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General Assembly Substitute Bill No. 939
January Session, 2021
:
AN ACT CONCERNING TH E CIVIL LIABILITY OF A PHYSICIAN WHO
ASSISTS A SWAT TEAM AND AN ARCHITECT WHO EVALUATES
SAFETY ELEMENTS IN THE AFTERMATH OF A MAJOR DISASTER
OR EMERGENCY.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. (NEW) (Effective October 1, 2021) Any person licensed to 1
practice medicine and surgery under the provisions of chapter 370 of 2
the general statutes, who, voluntarily and gratuitously and other than 3
in the course of such person's employment or practice, renders 4
emergency medical assistance in connection with the law enforcement 5
duties of a state, regional or municipal special weapons and tactics team, 6
shall not be liable to any person assisted for civil damages for any 7
personal injuries that result from acts or omissions by such licensed 8
person in rendering emergency medical assistance, which may 9
constitute ordinary negligence. The immunity provided in this section 10
shall not apply to acts or omissions constituting gross, wilful or wanton 11
negligence. 12
Sec. 2. (NEW) (Effective October 1, 2021) (a) Any architect licensed 13
pursuant to chapter 390 of the general statutes who, at the request of, 14
under the direction of, or in connection with a public safety official, 15 Substitute Bill No. 939
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voluntarily and without compensation, acts in good faith to assist such 16
official evaluating the safety of elements of a built environment in the 17
aftermath of a major disaster or emergency, as those terms are defined 18
in section 28-1 of the general statutes, shall: 19
(1) Be held to the same standard of care applicable to a public safety 20
official who would have performed an evaluation of the safety elements 21
of a built environment, if not for the major disaster or emergency, and 22
(2) Be subject to civil liability only upon a finding that the architect 23
failed to act as a reasonably prudent public safety official, as applicable 24
to the circumstances, would have acted under the same or similar 25
circumstances. 26
(b) The provisions of subsection (a) of this section shall exclusively 27
apply to acts or omissions by an architect that occur during the time 28
period that a declaration of a civil preparedness emergency pursuant to 29
section 28-9 of the general statutes is effective or for sixty days after the 30
issuance of such declaration, whichever is longer. 31
(c) For purposes of this section: 32
(1) "Built environment" means a human -made environment, 33
including homes, buildings, streets, sidewalks, parks and 34
transportation, energy and other infrastructure; and 35
(2) "Public safety official" means: 36
(A) A state or municipal police officer or firefighter; 37
(B) A building official or assistant building official under section 29-38
261 of the general statutes or the State Building Inspector or his or her 39
designee under section 29-252 of the general statutes; 40
(C) A member of a community emergency response team that is 41
activated by the Department of Emergency Services and Public 42
Protection, a local emergency preparedness official or a municipal police 43 Substitute Bill No. 939
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agency; 44
(D) An official from the Department of Emergency Services and 45
Public Protection; or 46
(E) An official from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. 47
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 October 1, 2021 New section
Sec. 2 October 1, 2021 New section
JUD Joint Favorable Subst.