Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB1466 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	I
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION H. R. 1466
5	5	To amend the Public Health Service Act to clarify liability protections
6	6	regarding emergency use of automated external defibrillators.
7	7	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
8	8	FEBRUARY21, 2025
9	9	Mr. S
10	10	COTTFRANKLINof Florida (for himself, Mr. CONNOLLY, Mr. BILIRAKIS,
11	11	Mr. S
12	12	OTO, Mrs. CAMMACK, Mr. CALVERT, Mr. VANDREW, Mr. CLINE,
13	13	and Mr. B
14	14	EYER) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
15	15	Committee on Energy and Commerce
16	16	A BILL
17	17	To amend the Public Health Service Act to clarify liability
18	18	protections regarding emergency use of automated exter-
19	19	nal defibrillators.
20	20	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
21	21	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
22	22	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
23	23	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Cardiac Arrest Sur-4
24	24	vival Act of 2025’’. 5
25	25	SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6
26	26	Congress finds the following: 7
27	27	(1) Establishing a nationally uniform baseline 8
28	28	of protection from civil liability for persons who use 9
29	29	VerDate Sep 11 2014 08:28 Mar 12, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1466.IH H1466
30	30	kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 2
31	31	•HR 1466 IH
32	32	automated external defibrillators (in this section re-1
33	33	ferred to as ‘‘AEDs’’) in perceived medical emer-2
34	34	gencies, who own or hold other property interests in 3
35	35	AEDs used in perceived medical emergencies, or who 4
36	36	own, occupy, or manage premises in which an AED 5
37	37	is used or from which an AED is taken for use in 6
38	38	a perceived medical emergency will encourage the 7
39	39	deployment of additional AEDs, which will ulti-8
40	40	mately save lives that would otherwise have been lost 9
41	41	to cardiac arrest. 10
42	42	(2) The current patchwork of State ‘‘Good Sa-11
43	43	maritan’’ laws provides incomplete, inconsistent, 12
44	44	and, in some instances, inadequate protection for en-13
45	45	tities considering the acquisition or deployment of 14
46	46	AEDs. In these circumstances, concerns about po-15
47	47	tential liability resulting from the good-faith acquisi-16
48	48	tion and deployment of this life-saving technology 17
49	49	are inhibiting its deployment. 18
50	50	(3) Such concerns are especially acute for enti-19
51	51	ties with operations or facilities in multiple States, 20
52	52	yet such entities are also among those in which the 21
53	53	widespread deployment of AEDs would be most ben-22
54	54	eficial. 23
55	55	(4) A nationally uniform baseline of protection 24
56	56	from civil liability is needed for persons who use 25
57	57	VerDate Sep 11 2014 08:28 Mar 12, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1466.IH H1466
58	58	kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 3
59	59	•HR 1466 IH
60	60	AEDs in perceived medical emergencies, who own or 1
61	61	hold other property interests in AEDs used in per-2
62	62	ceived medical emergencies, or who own, occupy, or 3
63	63	manage premises in which an AED is used or from 4
64	64	which an AED is taken for use in a perceived med-5
65	65	ical emergency. 6
66	66	SEC. 3. LIABILITY REGARDING EMERGENCY USE OF AUTO-7
67	67	MATED EXTERNAL DEFIBRILLATORS. 8
68	68	Section 248 of the Public Health Service Act (42 9
69	69	U.S.C. 238q) is amended to read as follows: 10
70	70	‘‘SEC. 248. LIABILITY REGARDING EMERGENCY USE OF 11
71	71	AUTOMATED EXTERNAL DEFIBRILLATORS. 12
72	72	‘‘(a) G
73	73	OODSAMARITANPROTECTIONS.— 13
74	74	‘‘(1) I
75	75	N GENERAL.—Except as provided in sub-14
76	76	section (e), a person described in paragraph (2) is 15
77	77	immune from civil liability for any harm resulting 16
78	78	from the use or attempted use of an automated ex-17
79	79	ternal defibrillator device (in this section referred to 18
80	80	as an ‘AED’). 19
81	81	‘‘(2) G
82	82	OOD SAMARITAN DESCRIBED .—A person 20
83	83	described in this paragraph is a person who— 21
84	84	‘‘(A) uses or attempts to use an AED on 22
85	85	a victim of a perceived medical emergency, and 23
86	86	‘‘(B) is not the owner-acquirer (as defined 24
87	87	in subsection (c)(2)) of the AED. 25
88	88	VerDate Sep 11 2014 08:28 Mar 12, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1466.IH H1466
89	89	kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 4
90	90	•HR 1466 IH
91	91	‘‘(b) PREMISESOWNER/LESSEE/MANAGERPROTEC-1
92	92	TIONS.— 2
93	93	‘‘(1) I
94	94	N GENERAL.—Except as provided in sub-3
95	95	section (e), a person described in paragraph (2) is 4
96	96	immune from civil liability for any harm resulting 5
97	97	from such use or attempted use of an AED. 6
98	98	‘‘(2) P
99	99	REMISES OWNER/LESSEE/MANAGER DE-7
100	100	SCRIBED.—A person described in this paragraph is 8
101	101	a person who— 9
102	102	‘‘(A) owns, occupies under a lease or simi-10
103	103	lar arrangement, or manages— 11
104	104	‘‘(i) the premises at which an AED is 12
105	105	used or attempted to be used on a victim 13
106	106	of a perceived medical emergency, or 14
107	107	‘‘(ii) the premises from which an AED 15
108	108	used or attempted to be used on a victim 16
109	109	of a perceived medical emergency is taken 17
110	110	for such use, and 18
111	111	‘‘(B) is not the owner-acquirer of such 19
112	112	AED. 20
113	113	‘‘(c) D
114	114	EVICEOWNER-ACQUIRERPROTECTIONS.— 21
115	115	‘‘(1) I
116	116	N GENERAL.—Except as provided in sub-22
117	117	section (e), an owner-acquirer of an AED is immune 23
118	118	from civil liability for any harm resulting from the 24
119	119	use or attempted use of such AED, unless the harm 25
120	120	VerDate Sep 11 2014 08:28 Mar 12, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1466.IH H1466
121	121	kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 5
122	122	•HR 1466 IH
123	123	was proximately caused by the failure of the owner- 1
124	124	acquirer to properly maintain the AED according to 2
125	125	the guidelines of the manufacturer of the AED. 3
126	126	‘‘(2) O
127	127	WNER-ACQUIRER DEFINED .—For pur-4
128	128	poses of this section, the term ‘owner-acquirer’ 5
129	129	means any person who owns or has otherwise ac-6
130	130	quired a possessory property interest in an AED 7
131	131	that is used or attempted to be used on a victim of 8
132	132	a perceived medical emergency. 9
133	133	‘‘(d) A
134	134	PPLICABILITY OFIMMUNITY INCERTAINCIR-10
135	135	CUMSTANCES.—The immunity provided by subsections 11
136	136	(a), (b), and (c) of this section shall apply regardless of 12
137	137	whether— 13
138	138	‘‘(1) the AED that is used or attempted to be 14
139	139	used is marked with, or accompanied by, cautionary 15
140	140	signage; 16
141	141	‘‘(2) the AED that is used or attempted to be 17
142	142	used is registered with any government; 18
143	143	‘‘(3) the person who used or attempted to use 19
144	144	the AED saw, read, understood, complied with, or 20
145	145	attempted to comply with any cautionary signage 21
146	146	present; 22
147	147	‘‘(4) the person who used or attempted to use 23
148	148	the AED had received any training relating to the 24
149	149	use of— 25
150	150	VerDate Sep 11 2014 08:28 Mar 12, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1466.IH H1466
151	151	kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 6
152	152	•HR 1466 IH
153	153	‘‘(A) AEDs in general; or 1
154	154	‘‘(B) the particular AED used or at-2
155	155	tempted to be used; or 3
156	156	‘‘(5) the person who used or attempted to use 4
157	157	the AED was assisted or supervised by any other 5
158	158	person, including a licensed physician. 6
159	159	‘‘(e) I
160	160	NAPPLICABILITY OF IMMUNITY IN CERTAIN 7
161	161	C
162	162	IRCUMSTANCES.—Notwithstanding subsection (d), im-8
163	163	munity under subsection (a), (b), or (c)(1) does not apply 9
164	164	to a person if— 10
165	165	‘‘(1) such person’s willful or criminal mis-11
166	166	conduct, gross negligence, reckless misconduct, or a 12
167	167	conscious, flagrant indifference to the rights or safe-13
168	168	ty of the victim proximately caused the harm in-14
169	169	volved; 15
170	170	‘‘(2) such person is a licensed or certified health 16
171	171	professional who used the AED while acting within 17
172	172	the scope of the license or certification of the profes-18
173	173	sional and within the scope of the employment or 19
174	174	agency of the professional; 20
175	175	‘‘(3) such person is a hospital, clinic, or other 21
176	176	entity whose purpose is providing health care di-22
177	177	rectly to patients, and the harm was caused by an 23
178	178	employee or agent of the entity who used the AED 24
179	179	VerDate Sep 11 2014 08:28 Mar 12, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1466.IH H1466
180	180	kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 7
181	181	•HR 1466 IH
182	182	while acting within the scope of the employment or 1
183	183	agency of the employee or agent; or 2
184	184	‘‘(4) such person is an owner-acquirer of the 3
185	185	AED who leased the AED to a health care entity (or 4
186	186	who otherwise provided the AED to such entity for 5
187	187	compensation without selling the AED to the entity), 6
188	188	and the harm was caused by an employee or agent 7
189	189	of the entity who used the AED while acting within 8
190	190	the scope of the employment or agency of the em-9
191	191	ployee or agent. 10
192	192	‘‘(f) R
193	193	ULES OFCONSTRUCTION.— 11
194	194	‘‘(1) I
195	195	N GENERAL.—The following apply with 12
196	196	respect to this section: 13
197	197	‘‘(A) This section does not establish any 14
198	198	cause of action, or require that an AED be 15
199	199	placed at any building or other location. 16
200	200	‘‘(B) With respect to the class of persons 17
201	201	for which this section provides immunity from 18
202	202	civil liability, this section preempts the law of 19
203	203	any State to the extent that the otherwise-appli-20
204	204	cable State law would allow for civil liability in 21
205	205	any circumstance where this section would pro-22
206	206	vide immunity from civil liability. 23
207	207	VerDate Sep 11 2014 08:28 Mar 12, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1466.IH H1466
208	208	kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 8
209	209	•HR 1466 IH
210	210	‘‘(C) This section does not waive any pro-1
211	211	tection from liability for Federal officers or em-2
212	212	ployees under— 3
213	213	‘‘(i) section 233 of this title; or 4
214	214	‘‘(ii) sections 1346(b), 2672, and 5
215	215	2679 of title 28, United States Code, or 6
216	216	under alternative benefits provided by the 7
217	217	United States where the availability of 8
218	218	such benefits precludes a remedy under 9
219	219	section 1346(b) of such title 28. 10
220	220	‘‘(2) C
221	221	IVIL ACTIONS UNDER FEDERAL LAW .— 11
222	222	‘‘(A) I
223	223	N GENERAL.—The applicability of 12
224	224	subsections (a), (b), (c), (d), and (e) includes 13
225	225	applicability to any action for civil liability de-14
226	226	scribed in subsection (a), (b), or (c) that arises 15
227	227	under Federal law. 16
228	228	‘‘(B) F
229	229	EDERAL AREAS ADOPTING STATE 17
230	230	LAW.—If a geographic area is under Federal 18
231	231	jurisdiction and is located within a State but 19
232	232	out of the jurisdiction of the State, and if, pur-20
233	233	suant to Federal law, the law of the State ap-21
234	234	plies in such area regarding matters for which 22
235	235	there is no applicable Federal law, then an ac-23
236	236	tion for civil liability described in subsection 24
237	237	(a), (b), or (c) that in such area arises under 25
238	238	VerDate Sep 11 2014 08:28 Mar 12, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1466.IH H1466
239	239	kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 9
240	240	•HR 1466 IH
241	241	the law of the State is subject to subsections 1
242	242	(a) through (f) in lieu of any related State law 2
243	243	that would apply in such area in the absence of 3
244	244	this subparagraph. 4
245	245	‘‘(g) F
246	246	EDERALJURISDICTION.— 5
247	247	‘‘(1) In any civil action arising under State law, 6
248	248	the courts of the State involved have jurisdiction to 7
249	249	apply the provisions of this section. 8
250	250	‘‘(2) The actual, asserted, or potential applica-9
251	251	tion of any provision of this section in any civil ac-10
252	252	tion or as to any civil claim shall not establish the 11
253	253	original jurisdiction of the Federal courts over such 12
254	254	action or claim under section 1331 of title 28, 13
255	255	United States Code. 14
256	256	‘‘(h) D
257	257	EFINITIONS.— 15
258	258	‘‘(1) P
259	259	ERCEIVED MEDICAL EMERGENCY .—For 16
260	260	purposes of this section, the term ‘perceived medical 17
261	261	emergency’ means circumstances in which the behav-18
262	262	ior of an individual leads a reasonable person to be-19
263	263	lieve that the individual is experiencing a life-threat-20
264	264	ening medical condition that requires an immediate 21
265	265	medical response regarding the heart or other 22
266	266	cardiopulmonary functioning of the individual. 23
267	267	‘‘(2) O
268	268	THER DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of 24
269	269	this section: 25
270	270	VerDate Sep 11 2014 08:28 Mar 12, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1466.IH H1466
271	271	kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 10
272	272	•HR 1466 IH
273	273	‘‘(A) The term ‘automated external 1
274	274	defibrillator device’ or ‘AED’ means a 2
275	275	defibrillator device that— 3
276	276	‘‘(i) is commercially distributed in ac-4
277	277	cordance with the Federal Food, Drug, 5
278	278	and Cosmetic Act; 6
279	279	‘‘(ii) is capable of recognizing the 7
280	280	presence or absence of ventricular fibrilla-8
281	281	tion, and is capable of determining without 9
282	282	intervention by the user of the device 10
283	283	whether defibrillation should be performed; 11
284	284	‘‘(iii) upon determining that 12
285	285	defibrillation should be performed, is able 13
286	286	to deliver an electrical shock to an indi-14
287	287	vidual; and 15
288	288	‘‘(iv) in the case of a defibrillator de-16
289	289	vice that may be operated in either an 17
290	290	automated or a manual mode, is set to op-18
291	291	erate in the automated mode. 19
292	292	‘‘(B) The term ‘cautionary signage’ means, 20
293	293	with respect to an AED, any verbal or non- 21
294	294	verbal markings or language purporting to limit 22
295	295	use of the AED by members of the general pub-23
296	296	lic or to permit use of the AED only by persons 24
297	297	with specific skills, qualifications, or training. 25
298	298	VerDate Sep 11 2014 08:28 Mar 12, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1466.IH H1466
299	299	kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 11
300	300	•HR 1466 IH
301	301	‘‘(C)(i) The term ‘harm’ includes physical, 1
302	302	nonphysical, economic, and noneconomic losses. 2
303	303	‘‘(ii) The term ‘economic loss’ means any 3
304	304	pecuniary loss resulting from harm (including 4
305	305	the loss of earnings or other benefits related to 5
306	306	employment, medical expense loss, replacement 6
307	307	services loss, loss due to death, burial costs, and 7
308	308	loss of business or employment opportunities) 8
309	309	to the extent recovery for such loss is allowed 9
310	310	under applicable State law. 10
311	311	‘‘(iii) The term ‘noneconomic losses’ means 11
312	312	losses for physical and emotional pain, suf-12
313	313	fering, inconvenience, physical impairment, 13
314	314	mental anguish, disfigurement, loss of enjoy-14
315	315	ment of life, loss of society and companionship, 15
316	316	loss of consortium (other than loss of domestic 16
317	317	service), hedonic damages, injury to reputation 17
318	318	and all other nonpecuniary losses of any kind or 18
319	319	nature.’’. 19
320	320	Æ
321	321	VerDate Sep 11 2014 08:28 Mar 12, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H1466.IH H1466
322	322	kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB