Title 42, The Public Health and WelfareRelease 119-110
§5165f National Urban Search and Rescue Response System
Title 42 › CHAPTER 68 — DISASTER RELIEF › SUBCHAPTER III — MAJOR DISASTER AND EMERGENCY ASSISTANCE ADMINISTRATION › § 5165f
Summary
FEMA’s Administrator runs a national Urban Search and Rescue Response System. Key words used in the system mean: Administrator = the head of FEMA; Agency = FEMA; Hazard = the kind of danger named in another law; Nonemployee System member = a team member who does not work for a sponsoring or participating agency; Participating agency = a state, local, nonprofit, or private group that signs up to help; Sponsoring agency = a state or local government that sponsors a task force; System = the national search and rescue program; System member = a non-federal person on a task force or a management/technical team; Task force = a FEMA‑designated urban search and rescue team. The Administrator must set up and run the System, create a network of standard rescue resources, and name task forces. Each task force has a sponsoring agency and written agreements with the sponsor, any participating agencies, and any other individuals who join. FEMA keeps needed management and technical teams. The Administrator can appoint System members into Federal service for drills, staging, disasters, and training without using the usual federal hiring rules, but those appointees are not full federal employees except for certain benefits. FEMA will reimburse sponsoring agencies for pay they give members and may pay nonemployee members directly. FEMA will also pay for backfill costs only when they exceed normal costs. If a member is hurt or dies while on federal appointment, they are treated like a federal employee for certain workers’ compensation rules, but they or their dependents must choose either federal or state/local benefits within 1 year; if they pick state/local, FEMA will reimburse that government. Members are treated as having “service in the uniformed services” for job protections, state licenses are valid for federal activity during appointment, and FEMA will make annual preparedness agreements for training, equipment, and medical monitoring (if money is provided) and response agreements to reimburse sponsoring agencies for disaster costs. FEMA may make necessary commitments and must send a report on how to fund, maintain, and replace System equipment not later than 180 days after December 16, 2016. Task forces may also include federal employees, with agreements between the sponsor and the federal employer.
Full Legal Text
Title 42, §5165f
The Public Health and Welfare, Source: USLM XML via OLRC
(a)Definitions
In this section, the following definitions shall apply:
(1)Administrator (2) Agency
The term “Administrator” means the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
(3)Hazard
The term “hazard” has the meaning given the term in section 5195a of this title.
(4)Nonemployee System member
The term “nonemployee System member” means a System member not employed by a sponsoring agency or participating agency.
(5)Participating agency
The term “participating agency” means a State or local government, nonprofit organization, or private organization that has executed an agreement with a sponsoring agency to participate in the System.
(6)Sponsoring agency
The term “sponsoring agency” means a State or local government that is the sponsor of a task force designated by the Administrator to participate in the System.
(7)System
The term “System” means the National Urban Search and Rescue Response System to be administered under this section.
(8)System member
The term “System member” means an individual who is not a full-time employee of the Federal Government and who serves on a task force or on a System management or other technical team.
(9)Task force
The term “task force” means an urban search and rescue team designated by the Administrator to participate in the System.
(b)General authority
Subject to the requirements of this section, the Administrator shall continue to administer the emergency response system known as the National Urban Search and Rescue Response System.
(c)Functions
In administering the System, the Administrator shall provide for a national network of standardized search and rescue resources to assist States and local governments in responding to hazards.
(d)Task forces
(1)Designation
The Administrator shall designate task forces to participate in the System. The Administration shall determine the criteria for such participation.
(2)Sponsoring agencies
Each task force shall have a sponsoring agency. The Administrator shall enter into an agreement with the sponsoring agency with respect to the participation of each task force in the System.
(3)Composition
(A)Participating agencies
A task force may include, at the discretion of the sponsoring agency, one or more participating agencies. The sponsoring agency shall enter into an agreement with each participating agency with respect to the participation of the participating agency on the task force.
(B)Other individuals
A task force may also include, at the discretion of the sponsoring agency, other individuals not otherwise associated with the sponsoring agency or a participating agency. The sponsoring agency of a task force may enter into a separate agreement with each such individual with respect to the participation of the individual on the task force.
(e)Management and technical teams
The Administrator shall maintain such management teams and other technical teams as the Administrator determines are necessary to administer the System.
(f)Appointment of System members into Federal service
(1)In general
The Administrator may appoint a System member into Federal service for a period of service to provide for the participation of the System member in exercises, preincident staging, major disaster and emergency response activities, and training events sponsored or sanctioned by the Administrator.
(2)Nonapplicability of certain civil service laws
The Administrator may make appointments under paragraph (1) without regard to the provisions of title 5 governing appointments in the competitive service.
(3)Relationship to other authorities
The authority of the Administrator to make appointments under this subsection shall not affect any other authority of the Administrator under this chapter.
(4)Limitation
A System member who is appointed into Federal service under paragraph (1) shall not be considered an employee of the United States for purposes other than those specifically set forth in this section.
(g)Compensation
(1)Pay of System members
Subject to such terms and conditions as the Administrator may impose by regulation, the Administrator shall make payments to the sponsoring agency of a task force—
(A)to reimburse each employer of a System member on the task force for compensation paid by the employer to the System member for any period during which the System member is appointed into Federal service under subsection (f)(1); and
(B)to make payments directly to a nonemployee System member on the task force for any period during which the nonemployee System member is appointed into Federal service under subsection (f)(1).
(2)Reimbursement for employees filling positions of System members
(A)In general
Subject to such terms and conditions as the Administrator may impose by regulation, the Administrator shall make payments to the sponsoring agency of a task force to be used to reimburse each employer of a System member on the task force for compensation paid by the employer to an employee filling a position normally filled by the System member for any period during which the System member is appointed into Federal service under subsection (f)(1).
(B)Limitation
Costs incurred by an employer shall be eligible for reimbursement under subparagraph (A) only to the extent that the costs are in excess of the costs that would have been incurred by the employer had the System member not been appointed into Federal service under subsection (f)(1).
(3)Method of payment
A System member shall not be entitled to pay directly from the Agency for a period during which the System member is appointed into Federal Service under subsection (f)(1).
(h)Personal injury, illness, disability, or death
(1)In general
A System member who is appointed into Federal service under subsection (f)(1) and who suffers personal injury, illness, disability, or death as a result of a personal injury sustained while acting in the scope of such appointment, shall, for the purposes of subchapter I of chapter 81 of title 5, be treated as though the member were an employee (as defined by section 8101 of that title) who had sustained the injury in the performance of duty.
(2)Election of benefits
(A)In general
A System member (or, in the case of the death of the System member, the System member’s dependent) who is entitled under paragraph (1) to receive benefits under subchapter I of chapter 81 of title 5 by reason of personal injury, illness, disability, or death, and to receive benefits from a State or local government by reason of the same personal injury, illness, disability or death shall elect to—
(i)receive benefits under such subchapter; or
(ii)receive benefits from the State or local government.
(B)Deadline
A System member or dependent shall make an election of benefits under subparagraph (A) not later than 1 year after the date of the personal injury, illness, disability, or death that is the reason for the benefits, or until such later date as the Secretary of Labor may allow for reasonable cause shown.
(C)Effect of election
An election of benefits made under this paragraph is irrevocable unless otherwise provided by law.
(3)Reimbursement for State or local benefits
Subject to such terms and conditions as the Administrator may impose by regulation, if a System member or dependent elects to receive benefits from a State or local government under paragraph (2)(A), the Administrator shall reimburse the State or local government for the value of the benefits.
(4)Public safety officer claims
Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to bar any claim by, or with respect to, any System member who is a public safety officer, as defined in section 1204 of title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 [34 U.S.C. 10284], for any benefits authorized under part L of title I of that Act (42 U.S.C. 3796 et seq.).
(i)Liability
A System member appointed into Federal service under subsection (f)(1), while acting within the scope of the appointment, shall be considered to be an employee of the Federal Government under section 1346(b) of title 28 and chapter 171 of that title, relating to tort claims procedure.
(j)Employment and reemployment rights
With respect to a System member who is not a regular full-time employee of a sponsoring agency or participating agency, the following terms and conditions apply:
(1)Service
Service as a System member shall be considered to be “service in the uniformed services” for purposes of chapter 43 of title 38 relating to employment and reemployment rights of individuals who have performed service in the uniformed services (regardless of whether the individual receives compensation for such participation). All rights and obligations of such persons and procedures for assistance, enforcement, and investigation shall be as provided for in such chapter.
(2)Preclusion
Preclusion of giving notice of service by necessity of appointment under this section shall be considered to be preclusion by “military necessity” for purposes of section 4312(b) of title 38 pertaining to giving notice of absence from a position of employment. A determination of such necessity shall be made by the Administrator and shall not be subject to judicial review.
(k)Licenses and permits
If a System member holds a valid license, certificate, or other permit issued by any State or other governmental jurisdiction evidencing the member’s qualifications in any professional, mechanical, or other skill or type of assistance required by the System, the System member is deemed to be performing a Federal activity when rendering aid involving such skill or assistance during a period of appointment into Federal service under subsection (f)(1).
(l)Preparedness cooperative agreements
Subject to the availability of appropriations for such purpose, the Administrator shall enter into an annual preparedness cooperative agreement with each sponsoring agency. Amounts made available to a sponsoring agency under such a preparedness cooperative agreement shall be for the following purposes:
(1)Training and exercises, including training and exercises with other Federal, State, and local government response entities.
(2)Acquisition and maintenance of equipment, including interoperable communications and personal protective equipment.
(3)Medical monitoring required for responder safety and health in anticipation of and following a major disaster, emergency, or other hazard, as determined by the Administrator.
(m)Response cooperative agreements
The Administrator shall enter into a response cooperative agreement with each sponsoring agency, as appropriate, under which the Administrator agrees to reimburse the sponsoring agency for costs incurred by the sponsoring agency in responding to a major disaster or emergency.
(n)Obligations
The Administrator may incur all necessary obligations consistent with this section in order to ensure the effectiveness of the System.
(o)Equipment maintenance and replacement
Not later than 180 days after December 16, 2016, the Administrator shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees (as defined in section 101 of title 6) a report on the development of a plan, including implementation steps and timeframes, to finance, maintain, and replace System equipment.
(p)Federal employees
Nothing in this section shall be construed to mean that a task force may not include Federal employees. In the case of a Federal employee detailed to a task force, the sponsoring agency shall enter into an agreement with the relevant employing Federal agency.
Legislative History
Notes & Related Subsidiaries
Editorial Notes
References in Text
This chapter, referred to in subsec. (f)(3), was in the original “this Act”, meaning Pub. L. 93–288, May 22, 1974, 88 Stat. 143. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see
Short Title
note set out under section 5121 of this title and Tables. The Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968, referred to in subsec. (h)(4), is Pub. L. 90–351, June 19, 1968, 82 Stat. 197. Part L of title I of the Act was classified generally to part A (§ 3796 et seq.) of subchapter XII of chapter 46 of this title, prior to editorial reclassification and renumbering as subchapter XI (§ 10281 et seq.) of chapter 101 of Title 34, Crime Control and Law
Enforcement
. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see
Short Title
of 1968 Act note set out under section 10101 of Title 34 and Tables.
Amendments
2019—Subsec. (p). Pub. L. 116–48 added subsec. (p).
Reference
Citations & Metadata
Citation
42 U.S.C. § 5165f
Title 42, The Public Health and Welfare
Last Updated
Sep 23, 2026
Release point: 119-110