I
105TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 1167
To grant immunity from personal civil liability, under certain circumstances,
to volunteers working on behalf of nonprofit organizations and govern-
mental entities.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH 20, 1997
Mr. INGLIS of South Carolina introduced the following bill; which was referred
to the Committee on the Judiciary
A BILL
To grant immunity from personal civil liability, under certain
circumstances, to volunteers working on behalf of non-
profit organizations and governmental entities.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Volunteer Protection
Act of 1997’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.
The Congress finds and declares that—
(1) the willingness of volunteers to offer their
services is deterred by potential for liability actions
against them and the organizations they serve;
(2) as a result, many nonprofit public and pri-
vate organizations and governmental entities, includ-
ing voluntary associations, social service agencies,
educational institutions, and other civic programs,
have been adversely affected by the withdrawal of
volunteers from boards of directors and service in
other capacities;
(3) the contribution of these programs to their
communities is thereby diminished, resulting in
fewer and higher cost programs than would be ob-
tainable if volunteers were participating; and
(4) because Federal funds are expended on use-
ful and cost-effective social service programs, many
of which are national in scope, depend heavily on
volunteer participation, and represent some of the
most successful public-private partnerships, protec-
tion of volunteerism through clarification and limita-
tion of the personal liability risks assumed by the
volunteer in connection with such participation is an
appropriate subject for Federal legislation.
(b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to promote
the interests of social service program beneficiaries and
taxpayers and to sustain the availability of programs, non-
profit organizations, and governmental entities that de-
pend on volunteer contributions by reforming the laws to
provide protection from personal financial liability to vol-
unteers serving nonprofit organizations and governmental
entities for actions undertaken in good faith on behalf of
such organizations.
SEC. 3. PREEMPTION.
This Act preempts the laws of any State to the extent
that such laws are inconsistent with this Act, except that
this Act shall not preempt any State law that provides
additional protections to volunteers or category of volun-
teers from personal liability in the performance of services
for a nonprofit organization or governmental organization.
SEC. 4. LIMITATION ON LIABILITY FOR VOLUNTEERS.
(a) LIABILITY PROTECTION FOR VOLUNTEERS.—Ex-
cept as provided in subsections (b) and (d), no volunteer
of a nonprofit organization or governmental entity shall
be liable for harm caused by an act or omission of the
volunteer on behalf of the organization or entity if—
(1) the volunteer was acting within the scope of
the volunteer’s responsibilities in the nonprofit orga-
nization or governmental entity at the time of the
act or omission;
(2) if appropriate or required, the volunteer was
properly licensed, certified, or authorized by the ap-
propriate authorities for the activities or practice in
the State, in which the harm occurred, undertaken
within the scope of the volunteer’s responsibilities in
the nonprofit organization or governmental entity;
and
(3) the harm was not caused by willful or crimi-
nal misconduct or a conscious, flagrant indifference
to the rights or safety of the individual harmed by
the volunteer.
(b) CONCERNING RESPONSIBILITY OF VOLUNTEERS
TO ORGANIZATIONS AND ENTITIES.—Nothing in this sec-
tion shall be construed to affect any civil action brought
by any nonprofit organization or any governmental entity
against any volunteer of such organization or entity.
(c) NO EFFECT ON LIABILITY OF ORGANIZATION OR
ENTITY.—Nothing in this section shall be construed to af-
fect the liability of any nonprofit organization or govern-
mental entity with respect to harm caused to any person,
except that in an action brought on the basis of such liabil-
ity punitive damages may not be awarded against such
organization or entity unless the harm was proximately
caused by the action of a volunteer of such organization
or entity which was willful or criminal or a conscious, fla-
grant indifference to the rights or safety of the individual
harmed.
(d) EXCEPTIONS TO VOLUNTEER LIABILITY PRO-
TECTION.—If the laws of a State limit volunteer liability
subject to one or more of the following conditions, such
conditions shall not be construed as inconsistent with this
section:
(1) A State law that requires a nonprofit orga-
nization or governmental entity to adhere to risk
management procedures, including mandatory train-
ing of volunteers.
(2) A State law that makes the organization or
entity liable for the acts or omissions of its volun-
teers to the same extent as an employer is liable for
the acts or omissions of its employees.
(3) A State law that makes a limitation of li-
ability inapplicable if the volunteer was operating a
motor vehicle, vessel, aircraft, or other vehicle for
which the State requires the operator or vehicle
owner to possess an operator’s license or to maintain
insurance.
(4) A State law that makes a limitation of li-
ability inapplicable if the civil action was brought by
an officer of a State or local government pursuant
to State or local law.
(5) A State law that makes a limitation of li-
ability applicable only if the nonprofit organization
or governmental entity provides a financially secure
source of recovery for individuals who suffer harm
as a result of actions taken by a volunteer on behalf
of the organization or entity. A financially secure
source of recovery may be an insurance policy within
specified limits, comparable coverage from a risk
pooling mechanism, equivalent assets, or alternative
arrangements that satisfy the State that the organi-
zation or entity will be able to pay for losses up to
a specified amount. Separate standards for different
types of liability exposure may be specified.
SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS.
For purposes of section 4:
(1) ECONOMIC
LOSS.—The term ‘‘economic
losses’’ means objectively verifiable monetary losses,
including past and future medical expenses, loss of
past and future earnings, cost of obtaining replace-
ment services in the home (including child care,
transportation, food preparation, and household
care), cost of making reasonable accommodations to
a personal residence, loss of employment, and loss of
business or employment opportunities.
(2) HARM.—The term ‘‘harm’’ includes phys-
ical, nonphysical, economic, and noneconomic losses.
(3) NONECONOMIC LOSSES.—The term ‘‘non-
economic losses’’ means losses for physical and emo-
tional pain, suffering, inconvenience, physical im-
pairment, mental anguish, disfigurement, loss of en-
joyment of life, loss of society and companionship,
loss of consortium (other than loss of domestic serv-
ice), hedonic damages, injury to reputation and all
other nonpecuniary losses of any kind or nature.
(4) NONPROFIT
ORGANIZATION.—The term
‘‘nonprofit organization’’ means any organization de-
scribed in section 501(c) of the Internal Revenue
Code of 1986 and exempt from tax under section
501(a) of such Code.
(5) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means each of
the several States, the District of Columbia, the
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands,
Guam, American Samoa, the Northern Mariana Is-
lands, any other territory or possession of the Unit-
ed States, or any political subdivision of any such
State, territory, or possession.
(6) VOLUNTEER.—The term ‘‘volunteer’’ means
an individual performing services for a nonprofit or-
ganization or a governmental entity who does not re-
ceive—
(A) compensation (other than reimburse-
ment or allowance for expenses actually in-
curred); or
(B) any other thing of value in lieu of com-
pensation,
in excess of $300 per year, and such term includes
a volunteer serving as a director, officer, trustee, or
direct service volunteer.
SEC. 6. EFFECTIVE DATE.
Section 4 applies to any claim for harm caused by
an act or omission of a volunteer filed on or after the date
of enactment of this Act, without regard to whether the
harm that is the subject of the claim or the conduct that
caused the harm occurred before such date of enactment.
Æ