I 

109TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4698 

To provide liability protection for individuals who volunteer to assist victims 

of national disasters. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 1, 2006 

Mr. SENSENBRENNER introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To provide liability protection for individuals who volunteer 

to assist victims of national disasters. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Disaster Relief Volun5 teer Protection Act of 2006’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 The Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) It is in the national interest to encourage 

9 individuals to volunteer to assist victims of national 

10 disasters. 
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1 (2) The exposure of potential volunteers, their 

2 employers, and those who would use volunteers’ serv3 ices under existing law to compensatory and punitive 

4 damages for negligent acts discourages the provision 

5 of these services. 

6 (3) The availability of damages in these cir7 cumstances for actions that constitute gross neg8 ligence creates uncertainty concerning the actual 

9 conduct that might cause liability to be imposed on 

10 volunteers. 

11 (4) Potential liability for acts of volunteers dis12 courages the employers or business partners of po13 tential volunteers from permitting those potential 

14 volunteers to provide disaster relief services. 

15 (5) Potential liability for acts of volunteers dis16 courages entities that might use the services pro17 vided by volunteers in national disasters from doing 

18 so. 

19 (6) Well-founded fear of liability under existing 

20 law for providing goods discourages governmental 

21 and intergovernmental entities from providing need22 ed disaster relief goods. 

23 (7) Well-founded fear of liability for punitive 

24 damages under existing law discourages govern25 mental and intergovernmental entities from pro-
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1 viding needed disaster relief goods and discourages 

2 potential volunteers from providing volunteer serv3 ices to disaster victims. 

4 (8) Fear of compensatory and punitive damages 

5 for providing volunteer services deters potential vol6 unteers from states located outside the national dis7 aster area from providing volunteer services. 

8 (9) Fear of compensatory and punitive damages 

9 for providing volunteer services deters potential for10 eign volunteers from providing disaster relief serv11 ices. 

12 (10) Any lessening of liability for volunteers 

13 providing disaster relief services, their employers and 

14 business partners, and entities utilizing their serv15 ices should maintain adequate incentives for each of 

16 these classes of persons or entities to avoid causing 

17 harm. 

18 (11) Unwillingness to provide volunteer services 

19 to disaster victims in the face of uncertain liability 

20 substantially affects, burdens, and deters interstate 

21 commerce and travel. 

22 (12) Unwillingness of employers and business 

23 partners to allow their employees and business part24 ners to provide disaster relief services in the face of 
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1 uncertain liability substantially affects, burdens, and 

2 deters interstate commerce and travel. 

3 (13) Unwillingness of persons, entities, or orga4 nizations to accept disaster relief services from vol5 unteers in the face of uncertain liability substantially 

6 affects, burdens, and deters interstate commerce and 

7 travel. 

8 (14) Unwillingness by foreigners to provide vol9 untary disaster relief services in the face of uncer10 tain liability substantially affects, burdens, and de11 ters foreign commerce and travel. 

12 (15) Unless Congress provides uniform stand13 ards to address disasters that could occur in any 

14 State or combination of states, potential volunteers 

15 and others will not be certain which laws would gov16 ern their providing disaster relief services, which 

17 would substantially affect, burden, and deter inter18 state and foreign commerce and travel in the event 

19 of a national disaster. 

20 SEC. 3. DISASTER RELIEF VOLUNTEERS. 

21 (a) LIABILITY OF DISASTER RELIEF VOLUN22 TEERS.—A disaster relief volunteer shall not be liable for 

23 any injury (including personal injury, property damage or 

24 loss, and death) caused by an act or omission of such vol-
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1 unteer in connection with such volunteer’s providing or fa2 cilitating the provision of disaster relief services if— 

3 (1) the injury was not caused by willful, wan4 ton, or reckless misconduct by the volunteer; and 

5 (2) the injury was not caused by the volunteer’s 

6 operating a motor vehicle, vessel, aircraft, or other 

7 vehicle for which the state requires the operator or 

8 the owner of the vehicle, craft, or vessel to— 

9 (A) possess an operator’s license; or 

10 (B) maintain insurance. 

11 (b) LIABILITY OF EMPLOYER OR PARTNER OF DIS12 ASTER RELIEF VOLUNTEER.—An employer or business 

13 partner of a disaster relief volunteer shall not be liable 

14 for any act or omission of such volunteer in connection 

15 with such volunteer’s providing or facilitating the provi16 sion of disaster relief services. 

17 (c) LIABILITY OF HOST OR ENABLING PERSON, EN18 TITY, OR ORGANIZATION.—A person or entity, including 

19 a governmental entity, that works with, accepts services 

20 from, or makes its facilities available to a disaster relief 

21 volunteer to enable such volunteer to provide disaster re22 lief services shall not be liable for any act or omission of 

23 such volunteer in connection with such volunteer’s pro24 viding such services. 
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1 (d) LIABILITY OF NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS.—A 

2 nonprofit organization shall not be liable for any injury 

3 (including personal injury, property damage or loss, and 

4 death) caused by an act or omission in connection with 

5 such nonprofit organization’s providing or facilitating the 

6 provision of disaster relief services if the injury was not 

7 caused by willful, wanton, or reckless misconduct by the 

8 nonprofit organization. 

9 (e) LIABILITY OF GOVERNMENTAL AND INTERGOV10 ERNMENTAL ENTITIES FOR DONATIONS OF DISASTER

11 RELIEF GOODS.—A governmental or intergovernmental 

12 entity that donates to an agency or instrumentality of the 

13 United States disaster relief goods shall not be liable for 

14 any injury (including personal injury, property damage or 

15 loss, and death) caused by such donated goods if the in16 jury was not caused by willful, wanton, or reckless mis17 conduct by such governmental or intergovernmental enti18 ty. 

19 (f) LIMITATION ON PUNITIVE AND NONECONOMIC

20 DAMAGES BASED ON ACTIONS OF DISASTER RELIEF

21 VOLUNTEERS AND GOVERNMENTAL DONORS.— 

22 (1) PUNITIVE DAMAGES.—Unless the claimant 

23 establishes by clear and convincing evidence that its 

24 damages were proximately caused by willful, wanton, 

25 or reckless misconduct by either— 
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1 (A) a disaster relief volunteer in any civil 

2 action brought for injury caused by the volun3 teer’s providing or facilitating the provision of 

4 disaster relief services; or 

5 (B) a governmental or intergovernmental 

6 entity in any civil action brought for injury 

7 caused by disaster relief goods donated by such 

8 governmental or intergovernmental entity; 

9 punitive damages may not be awarded in any civil 

10 action against such a volunteer or governmental en11 tity. 

12 (2) NONECONOMIC DAMAGES.— 

13 (A) GENERAL RULE.—In any civil action 

14 brought against— 

15 (i) a disaster relief volunteer for in16 jury caused by such volunteer’s providing 

17 or facilitating the provision of disaster re18 lief services; or 

19 (ii) a governmental or intergovern20 mental entity for injury caused by disaster 

21 relief goods donated by such governmental 

22 entity; 

23 liability for noneconomic loss, if permitted 

24 under subsection (a) or (e) of this section, shall 
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1 be determined in accordance with this subpara2 graph. 

3 (B) AMOUNT OF LIABILITY.—(i) The 

4 amount of noneconomic loss allocated to the 

5 disaster relief volunteer or governmental or 

6 intergovernmental entity defendant shall be in 

7 direct proportion to the percentage of responsi8 bility of that defendant (determined in accord9 ance with clause (ii)) for the harm to the claim10 ant with respect to which that defendant is lia11 ble. The court shall render a separate judgment 

12 against each defendant in an amount deter13 mined pursuant to this section. 

14 (ii) For purposes of determining the 

15 amount of noneconomic loss allocated to a de16 fendant, the trier of fact shall determine the 

17 percentage of responsibility of each person or 

18 entity responsible for the claimant’s harm, 

19 whether or not such person or entity is a party 

20 to the action. 

21 (g) CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this section shall be 

22 construed to abrogate or limit any protection that a volun23 teer, as defined in the Volunteer Protection Act of 1997 

24 (42 U.S.C. 14501 et seq.), may be entitled to under that 

25 Act. Neither shall anything in this section be construed 
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1 to confer any private right of action or to abrogate or limit 

2 any protection with respect to either liability or damages 

3 that any disaster relief volunteer or governmental or inter4 governmental entity may be entitled to under any other 

5 provision of law. 

6 (h) SUPPLEMENTAL DECLARATION.—If a Disaster 

7 Declaration is issued, the President, the Secretary of 

8 Health and Human Services, or the Secretary of Home9 land Security may issue a Supplemental Declaration under 

10 this section. 

11 (1) TEMPORAL EFFECT.—Such Supplemental 

12 Declaration may provide that, for purposes of this 

13 section, such Disaster Declaration shall have such 

14 temporal effect as the President or the Secretary 

15 may deem necessary or appropriate to further the 

16 public interest, including providing that such Dis17 aster Declaration shall have an effective date earlier 

18 than the date of the declaration or determination of 

19 such Disaster Declaration. 

20 (2) GEOGRAPHIC AND OTHER CONDITIONS.— 

21 Such Supplemental Declaration may provide that, 

22 for purposes of this section, such Disaster Declara23 tion shall have such geographic or other conditions 

24 as the President or the Secretary may deem nec25 essary or appropriate to further the public interest. 
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1 (i) LICENSING, CERTIFICATION, AND AUTHORIZA2 TION.—This section shall not apply to a disaster relief vol3 unteer where the disaster relief service such volunteer pro4 vides is of a type that generally requires a license, certifi5 cate, or authorization, and the disaster relief volunteer 

6 lacks such license, certificate, or authorization, unless— 

7 (1) such volunteer is licensed, certified, or au8 thorized to provide such services in any State to the 

9 extent required, if any, by the appropriate authori10 ties of that State, even if such State is not the State 

11 in which the disaster relief volunteer provides dis12 aster relief services; or 

13 (2) otherwise specified in a Disaster Declara14 tion or Supplemental Declaration under this section. 

15 (j) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section: 

16 (1) The term ‘‘Disaster Declaration’’ means— 

17 (A) a public health emergency declaration 

18 by the Secretary of Health and Human Services 

19 under section 319 of the Public Health Service 

20 Act (42 U.S.C. 247d); 

21 (B) a declaration of a public health emer22 gency or a risk of such emergency as deter23 mined by the Secretary of Homeland Security 

24 in accordance with clause (i) or clause (ii) of 

25 section 2811(b)(3)(A) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 
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1 300hh–11(b)(3)(A)) and section 503(5) of the 

2 Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 

3 313(5)); or 

4 (C) an emergency or major disaster dec5 laration by the President under section 401 or 

6 501 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief 

7 and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5170 

8 or 5191). 

9 (2) The term ‘‘disaster relief volunteer’’ means 

10 an individual who provides disaster relief services in 

11 connection with a Disaster Declaration without ex12 pectation or receipt of compensation in exchange for 

13 providing such services. 

14 (3) The term ‘‘disaster relief services’’ means 

15 services or assistance provided in preparation for, re16 sponse to, or recovery from any event that is the 

17 subject of a Disaster Declaration, including but not 

18 limited to health, medical, fire fighting, rescue, re19 construction, and any other services or assistance 

20 specified by a Supplemental Declaration under this 

21 section as necessary or desirable to prepare for, re22 spond to, or recover from an event that is the sub23 ject of a Disaster Declaration. 

24 (4) The term ‘‘disaster relief good’’ means ei25 ther— 
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1 (A) those goods provided in preparation 

2 for, response to, or recovery from any event 

3 that is the subject of a Disaster Declaration 

4 and reasonably necessary to such preparation, 

5 response, or recovery; or 

6 (B) those goods defined by a Disaster Dec7 laration or Supplemental Declaration under this 

8 section. 

9 (5) The term ‘‘noneconomic loss’’ means losses 

10 for physical and emotional pain, suffering, inconven11 ience, physical impairment, mental anguish, dis12 figurement, loss of enjoyment of life, loss of society 

13 and companionship, loss of consortium (other than 

14 loss of domestic service), hedonic damages, injury to 

15 reputation, and all other nonpecuniary losses of any 

16 kind or nature. 

17 (6) The term ‘‘State’’ means each of the several 

18 States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth 

19 of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, American 

20 Samoa, the Northern Mariana Islands, any other 

21 territory or possession of the United States, or any 

22 political subdivision of any such State, territory, or 

23 possession, and (for purposes of subsection (h)) any 

24 foreign country. 
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1 (7) The term ‘‘compensation’’ means monetary 

2 or other compensation of any kind provided in ex3 change for an individual’s services, but does not in4 clude— 

5 (A) reasonable reimbursement or allowance 

6 for expenses actually incurred by such an indi7 vidual; 

8 (B) provision of reasonable supplies, lodg9 ing, or transportation to such an individual; or 

10 (C) such an individual’s ordinary salary or 

11 compensation paid by his or her employer while 

12 such individual is on leave from his or her ordi13 nary duties with such employer in order to pro14 vide disaster relief services. 

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