HB 1073 -
By Committee on Government Operations & Elections
ADOPTED 04/11/2007
Strike everything after the enacting clause and insert the following:
"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 or search and rescue, or
during 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."
HB 1073 -
By Committee on Government Operations & Elections
ADOPTED 04/11/2007
On page 1, line 1 of the title, after "workers;" strike the remainder of the title and insert "amending RCW 38.52.010 and 38.52.180; and repealing RCW 38.52.570."