The California Emergency Management Agency (Cal EMA) was established as part of the Governor’s Office on January 1, 2009 – created by Assembly Bill 38 (Nava), which merged the duties, powers, purposes, and responsibilities of the former Governor’s Office of Emergency Services with those of the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security.
Cal EMA is responsible for the coordination of overall state agency response to major disasters in support of local government. The Agency is responsible for assuring the state’s readiness to respond to and recover from all hazards – natural, manmade, war-caused emergencies and disasters – and for assisting local governments in their emergency preparedness, response, recovery, and hazard mitigation efforts.