§ 21. Powers and duties of commission. Because of the existing danger
of disasters of unprecedented size and destructiveness resulting from
attack and in order to insure that the preparations of the state will be
adequate to deal with such disasters and generally to provide for the
civil defense, and to assist other states and the federal government to
achieve these objectives throughout the nation, the commission shall
have the following powers and perform the following duties:

1. To obtain from any public officer and any other person any and all
information necessary for civil defense, including but not limited to
the nature, extent, location and availability for use, of manpower,
skilled and unskilled; municipal agencies; land; food, fuel, feed and
water; housing, shelter and related facilities; hospitals, clinics and
other health and welfare facilities; schools and other educational
facilities; sanitation facilities; recreation facilities; organizations,
materials, power, plants and other facilities for production,
manufacturing, transportation, finance, agriculture, commerce and public
health and safety.

2. Hold hearings and conduct investigations; the chairman, director or
the commission may issue a subpoena requiring a person to attend before
the commission and be examined in reference to any matter relating to
civil defense and in a proper case to bring with him a book, paper, or
thing. The provisions of article twenty-three of the civil practice law
and rules shall apply with respect to a subpoena issued pursuant to this
section. Any member of the commission or the director may administer an
oath to a witness.

3. Adopt, promulgate, supplement, rescind, modify and make effective a
comprehensive plan for the civil defense of the state, including but not
limited to provisions for:

A. In General.

a. Medical treatment, food, clothing and shelter and other items
necessary in the event of attack and during the period of rehabilitation
and recovery following attack.

b. Location, procurement, construction, processing, transportation,
storing, maintenance, renovation or distribution of materials and
facilities.

c. Protection for every person in the state from fallout radiation and
other dangers resulting from attack.

d. Construction, installation and maintenance by owners and users of
property of shelters and other devices and facilities essential to
public safety during and subsequent to attack.

B. Organization and Administration.

e. Programs for the training and information of the public, including
but not limited to the achievement of protection from fallout radiation
and other dangers resulting from attack, practice blackouts, drills or
tests, mobilization of civil defense forces, the shutting off of water
mains, gas mains, electric power connections and the suspension of other
utility services.

f. Recruitment, organization, staffing, maintenance, equipment,
training, mobilization and utilization of volunteer agencies either
directly or through political subdivisions of the state.

g. Equipment, training and utilization of municipal agencies.

h. Establishment of control and report centers and other operational
headquarters and facilities.

i. Warning systems and signals.

j. Assignment, recruitment, organization, training and mobilization,
in conjunction with the commissioner of transportation and the
commissioner of health, of all publicly owned construction and health
service equipment and publicly employed construction, radiological,
health service and sanitation personnel into public works, public
utility, monitoring, decontamination, rescue and health service teams.

k. Identification, location and planning for the integration with such
publicly equipped and publicly employed teams of all privately owned
construction and health service equipment, all privately employed
construction, radiological, health service and sanitation personnel and
all public utility installation and maintenance personnel.

l. Evacuation of certain persons in the event of or anticipation of
attack, including the establishment of temporary housing and schools and
other emergency facilities.

C. Continuity of Government.

m. Recruitment, training and equipment of radiological control center
personnel, decontamination specialists and radiological monitors and
maintenance of the necessary radiological staff, materials and
facilities.

n. Continuity of government of the state and of political subdivisions
of the state.

o. Storage of essential governmental records of the state and of
political subdivisions of the state in conjunction with the public
officers having responsibilities therefor under other provisions of law.

D. Public Order.

p. Enforcement of all laws relating to civil defense and the
regulations or orders of the council and commission in the event of
attack and during the period of rehabilitation and recovery following an
attack.

q. Control of pedestrian and vehicular traffic, transportation and
communication facilities, public utilities and the conduct of persons
other than members of the armed services or military forces in the event
of an attack, during drills and tests and immediately prior and
subsequent thereto, and during the period of rehabilitation and recovery
following an attack.

r. Guarding and protection of water supplies, railroads, public
utility property, bridges, docks, highways, airports, landing fields,
public buildings, factories, plants, stockpiles, vital and strategic
materials and other focal points of possible attack, the loss or
destruction of which might menace or endanger the security and safety of
the civilian population, impede the military forces or impede the
defense effort.

s. The effective screening and extinguishing of lights, lighting
devices and appliances.

t. Protection and preservation of property in the event of attack and
during the period of rehabilitation and recovery following an attack.

E. Intergovernmental Relations.

u. Cooperation and liaison with officers and agencies of this state
and its political subdivisions, of other states and their political
subdivisions and of the federal government and, through the commission,
by the officers and agencies of this state and its political
subdivisions and those of other states and their subdivisions and those
of the federal government.

v. Mutual aid arrangements between political subdivisions of the
state.

w. Consolidation of local offices of civil defense, provided, however,
that no order requiring consolidation of two or more local offices shall
be adopted by the commission unless it shall have held a public hearing
thereon and shall have sent written notices of its intention to hold
such hearing to the chief executive officers and the local legislative
bodies of the county or city or cities to be affected thereby at least
ten days prior to the date fixed therefor.

F. Recovery and Rehabilitation.

x. Civil defense measures to be taken following attack, such as
monitoring for radiation and other specific hazards of special weapons;
decontamination procedures; essential debris clearance; immediately
essential emergency repair or restoration of damaged vital facilities;
implementation of the means and methods for the recovery and
rehabilitation of the state; effective utilization of all persons and
materials; distribution of stockpiled food, water, medical supplies,
machinery and other equipment; the preservation of raw materials; the
restoration of essential community services, industrial and
manufacturing capacity, and commercial and financial activities in the
state; the resumption of educational programs and the termination of
emergency measures taken pursuant to the plan, orders or regulations of
the commission after an attack.

y. The continued operation of all utilities, sources of power,
essential railroads and other transportation facilities.

z. Care for the injured and needy and identification and disposition
of the dead after attack.

4. Adopt, promulgate, supplement, rescind, and modify regulations
necessary to execute and implement its powers and duties which are not
inconsistent with any plan, regulation or order of the council. Any such
regulation shall have the force and effect of law ten days after filing
in the office of the department of state except that upon a finding by
the commission that an earlier effective date is necessary to the safety
and health of the people of the state, such a regulation may be made
effective at such time after it is filed in such office as the
commission shall provide. Any such regulation shall remain in effect
during such period or periods of time as it shall provide. The secretary
of state shall, as soon as possible after such a regulation has been so
filed, mail a copy thereof to the clerk of each county, town, city and
village who shall keep it on file in his office during the effective
period thereof, but failure to mail such a copy to any such clerk or the
failure of any such clerk to file it shall not affect the validity of
any such regulation. The commission shall make adequate provision for
publication of such regulations, which provision may include publication
in the state bulletin or periodic circulars to be issued by the
department of state.

5. Subject to the approval of the governor, enter into mutual aid
agreements, compacts or arrangements in relation to civil defense with
other states, their political subdivisions or their civil defense
authorities.

6. Notwithstanding the provisions of sections twenty-two and
twenty-three or any other provision of this act, by order, direct the
performance of specific duties under the plan, regulations or orders of
the commission and require compliance with standards established by such
plan, regulations or orders by agencies, local directors and other
public officers having administrative responsibilities under this act,
including full or partial mobilization of civil defense forces in
advance of attack. The commission is authorized to vary or modify in
whole or part any provision or requirement of sections twenty-two and
twenty-three of this act where strict compliance with such provision or
requirement would entail practical difficulties or cause unnecessary
hardship or is otherwise found to be unwarranted.

7. Remove any member of any volunteer agency for incompetence,
misconduct, neglect of duty, disloyalty or subversive activity.

8. Require reports from agencies and public officers at such times and
in the form prescribed by the commission.

9. To appropriate, through the commissioner of transportation or
otherwise, real property or any interest therein in accordance with the
method provided in section thirty of the highway law.

10. Report to the governor and to the legislature concerning its
activities at least once a year and whenever requested.