163.3A - VETERINARY EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS AND RESPONSE.
163.3A VETERINARY EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS AND
RESPONSE.
1. The department may provide veterinary emergency preparedness
and response services necessary to prevent or control a serious
threat to the public health, public safety, or the state's economy
caused by the transmission of disease among livestock as defined in
section 717.1 or agricultural animals as defined in section 717A.1.
The services may include measures necessary to ensure that all such
animals carrying disease are properly identified, segregated,
treated, or destroyed as provided in this Code.
2. The services shall be performed under the direction of the
department and may be part of measures authorized by the governor
under a declaration or proclamation issued pursuant to chapter 29C.
In such case, the department shall cooperate with the Iowa department
of public health under chapter 135, and the department of public
defense, homeland security and emergency management division, and
local emergency management agencies as provided in chapter 29C.
3. The secretary or the secretary's designee shall appoint
veterinarians licensed pursuant to chapter 169 or persons in related
professions or occupations who are qualified, as determined by the
secretary, to serve on a voluntary basis as members of one or more
veterinary emergency response teams. The secretary shall provide for
the registration of persons as part of the appointment process. The
secretary may cooperate with the Iowa board of veterinary medicine in
implementing this section.
4. a. A registered member of an emergency response team who
acts under the authority of the secretary shall be considered an
employee of the state for purposes of defending a claim on account of
damage to or loss of property or on account of personal injury or
death under chapter 669. The registered member shall be afforded
protection under section 669.21. The registered member shall also be
considered an employee of the state for purposes of disability,
workers' compensation, and death benefits under chapter 85.
b. The department shall provide and update a list of the
registered members of each emergency response team, including the
members' names and identifying information, to the department of
administrative services. Upon notification of a compensable loss
suffered by a registered member, the department of administrative
services shall seek funding from the executive council for those
costs associated with covered benefits. Section History: Recent Form
2005 Acts, ch 151, §2
Referred to in § 163.3