BILL REQ. #:  Z-0293.2 

Read first time 01/09/2007.   Referred to Committee on Government Operations & Elections.

     AN ACT Relating to emergency workers; amending RCW 38.52.010 and 38.52.180; and repealing RCW 38.52.570.

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.

Sec. 2   RCW 38.52.180 and 1987 c 185 s 7 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) There shall be no liability on the part of anyone including any person, partnership, corporation, the state of Washington or any political subdivision thereof who owns or maintains any building or premises which have been designated by a local organization for emergency management as a shelter from destructive operations or attacks by enemies of the United States for any injuries sustained by any person while in or upon said building or premises, as a result of the condition of said building or premises or as a result of any act or omission, or in any way arising from the designation of such premises as a shelter, when such person has entered or gone upon or into said building or premises for the purpose of seeking refuge therein during destructive operations or attacks by enemies of the United States or during tests ordered by lawful authority, except for an act of willful negligence by such owner or occupant or his servants, agents, or employees.
     (2) All legal liability for damage to property or injury or death to persons (except an emergency worker, regularly enrolled and acting as such), caused by acts done((,)) or attempted during or while traveling to or from an emergency or disaster, search and rescue, or training or exercise authorized by the department in preparation for an emergency or disaster or search and rescue, under the color of this chapter in a bona fide attempt to comply therewith, except as provided in subsections (3), (4), and (5) of this section regarding covered volunteer emergency workers, shall be the obligation of the state of Washington. Suits may be instituted and maintained against the state for the enforcement of such liability, or for the indemnification of persons appointed and regularly enrolled as emergency workers while actually engaged in emergency management duties, or as members of any agency of the state or political subdivision thereof engaged in emergency management activity, or their dependents, for damage done to their private property, or for any judgment against them for acts done in good faith in compliance with this chapter: PROVIDED, That the foregoing shall not be construed to result in indemnification in any case of willful misconduct, gross negligence or bad faith on the part of any agent of emergency management: PROVIDED, That should the United States or any agency thereof, in accordance with any federal statute, rule or regulation, provide for the payment of damages to property and/or for death or injury as provided for in this section, then and in that event there shall be no liability or obligation whatsoever upon the part of the state of Washington for any such damage, death, or injury for which the United States government assumes liability.
     (3) No act or omission by a covered volunteer emergency worker while engaged in a covered activity shall impose any liability for civil damages resulting from such an act or omission upon:
     (a) The covered volunteer emergency worker;
     (b) The supervisor or supervisors of the covered volunteer emergency worker;
     (c) Any facility or their officers or employees;
     (d) The employer of the covered volunteer emergency worker;
     (e) The owner of the property or vehicle where the act or omission may have occurred during the covered activity;
     (f) Any local organization that registered the covered volunteer emergency worker; and
     (g) The state or any state or local governmental entity.
     (4) The immunity in subsection (3) of this section applies only when the covered volunteer emergency worker was engaged in a covered activity:
     (a) Within the scope of his or her assigned duties;
     (b) Under the direction of a local emergency management organization or the department, or a local law enforcement agency for search and rescue; and
     (c) The act or omission does not constitute gross negligence or willful or wanton misconduct.
     (5) For purposes of this section:
     (a) "Covered volunteer emergency worker" means an emergency worker as defined in RCW 38.52.010 who (i) is not receiving or expecting compensation as an emergency worker from the state or local government, or (ii) is not a state or local government employee unless on leave without pay status.
     (b) "Covered activity" means:
     (i) Providing assistance or transportation authorized by the department during an emergency or disaster or search and rescue as defined in RCW 38.52.010, whether such assistance or transportation is provided at the scene of the emergency or disaster or search and rescue, at an alternative care site, at a hospital, or while in route to or from such sites or between sites; or
     (ii) Participating in training or exercise authorized by the department in preparation for an emergency or disaster or search and rescue.
     (6) Any requirement for a license to practice any professional, mechanical or other skill shall not apply to any authorized emergency worker who shall, in the course of performing his duties as such, practice such professional, mechanical or other skill during an emergency described in this chapter.
     (((4))) (7) The provisions of this section shall not affect the right of any person to receive benefits to which he would otherwise be entitled under this chapter, or under the workers' compensation law, or under any pension or retirement law, nor the right of any such person to receive any benefits or compensation under any act of congress.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 3   RCW 38.52.570 (Immunity from liability for covered volunteers) and 2006 c 72 s 2 are each repealed.