Executive Order

Executive Order  No. 54: Establishing an Office of Emergency Controls Within the State Civil Defense Agency

Date: 08/08/1967
Issuer: John A. Volpe
Amended by: Executive Order 88

Table of Contents

WHEREAS, Executive Order No. 46, which was executed on December 15, 1964 and became effective on that date, authorized the Director of Civil Defense for the Commonwealth to make plans in conjunction and cooperation with the government of the United States, and particularly the Office of Civil Defense, Department of the Army, and the Office of Emergency Planning, Executive Office of the President, for the regulation of the distribution and utilization of available re- sources within the Commonwealth in event of enemy attack and

WHEREAS, The Emergency resources Management Plan, dated April 1967, provides the organizations and functions required for the regulation of the distribution and utilization of available resources pending the establishment of national controls in the event of enemy attack.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, John A. Volpe, Governor of the Common- wealth acting through the Director of Massachusetts Civil Defense Agency and Emergency Planning, and under the authority of Acts of 1950, Chapter 639, Sections 4, 5, 7, 8, 16 and 20, and all other enabling authority, do hereby issue this order as a necessary preparatory step in advance of enemy attack.

1-a. There is hereby established within the Massachusetts Civil Defense Agency the Office of Emergency Controls under the Director of Civil Defense and Emergency Planning. The Director of Civil Defense and Emergency Planning shall act as advisor to the Governor on emergency resource management and economic stabilization activities under the jurisdiction of the Commonwealth and, in this capacity, shall take necessary action, as required, in coordinating emergency resource management and economic stabilization activities of the executive departments and organizations of the government of the Common- wealth. Every officer and organization of the government of the Commonwealth having emergency resource management or economic stabilization functions as delegated, redelegated, or otherwise assigned, by or under the authority of the Governor after the date of this Order, shall perform the said functions subject to the coordination and guidance of the Director of Civil Defense and Emergency Planning, and in accordance with State and national policies.

b. The Director of Massachusetts Civil Defense and Emergency Planning, in addition to other assigned duties, shall during a state of emergency declared by the Governor pursuant to Section 5 of Chapter 639 of the Acts of 1950, as amended, and during any period in advance of such emergency when such declaration appears to be reasonably imminent:

(1) Make provisions for the conservation of scarce and critical resources and their mobilization and employment in defense, survival, and other essential activities through the establishment of priorities, allocations, and other measures as may be necessary.

(2) Make provision for the rationing of selected essential items to consumers and for the stabilization of prices and rents.

(3) Make provision for the rehabilitation, restoration, and recovery of essential facilities, utilities, services and operating plants by the establishment of priorities and allocation of materials for such purposes.

(4) Take such actions and promulgate such measures, consonant with law and the purposes of this Executive Order as may be necessary to carry out the functions assigned to him by this Order and coordinate agency and inter-agency efforts to comply with this Order.

2-a. The Director of Massachusetts Civil Defense and Emergency Planning shall coordinate the resources under the jurisdiction and control of the Governor of the Commonwealth.

b. The Director of Massachusetts Civil Defense and Emergency Planning shall exercise said responsibilities in accordance with State and national policy.

c. The Director of Massachusetts Civil Defense and Emergency Planning shall, in carrying out the functions incident to the exercise of said responsibilities, coordinate the performance of Resource Management functions and activities by the Resource Divisions established by Section 3 of this Order.

3. There are hereby established within the Office of Emergency controls established by Section 1 of this Order the following divisions which shall establish policy, provide guidance, and assure necessary resource support for the provision of their respectively designated resources in the Commonwealth in any emergency declared by the Governor pursuant to Section 5 of Chapter 639 of the Acts of 1950.

a. The Construction and Housing Division: construction, repair and modification of emergency facilities and housing.

b. The Electric Power Division: electric power avail- able for use in the Commonwealth.

c. The Food Division: food in retail and in any wholesale and processor inventories assigned to the Commonwealth by pre-attack agreement with the United States Department of Agriculture and supplies made available to the Commonwealth post-attack by said Department.

d. The Gas Division: natural and manufactured gas available for use in the Commonwealth.

e. The Health Division: health resources, including health manpower, materials and facilities available for use in the Commonwealth.

f. The Manpower Division: recruitment, classification, and utilization of civilian manpower except health manpower.

g. The Petroleum Division: petroleum supplies avail- able for use in the Commonwealth.

h. The Industrial Production Division: designated essential items available for use in the Commonwealth.

i. The Solid Fuels Division: solid fuels available for use in the Commonwealth.

j. The Transportation Division: intrastate transportation services and interstate transportation services avail- able to the Commonwealth.

k. The Water Division: water available for use in the Commonwealth.

l. The Economic Stabilization Division: price stabilization, rent stabilization, and consumer rationing.

m. The Communications Division: emergency communications and transmission of information.

4. There shall be at the head of each of the foregoing divisions an Assistant Director of Emergency Planning who shall serve subject to the immediate direction and control of the Director of Civil Defense and Emergency Planning. Said Assistant Directors, with respect to those resources for which they are severally assigned responsibility, and subject to the coordination and guidance of the Director of Civil Defense and Emergency Planning, shall perform the following functions:

a. Develop, advise on, and administer policies, measures, and activities required to protect, conserve, and provide for the mobilization and effective use of resources available for use within the Commonwealth.

b. Maintain a continuing surveillance over the current and essential supply and expected emergency needs for such resources as a basis for administering required resource control systems.

c. Determine needs for supporting resources for the operation of facilities and establishments under their cognizance and present and justify these needs as claims to appropriate Resource Divisions.

d. Coordinate their activities with and provide support and assistance to Federal agencies with related resource management responsibilities in the Commonwealth.

5. There is hereby established a Resources Priorities Board. The functions of said Board shall be advisory in nature to include, but not limited to, the following:

  • Review reports of damage and assessment of remaining resources;
  • Evaluate the status of civilian survival measures being taken, the status of Commonwealth government, and the status of military forces with Massachusetts;
  • Recommend priority missions to be met and priority use of resources for such purposes;
  • Recommend adjudication of conflicting claims referred to the Board by the Office of Emergency Controls;
  • Establish, in consultation with appropriate Federal and state agencies, long-range goals for economic recovery consistent with national objectives.

The Board shall consist of the following officials of the Commonwealth ex officio:

  • The Chairman of the Board of Economic Advisors to the Governor established under Chapter 7, Section 37, of the General Laws;
  • The Director of Massachusetts Civil Defense Agency and Emergency Planning, provided for in Chapter 639 of the Acts of 1950, and Executive Order No. 46, issued December 15, 1964;
  • The Chairman of the Consumers Council established by Chapter 6, Section 115, of the General Laws.

6. This Order is effective immediately for the purpose of establishing the Office of Emergency Controls for the required planning and preparedness under this Order with the delegated action specified in this Order to take effect upon a declaration of war by the United States or a declaration of attack emergency by the President of the United States or by the Governor of the Commonwealth or under the conditions as specified in Part 1 of Executive Order No. 31, issued February 21, 1956.

Given at the Executive Chamber in Boston this eighth day of August in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and sixty-seven and of the Independence of the United States of America, one hundred and ninety-second.

JOHN A. VOLPE
Governor
Commonwealth of Massachusetts

KEVIN H. WHITE
Secretary of the Commonwealth

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