1. (a) Before December 31, 2021, the state Emergency Management Agency, in cooperation with the Alabama Association of Emergency Managers and the Association of County Commissions of Alabama, shall develop uniform guidelines for use in identifying and volunteering safer place facilities throughout the state. At a minimum, the guidelines shall do all of the following:

   1. (1) Provide local emergency management agencies with methods for notifying the community about safer places.
   2. (2) Provide an application process, through the local emergency management agency, for those individuals and entities that own or control a structure for offering all or part of the structure for designation as a safer place facility. At a minimum, the application shall require the applicant to make a good faith determination that the structure meets all criteria identified by the guidelines and that the applicant will not discriminate when making the structure available to the public. The application may be provided through the website of the local emergency management agency.
   3. (3) Describe the circumstances and conditions of appropriate use and length of availability of a safer place facility.
   4. (4) Require that the availability of a safer place will be nondiscriminatory on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability, sex, or religion.
   5. (5) Provide that a designated safer place facility is not required to be available to the public at all times or to provide staff, food, water, medicine, electricity, air conditioning, first aid, telecommunication services, or any other life or health preserving goods or services before, during, or after a severe weather event.
   6. (6) Provide a procedure for the withdrawal of a safer place designation.

   7. (7) Require safer place facilities to satisfy applicable building codes at the time of construction, provide participants with improved protection from the elements, and not pose a direct threat to the health and safety of those participating including, but not limited to, the following:

      1. a. A second means of exiting the facility in the event of fire or other emergency.
      2. b. Smoke detectors which comply with applicable building codes.
      3. c. Sufficient sanitary facilities that are in proper operating condition, are private, and are adequate for personal cleanliness and the disposal of human waste.
   8. (8) Establish other procedures, criteria, and guidelines as necessary to further the purposes of this section.
2. (b) No state or local governmental entity shall provide, or offer to provide, compensation or financial support of any kind to any individual or entity relating to the designation or operation of a safer place facility.
3. (c) Due to the patent and obvious dangers associated with severe weather events, an individual who uses a safer place facility does not acquire the status of an invitee or licensee, and the individual who uses a designated safer place facility does so at his or her own risk, with full knowledge and appreciation of the associated risks.
4. (d) A local emergency management agency, pursuant to its emergency management functions, may perform any task provided in the guidelines. Any individual who volunteers a structure as a safer place facility pursuant to this section is a volunteer for purposes of the Volunteer Service Act, Section 6-5-336, during the time the structure is designated as a safer place. Any entity making a facility available as a safer place shall be afforded the same protections granted to an emergency management worker, individual, partnership, association, or corporation by Section 31-9-16.

(Act 2021-165, §1.)