site is about legal issues, it is not legal advice. Moreover, due to the rapidly changing nature of the law and our reliance upon information provided by outside sources, we make no warranty or guarantee concerning the accuracy or reliability of the content at this site or at other sites to which we link.