32 U.S.C. § 328a — Active Guard and Reserve duty: State disaster response duty
submitted 1 year ago by Pub. L. 119-60 to r/title-32-NATIONAL-GUARD · 532 words · no verdicts yet
During a declared emergency, a state's chief executive can order this disaster duty. It needs the Defense Secretary's consent and is normally capped at 14 days a year. The state must reimburse the full cost.
(a) Authority — If a state's chief executive has declared an emergency because of a disaster, that chief executive can — with the Secretary of Defense's consent — order a National Guard member who is already on Active Guard and Reserve duty (under section 328) to instead respond to, or prepare for, that disaster. This is called "State disaster response duty."
(b) Requirements — This duty:
(1) must be paid for by the state (see (c));
(2) can only happen if it doesn't get in the way of the member's main Active Guard and Reserve job of organizing, administering, recruiting, instructing, and training the reserve components; and
(3) normally can't run more than 14 days per member per calendar year. But if the chief executive asks before that 14th day ends, the Secretary of Defense can extend it — by up to 7 more days if the Secretary thinks that's appropriate, or up to 46 more days if the duty is supporting response to a "catastrophic incident" as defined in the Homeland Security Act.
(c) Reimbursement —
(1) The relevant military department's Secretary must charge the state the full cost of the manpower used, per day.
(2) The state pays this from its own funds or other non-federal money.
(3) Money the Secretary receives this way can be credited — at the Defense Secretary's discretion — either back to the fund that paid the cost, or to another fund available for that purpose.
(4) If a state falls more than 90 days behind on reimbursing these costs, this duty can't be performed for that state anymore unless the Secretary of Defense allows it, and only after the state pays what it owes.
(d) Limitation of Liability — While performing this duty, a Guard member isn't treated as acting for the federal government. The United States isn't responsible for any claim or judgment arising from using a Guard member this way.
(e) Definitions — "Active Guard and Reserve duty" has the meaning given in 10 U.S.C. § 101. "State" has the meaning given in section 901 of this title.
The chief executive of a State who has declared an emergency in such State due to a disaster, may, with the consent of the Secretary of Defense, order a member of the National Guard of such State, who is performing Active Guard and Reserve duty pursuant to section 328 of this title, to perform duties in response to, or in preparation for, such disaster. Duty performed under this section shall be referred to as “State disaster response duty”.
State disaster response duty performed pursuant to this section—
shall be on a reimbursable basis, in accordance with subsection (c);
may be performed to the extent that the performance of such duty does not interfere with the performance of the member’s primary Active Guard and Reserve duties of organizing, administering, recruiting, instructing, and training the reserve components; and
shall not exceed a total of 14 days per member per calendar year, except that the Secretary of Defense may, if the chief executive so requests before the end of the 14th such day, authorize an extension of the duration of such duty, not to exceed an additional—
7 days, if the Secretary determines that such extension is appropriate; and
46 days if the Secretary determines that such duty is in support of the response to a catastrophic incident, as that term is defined in section 501 of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 311).
The Secretary of the military department concerned shall charge a State for the fully burdened costs of manpower for each day of State disaster response duty performed pursuant to this section.
Such charges shall be paid from the funds of the State of the requesting chief executive or from any other non-Federal funds.
Any amounts received by a Secretary of a military department under this section shall be credited, at the discretion of the Secretary of Defense, to—
the appropriation, fund, or account used to pay such costs; or
an appropriation, fund, or account available for the purposes for which such costs were incurred.
If the State of the requesting chief executive is more than 90 days in arrears in reimbursing the Secretary of the military department concerned for State disaster response duty performed pursuant to this section, such duty may not be performed—
unless authorized by the Secretary of Defense; and
after the requesting chief executive obligates funds for the amount in arrears.
While performing State disaster response duty under this section, a member of the National Guard is not an instrumentality of the United States with respect to any act or omission in carrying out such duty. The United States shall not be responsible for any claim or judgment arising from the use of a member of the National Guard under this section.
In this section:
The term “Active Guard and Reserve duty” has the meaning given such term in section 101 of title 10.
The term “State” has the meaning given such term in section 901 of this title.
Source credit: (Added Pub. L. 119–60, div. A, title V, § 512(a), Dec. 18, 2025, 139 Stat. 860.)
- 2025Enacted · Pub. L. 119-60 · 139 Stat. 860
A history note hasn’t been published yet. The record shows enactment by Pub. L. 119-60 on 2025-12-18.
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