§328a Active Guard and Reserve duty: State disaster response duty

Summary

A state's top official (for example, the governor) who declares an emergency can, if the Secretary of Defense agrees, order a National Guard member who is on Active Guard and Reserve duty to help with or prepare for that disaster. That service is called State disaster response duty. It must not stop the member from doing their main Active Guard and Reserve jobs (organizing, administering, recruiting, instructing, and training). Normally it cannot last more than 14 days per member in a calendar year. If the governor asks before the end of the 14th day, the Defense Secretary can allow an extra 7 days, or up to 46 more days if the work supports a catastrophic incident (as defined in law). The military department will charge the state the full daily manpower cost for each day of this duty. The state must pay from state funds or other non-Federal funds. Money received is returned to the appropriate defense accounts as the Defense Secretary decides. If the state is over 90 days late paying past bills, the duty cannot be done unless the Defense Secretary allows it and the state obligates money to cover what it owes. While performing this duty, the Guard member is not a United States instrumentality, and the United States is not liable for claims or judgments from their actions. "Active Guard and Reserve duty" and "State" are defined in other federal laws.