BILL REQ. #:  H-5081.1 

READ FIRST TIME 02/08/06.   

     AN ACT Relating to disaster medical assistance teams; amending RCW 38.52.010 and 38.24.010; and adding new sections to chapter 38.52 RCW.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

Sec. 1   RCW 38.52.010 and 2002 c 341 s 2 are each amended to read as follows:
     As used in this chapter:
     (1) "Emergency management" or "comprehensive emergency management" means the preparation for and the carrying out of all emergency functions, other than functions for which the military forces are primarily responsible, to mitigate, prepare for, respond to, and recover from emergencies and disasters, and to aid victims suffering from injury or damage, resulting from disasters caused by all hazards, whether natural, technological, or human caused, and to provide support for search and rescue operations for persons and property in distress. However, "emergency management" or "comprehensive emergency management" does not mean preparation for emergency evacuation or relocation of residents in anticipation of nuclear attack.
     (2) "Local organization for emergency services or management" means an organization created in accordance with the provisions of this chapter by state or local authority to perform local emergency management functions.
     (3) "Political subdivision" means any county, city or town.
     (4) "Emergency worker" means any person, including but not limited to an architect registered under chapter 18.08 RCW or a professional engineer registered under chapter 18.43 RCW, who is registered with a local emergency management organization or the department and holds an identification card issued by the local emergency management director or the department for the purpose of engaging in authorized emergency management activities or is an employee of the state of Washington or any political subdivision thereof who is called upon to perform emergency management activities.
     (5) "Injury" as used in this chapter shall mean and include accidental injuries and/or occupational diseases arising out of emergency management activities.
     (6)(a) "Emergency or disaster" as used in all sections of this chapter except RCW 38.52.430 shall mean an event or set of circumstances which: (i) Demands immediate action to preserve public health, protect life, protect public property, or to provide relief to any stricken community overtaken by such occurrences, or (ii) reaches such a dimension or degree of destructiveness as to warrant the governor declaring a state of emergency pursuant to RCW 43.06.010.
     (b) "Emergency" as used in RCW 38.52.430 means an incident that requires a normal police, coroner, fire, rescue, emergency medical services, or utility response as a result of a violation of one of the statutes enumerated in RCW 38.52.430.
     (7) "Search and rescue" means the acts of searching for, rescuing, or recovering by means of ground, marine, or air activity any person who becomes lost, injured, or is killed while outdoors or as a result of a natural, technological, or human caused disaster, including instances involving searches for downed aircraft when ground personnel are used. Nothing in this section shall affect appropriate activity by the department of transportation under chapter 47.68 RCW.
     (8) "Executive head" and "executive heads" means the county executive in those charter counties with an elective office of county executive, however designated, and, in the case of other counties, the county legislative authority. In the case of cities and towns, it means the mayor in those cities and towns with mayor-council or commission forms of government, where the mayor is directly elected, and it means the city manager in those cities and towns with council manager forms of government. Cities and towns may also designate an executive head for the purposes of this chapter by ordinance.
     (9) "Director" means the adjutant general.
     (10) "Local director" means the director of a local organization of emergency management or emergency services.
     (11) "Department" means the state military department.
     (12) "Emergency response" as used in RCW 38.52.430 means a public agency's use of emergency services during an emergency or disaster as defined in subsection (6)(b) of this section.
     (13) "Expense of an emergency response" as used in RCW 38.52.430 means reasonable costs incurred by a public agency in reasonably making an appropriate emergency response to the incident, but shall only include those costs directly arising from the response to the particular incident. Reasonable costs shall include the costs of providing police, coroner, fire fighting, rescue, emergency medical services, or utility response at the scene of the incident, as well as the salaries of the personnel responding to the incident.
     (14) "Public agency" means the state, and a city, county, municipal corporation, district, town, or public authority located, in whole or in part, within this state which provides or may provide fire fighting, police, ambulance, medical, or other emergency services.
     (15) "Incident command system" means: (a) An all-hazards, on-scene functional management system that establishes common standards in organization, terminology, and procedures; provides a means (unified command) for the establishment of a common set of incident objectives and strategies during multiagency/multijurisdiction operations while maintaining individual agency/jurisdiction authority, responsibility, and accountability; and is a component of the national interagency incident management system; or (b) an equivalent and compatible all-hazards, on-scene functional management system.
     (16) "Radio communications service company" has the meaning ascribed to it in RCW 82.14B.020.
     (17) "Disaster medical assistance team" means any volunteer team designed to provide medical care during an emergency or disaster or other event that is formed as a response team under the guidance of the national disaster medical system which consists of professional and paraprofessional medical personnel and logistical and administration personnel who have been certified by the federal government to serve on such a team.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2   A new section is added to chapter 38.52 RCW to read as follows:
     (1) In the event of an emergency or disaster or if there is reasonable cause to believe that an emergency or disaster is imminent, the governor may call a Washington disaster medical assistance team into state service.
     (2) A member of a disaster medical assistance team called into state service shall be afforded all the protections of this chapter, including the right to workers' compensation and death benefits, if the member provides direct medical care to a victim of an emergency or disaster or provides other support services during an emergency or disaster.
     (3) The disaster medical assistance team shall provide the department with the names of all members of the disaster medical assistance team, as well as their assignments, contact information, employer's name, employer's contact information, and any other information that the department determines is necessary. The information shall be provided to the department no later than two weeks after a member joins the disaster medical assistance team. In the event that the disaster medical assistance team is called into service by the governor, the department shall promptly notify the employer of each member of the team.
     (4) The department may adopt any rules necessary to carry out the provisions of this section.
     (5) In the event of a federal disaster occurring concurrently with a state disaster, the federal government shall have the first right to call the disaster medical assistance team into service.
     (6) The department shall pursue an agreement with the federal government to allow the disaster medical assistance team to use the equipment and supplies available for federal service to be used in response to a call to service by the governor. If an agreement is executed under this subsection and there is any use of the federal equipment and supplies, the governor shall include a request for funds necessary to reimburse the federal government in the next budget submission to the legislature. In the event that reimbursement to the federal government is necessary prior to the adoption of the next budget, the governor may reimburse the federal government in the manner described in RCW 38.24.010.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 3   A new section is added to chapter 38.52 RCW to read as follows:
     (1) No act or omission by a member of a disaster medical assistance team while engaged in a covered activity shall impose any liability for civil damages resulting from such an act or omission upon:
     (a) The member of the disaster medical assistance team;
     (b) The supervisor or supervisors of the member of the disaster medical assistance team;
     (c) Any health care facility or their officers or employees;
     (d) The owner of the property or vehicle where the act or omission may have occurred during the covered activity;
     (e) The local disaster medical assistance team that the member of the disaster medical assistance team is affiliated with; or
     (f) The state or any state or local governmental entity.
     (2) The immunity in subsection (1) of this section applies only when the member of the disaster medical assistance team was engaged in a covered activity:
     (a) Without compensation or expectation of compensation;
     (b) Within the scope of their assigned duties; and
     (c) Under the direction of the local disaster medical assistance team that the member of the disaster medical assistance team is affiliated with.
     (3) The immunity in subsection (1) of this section does not apply to any act or omission that constitutes gross negligence or willful or wanton misconduct.
     (4) For purposes of this section, "covered activity" means providing assistance or transportation during an emergency or disaster whether such assistance or transportation is provided at the scene of the emergency or disaster, an alternative care site, a hospital, or while in route to or from such sites or between sites.

Sec. 4   RCW 38.24.010 and 2005 c 9 s 2 are each amended to read as follows:
     All bills, claims and demands for military purposes shall be certified or verified and audited in the manner prescribed by regulations promulgated by the governor and shall be paid by the state treasurer from funds available for that purpose. In all cases where the organized militia, or any part of the organized militia, or a disaster medical assistance team as defined in RCW 38.52.010 is called into the service of the state to perform duties under RCW 38.08.040, except for anticipated planning, training, exercises, and other administrative duties that are not of an emergent nature, or to respond to an emergency or disaster as defined in RCW 38.52.010, warrants for allowed pay and expenses for such services or compensation for injuries or death or reimbursement for equipment and supplies shall be drawn upon the general fund of the state treasury and paid out of any moneys in said fund not otherwise appropriated. All such warrants shall be the obligation of the state and shall bear interest at the legal rate from the date of their presentation for payment.