Ark. Code Ann. § 12-75-109 (2026)

1. The Division of Emergency Management is established as a public safety agency of the State of Arkansas.
2. 1. The Division of Emergency Management shall have a Director of the Division of Emergency Management who is appointed by the Governor, with the advice and consent of the Senate, and who shall serve at the pleasure of the Governor.
   2. The director shall report to the Secretary of the Department of Public Safety.
3. 1. The division shall have such professional, technical, secretarial, and clerical employees and may make such expenditures within its appropriations or from any federal or other funds made available to it from any source whatsoever for the purpose of emergency services, as may be necessary to carry out the purposes of this chapter.
   2. All such employees shall be in job positions as approved by the secretary and the Office of Personnel Management.
4. 1. There is created within the division an emergency reserve cadre to be composed of trained and available specialists to assist regular employees during declared disaster response and recovery operations.
   2. The director shall establish training and professional standards required to supplement state personnel based on state and federal disaster recovery program needs and shall establish a list of persons with those qualifications and make available to emergency reserve cadre personnel such additional training and education opportunities as may be needed to maintain currency and proficiency in the needed skills.
   3. 1. Emergency reserve cadre personnel shall be reimbursed at the current state classified entry level salary rate for the position they are temporarily employed to fill and meet such additional training, experience, and qualifications as established by the director for the grade level of the position for which they are employed.
      2. Emergency reserve cadre personnel shall:
         1. Be paid from disaster management funds or administrative funds, or both;
         2. Be limited to salary, logistical, and travel expenses only; and
         3. Not accrue ordinary leave, sick leave, or other employee benefits except for workers' compensation eligibility for injuries or death suffered in the line of duty.
   4. 1. Emergency reserve cadre personnel may be called to active duty upon declaration of a disaster emergency as stipulated in this chapter or the Disaster Relief Act of 1974, Pub. L. No. 93-288, or both, or by executive order of the Governor upon recommendation by the director for due cause or pending emergency needs or for disaster-related assistance to the division as determined by the director and shall remain on active duty no longer than the maximum allowed by the office for part-time employment status.
      2. Based on the size, impact, and magnitude of the disaster event, the director shall determine the minimum number of emergency reserve cadre personnel required to effectively supplement regular state emergency management personnel.
   5. While in service described in subdivision (d)(4)(A) of this section, the emergency reserve cadre personnel have the same immunities as regular state employees for good faith performance of their designated and assigned official duties under state sovereignty laws and practices.

History. Acts 1973, No. 511, § 5; 1977, No. 408, § 1; 1985, No. 687, § 4; 1985, No. 978, § 4; A.S.A. 1947, § 11-1938; Acts 1999, No. 646, § 15; 2001, No. 1278, § 3; 2007, No. 197, § 6; 2009, No. 165, § 31; 2013, No. 169, § 2; 2019, No. 910, § 5875.

Publisher's Notes. Acts 1981, No. 45, § 10, provided, in part, that the Office of Emergency Services, which was established as a division of the Arkansas Department of Public Safety, and all its powers, functions, duties, personnel, and funds would be separated from the Department of Public Safety (abolished by Acts 1981, No. 45, § 1) and would thereafter function as a separate agency to be known as the Office of Emergency Services.

The section further provided that the act should not be construed to reduce any right that an employee of the Office of Emergency Services of the Arkansas Department of Public Safety would have under any civil service or merit system.

Acts 1999, No. 646, § 1, provided that:

“The State Office of Emergency Services shall hereafter be known as the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management. Any provisions of the Arkansas Code not corrected by this act shall be corrected by the Arkansas Code Revision Commission to reflect the title ‘Arkansas Department of Emergency Management’ instead of ‘State Office of Emergency Services’ or any similar titles that now apply to the State Office of Emergency Services.”

Amendments. The 1999 amendment substituted “Arkansas Department of Emergency Management” for “State Office of Emergency Services” in (a); substituted “department” for “office” in (b) and (c); added (d); and made stylistic changes.

The 2001 amendment added (e).

The 2009 amendment, in (d), inserted “emergency” preceding “reserve cadre personnel” in (d)(2), substituted “Emergency reserve cadre” for “Qualified” in (d)(3)(A), for “Such” in (d)(3)(B), for “Such persons” in (d)(4)(A), and for “individuals so employed” in (d)(5), inserted “emergency” and “cadre” in (d)(4)(B), inserted “described in subdivision (d)(4)(A) of this section” in (d)(5), and made minor stylistic changes.

The 2013 amendment rewrote (d)(4)(A); and deleted “and report these numbers to the Governor for approval” at the end of (d)(4)(B).

The 2019 amendment substituted “Division of Emergency Management” for “Arkansas Department of Emergency Management” in the section heading and throughout the section; redesignated former (b) as (b)(1); substituted “Director of the Division of Emergency Management who is” for “director” in (b)(1); added (b)(2); inserted “secretary and the” in (c)(2); deleted “of the Division of Management Services of the Department of Finance and Administration“ following “Office of Personnel Management” in (c)(2) and in (d)(4)(A); and substituted “director” for “Director of the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management” in (d)(2).

Cross References. Emergency Volunteer Reserve Act of 1995, § 12-83-101 et seq.