STAND. COM. REP. NO. 295

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 1009

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2013

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committees on Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs and Judiciary and Labor, to which was referred S.B. No. 1009 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO TORT LIABILITY,"

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to make permanent Act 170, Session Laws of Hawaii 2002 (Act 170), which shields county lifeguards from liability, with certain exceptions, by repealing the sunset date.

 

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of the Attorney General; Department of Land and Natural Resources; State Fire Council; Kauai Fire Department; Department of the Corporation Council, City and County of Honolulu; Honolulu Emergency Services Department, City and County of Honolulu; Department of Fire and Public Safety, County of Maui; County Council, County of Maui; Hawaii Fire Department, County of Hawaii; and Hawaiian Lifeguard Association.  Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Hawaii Association for Justice.

 

     Your Committees find that the liability protections afforded to lifeguards under Act 170 will sunset on June 30, 2014.  Act 170 provides liability protection for lifeguard services on the beach or in the ocean, except for gross negligence or wanton acts or omissions. 

 

This limited liability protection is necessary because in the past, certain counties would not provide lifeguard services at state beach parks due to the fear of potential liability that might ensue.  Your Committees find that Act 170 has created a climate in which lifeguard services can be provided by the counties without fear of liability, and therefore, it is a life-saving measure that should be made permanent.

 

     Your Committees have amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Inserting an effective date of January 1, 2020, to encourage further discussion; and

 

     (2)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

 

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs and Judiciary and Labor that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1009, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1009, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs and Judiciary and Labor,

 

____________________________

CLAYTON HEE, Chair

 

____________________________

WILL ESPERO, Chair