(a) The Curriculum Development Advisory Committee, described in Section 8588.10, shall recommend criteria for terrorism awareness curriculum content to meet the training needs of state and local emergency response personnel and volunteers. In addition, the committee shall identify any additional training that would be useful and appropriate, but that may not be generally available in California, and shall make recommendations pertaining to the need for training oversight agencies for first responder disciplines to expedite their curriculum approval processes.

(b) Basic terrorism awareness training shall include, but not be limited to, the following:

(1) An overview of conventional, chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear threats.

(2) Threat and hazard recognition, with an emphasis on ability to determine local vulnerabilities.

(3) Understanding the structure and function of an incident command system.

(4) Initial response actions, including preliminary assessment, notifications, resource needs, and safety considerations.

(5) Coordination with other emergency service first responders.

(6) Gathering, verifying, assessing, and communicating incident information.

(7) Understanding mass casualty implications and decontamination requirements.

(8) Balancing lifesaving activities with evidence preservation.

(9) General awareness and additional training for each of the first responder categories specific to each discipline.

(c) (1) The Legislature finds and declares that training on terrorism awareness for first responders is of critical importance to the people of California.

(2) Every agency responsible for development of terrorism awareness training and every agency that employs or uses first responders shall give a high priority to the completion of that training.

(Added by Stats. 2010, Ch. 618, Sec. 42. (AB 2791) Effective January 1, 2011.)