1. There is hereby created in the State General Fund the Emergency Assistance Account. Beginning with the fiscal year that begins on July 1, 1999, the State Controller shall, at the end of each fiscal year, transfer the interest earned during the previous fiscal year on the money in the Disaster Relief Account created pursuant to NRS 353.2735 to the Emergency Assistance Account in an amount not to exceed $500,000.

2. The Division of Emergency Management of the Department of Public Safety shall administer the Emergency Assistance Account. The Division may adopt regulations authorized by this section before, on or after July 1, 1999.

3. Except as otherwise provided in paragraph (c), all expenditures from the Emergency Assistance Account must be approved in advance by the Division. Except as otherwise provided in subsection 4, all money in the Emergency Assistance Account must be expended:

(a) To provide supplemental emergency assistance to this state or to local governments in this state that are severely and adversely affected by a natural, technological or man-made emergency or disaster for which available resources of this state or the local government are inadequate to provide a satisfactory remedy;

(b) To pay any actual expenses incurred by the Division for administration during a natural, technological or man-made emergency or disaster; and

(c) For any other purpose authorized by the Legislature.

4. Beginning with the fiscal year that begins on July 1, 1999, if any balance remains in the Emergency Assistance Account at the end of a fiscal year and the balance has not otherwise been committed for expenditure, the Division may, with the approval of the Interim Finance Committee, allocate all or any portion of the remaining balance, not to exceed $250,000, to this state or to a local government to:

(a) Purchase equipment or supplies required for emergency management;

(b) Provide training to personnel related to emergency management; and

(c) Carry out the provisions of NRS 388.229 to 388.266, inclusive.

5. Beginning with the fiscal year that begins on July 1, 1999, the Division shall, at the end of each quarter of a fiscal year, submit to the Interim Finance Committee a report of the expenditures made from the Emergency Assistance Account for the previous quarter.

6. The Division shall adopt such regulations as are necessary to administer the Emergency Assistance Account.

7. The Division may adopt regulations to provide for reimbursement of expenditures made from the Emergency Assistance Account. If the Division requires such reimbursement, the Attorney General shall take such action as is necessary to recover the amount of any unpaid reimbursement plus interest at a rate determined pursuant to NRS 17.130, computed from the date on which the money was removed from the Disaster Relief Account, upon request by the Division.

(Added to NRS by 1997, 2543; A 1999, 1248, 3121; 2001, 1337, 2607; 2003, 180; 2003, 20th Special Session, 206; 2010, 26th Special Session, 14; 2011, 448, 1082; 2017, 2733, 4022)