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Emergency‑management professor asks Legislature to create commission to professionalize field
Summary
Dr. Jennifer Carlson, a certified emergency manager and professor, urged the Joint Committee on Emergency Preparedness and Management to approve H.885, which would create a special commission to study and recommend steps to professionalize emergency management in Massachusetts. Carlson cited past responses to Hurricane Katrina, the Boston Marathon
Dr. Jennifer Carlson, a professor of emergency management and a certified emergency manager, testified in support of H.885, a resolve to establish a special commission to study and recommend ways to professionalize emergency management in the Commonwealth.
Carlson described more than two decades of emergency‑management experience, including roles in operations during Hurricane Katrina, the Boston Marathon bombing response and state COVID‑19 operations. "Every disaster is local and the decisions we make here today this week that we get ahead the years ahead determine how well our communities in Massachusetts are prepared to respond to the next disaster when it strikes," Carlson told the committee.
She told members that many communities rely on part‑time or so‑called "second‑hat" officials to perform emergency‑management duties and urged the commission to study four priority areas (detailed in her written submission) to professionalize the field, including training, credentialing and creating dedicated positions. Carlson also described personal losses and reactions during the pandemic and said those experiences shaped her view of the need for full‑time trained leadership in emergency management.
Representative Viera, who helped refine prior iterations of the legislation, thanked Carlson and said the measure would help ensure communities have officials trained in incident command and response principles.
Ending: Carlson asked the committee to send the resolve to Ways and Means for further consideration; the committee closed the testimony segment without a vote at the hearing.
