SB 43-IMMUNITY FOR FIRE DEPT. & MEMBERS  CHAIR BISHOP announced the consideration of SB 43. 3:45:56 PM JORDAN SHILLING, Staff, Senator John Coghill, Alaska State Legislature, Juneau, Alaska, explained that SB 43 addresses a priority issue that came to Senator Coghill's attention during the interim from the Fairbanks North Star Borough. He specified that SB 43 addresses an inequity in the statutes regarding immunity. He said currently there is some immunity given to fire departments and their members in statute; in particular, that immunity applies to employees of municipal fire departments and municipal departments themselves. He specified that providing government immunity is fairly common and added that most, if not all states, give immunity to the staff of fire departments as well as the fire departments themselves because there are major risks in running a fire department. 3:47:57 PM MR. SHILLING said the bill addresses AS 09.65.070(c), the section applies to staff immunity of municipally operated fire departments. He specified that the concern pertains to the way the statute was written where immunity does not apply to the staff of the types of departments that Fairbanks has which are contract departments. He explained that the statute came into effect in 1975 as SB 257. He revealed that SB 257 was introduced by the Juneau Volunteer Fire Department and patterned after a Delaware statute. He stated that the problem with the statute is attributed to the language that seems to leave out departments that contract out with local governments. He noted that the committee's intent in 1975 was hard to delineate. He communicated that the bill's sponsor and the Fairbanks North Star Borough feel strongly that the liability protections should not be exclusive to employees of fire departments operated by municipalities, but should also be extended to include the staff of all fire departments that have a contractual relationship with local government. He added that the bill also provides immunity to contracted fire departments, the entity itself, not just the staff, and it adds to the existing immunity that municipal fire departments already have in subsection (d) of this section of law. SENATOR STEDMAN asked if there has been any litigation since the statute came into effect in 1977. MR. SHILLING answered that he is aware of one case that occurred in Fairbanks. 3:51:06 PM JILL DOLAN, Assistant Borough Attorney, Fairbanks North Star Borough, Fairbanks, Alaska, confirmed that there was one case that went to the Alaska Supreme Court that brought the issue to the forefront. She specified that the case was different because at the time, the fire chiefs of the involved fire department were municipal employees and were extended immunity. She revealed that due to the current situation where fire chiefs are actually employees of the nonprofits that the North Star Borough contracts with, the borough has a concern that the contracted fire departments will lose their immunity under the current law if they are no longer considered municipal employees. She noted that the other issue in the Regner Case, [Regner v. North Star Volunteer Fire Department], was whether or not the borough could get things dismissed as a matter of law under immunity or whether or not they became fact issues for the court. She revealed that the Regner Case is actually still continuing and has been in litigation that has spanned the course of several years. She opined that immunity litigation is taxing to the resources of the fire departments where costs gets passed along to the tax payers and impacts insurance rates. She summarized that the intent is to contain exposure and try to protect contracted fire departments from liability. SENATOR MACKINNON asked if the bill impacts a worker's compensation claim if a firefighter is hurt. MS. DOLAN answered that firefighters are covered under the workers' compensation laws and the bill does not impact workers' compensation claims. She specified that the bill pertains to actions such as a fire department responding to a fire and a homeowner complained that only one engine was sent rather than two. SENATOR MACKINNON addressed gross negligence and asked if there is a higher standard that a homeowner could still lay a claim. MS. DOLAN answered that as directed, the bill's version in front of the committee would exclude gross negligence. She summarized that no, a homeowner could not bring a claim under the circumstance noted by Senator MacKinnon. MR. SHILLING detailed that the bill establishes total immunity for fire departments. He noted that Ms. Dolan and the borough attorneys suggested that if the committee and the Legislature is uncomfortable with complete immunity, there is language in the 911 Immunity Statutes were an exception can be made for intentional misconduct and gross negligence, an extreme form of negligence. 3:55:35 PM MITCH FLYNN, Fire Chief, Steese Area Volunteer Fire Department, Fairbanks North Star Borough, Fairbanks, Alaska, added that he is also the CEO of a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that provides fire and emergency medical services (EMS) to the north and west of Fairbanks; approximately 2,200 square miles for EMS and 40 square miles for fire service areas. He said the Steese Fire Department is concerned about liability and the issue predates the Regner Case. He asserted that recruitment and retention is always a concern due to questions pertaining to liability. He said operating under possible exposure to liability becomes quite detrimental to managing a department where one worries about a lawsuit when responding to an emergency each day. He opined that if an incident happened and a lawsuit occurred in the course of the department doing its job, outside of gross negligence and willful acts of misconduct, 70,000 residents could be adversely effected by higher insurance premiums. He noted that the department's insurance broker has indicated that SB 45's passage will reduce risk and lower insurance premiums. He summarized that SB 45 will allow more tax dollars to go towards firefighting activities and less towards high insurance policy payouts. 3:58:33 PM CHAIR BISHOP asked if a volunteer department trains to the same standards as a municipal fire department. CHIEF FLYNN answered yes. He stated that training probably takes on more of an emphasis because the department trains every day, every shift trains. He noted that the staffing procedures at the Steese Area Volunteer Fire Department has improved the fire insurance premiums for homeowners, representing a 40 percent savings. He said total savings on an insurance premium for an average home ends up being about 2 to 1, so for every dollar paid in fire taxes, the department puts $2 back into homeowner's pockets. 4:00:35 PM SENATOR MACKINNON revealed that her two sons are volunteer firefighters and declared a potential conflict. She noted that the Legislature's legal department has actually rewritten and reenacted AS 09.65.070. She inquired how the legal department went about the rewrite and the possible effects on the definition section. She noted that the definitions remain the same in later portions of section (d) and addressed her concern for consistency throughout the statute. MR. SHILLING answered that he believes that all of the substantive elements of AS 09.65.070(c), as written now, are contained in the bill. He asserted that the only change brings the contract departments under the statute. He concurred with Senator MacKinnon that the statute was repealed and rewritten. He surmised that the action was done to fit current drafting conventions. He asked that Suzy Shutts, the drafter, to address the changes. SENATOR MACKINNON asked for comment from Ms. Shutts to address whether the rewrite was a drafting conformity or whether there is any possible ramifications that might be unknown from adding the contract departments. She asked if something is going to happen to the existing municipalities or village fire departments that are currently included under different language currently in section (c). 4:03:12 PM SUSIE SHUTTS, Attorney, Legislative Legal Services, Alaska State Legislature, Juneau, Alaska, explained that the appeal and reenactment was done to fit current drafting conformity. She specified that the two definitions in subsection (e), "municipality" and "village" are defined; that language is still used in (c) and the meaning would not be changed as far as the definitions are applied. 4:04:17 PM ROBERT GROVE, Chairman of the Board, Ester Volunteer Fire Service Area Commission, Fairbanks North Star Borough, Fairbanks, Alaska, noted that the liability issues for fire departments goes back for over 25 years. He stated that SB 43 is very appropriate and timely by addressing an issue of knowing whether or not a department is covered for liability. He recommends that the committee pass SB 43. 4:07:27 PM CHAIR BISHOP noted that Senator MacKinnon stated a potential conflict due to her two sons being volunteer firefighters. He declared that Senator MacKinnon has no conflict. SENATOR EGAN announced that he still is a trustee and a former volunteer for the Juneau Fire Department. CHAIR BISHOP called attention to Chief Flynn's comment that the realized savings from passing SB 43 could mean more assets going towards fighting fires and training, perhaps less requests coming to the Legislature as well. SENATOR EGAN asked what did Juneau do in 1975 and inquired if the legislation addressed Juneau's service districts prior to unification. MR. SHILLING answered that he did not know. CHAIR BISHOP closed public comment. CHAIR BISHOP declared that SB 43 will be held in committee.