BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON GOVERNANCE AND FINANCE
Senator Robert M. Hertzberg, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
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|Bill No: |AB 896 |Hearing |6/24/15 |
| | |Date: | |
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|Author: |Wagner |Tax Levy: |No |
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|Version: |2/26/15 |Fiscal: |No |
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|Consultant|Lewis |
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Counties: search AND rescue: costs
Allows counties to seek reimbursement from residents age 16 or
older for search and rescue costs under specified conditions.
Background and Existing Law
State law allows a county board of supervisors to authorize the
sheriff to search for and rescue persons who are lost or are in
danger of their lives within or in the immediate vicinity of the
county. The expenses incurred by the sheriff for the search and
rescue are a proper county charge. The county or city and
county that performed the search and rescue can bill the county
or city and county of residence of the person searched for or
rescued for all the reasonable expenses exceeding $100.
State law allows public agencies to recover the costs of
emergency response and search and rescue costs under certain
circumstances. Public agencies may recover up to $12,000 from
the driver of a motor vehicle, boat, or plane under the
influence of alcohol or drugs whose negligent operation of the
vehicle resulted in an emergency response. Any person who
intentionally enters into an area that is closed to the public
resulting in a search and rescue also is liable for search and
rescue costs up to $12,000. State law also allows counties and
public agencies to charge a person who negligently or in
violation of the law sets a fire or allows a fire to be set, for
AB 896 (Wagner) 2/26/15 Page 2
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the cost of providing rescue or emergency medical services.
From 1995 to 1999, state law allowed a county or city and county
that is billed by another county or city and county for a search
and rescue of one of its residents who is 16 years of age or
older to seek reimbursement from that resident for the cost
incurred by the county. The law also required a person 16 years
of age or older living within a county or city and county who is
searched for or rescued to pay the county or city and county for
the actual cost incurred for the search or rescue within 30 days
after being billed for those charges. In order to recover the
costs, the need for the search and rescue had to necessitate the
use of extraordinary methods and be caused by one of the
following factors:
Any intentional act in knowing violation of any federal
or state law or local ordinance.
Any act or omission by the person searched for or
rescued that shows wanton and reckless misconduct in
disregard for his or her safety.
The law prohibited the county or city and county from collecting
charges from those persons who the county or city and county
determined were unable to pay. The city and county also could
not bill a resident more than $5,000 for a search and rescue.
According to the courts, "wanton misconduct is intentional
wrongful conduct, done either with a knowledge that serious
injury to another will probably result, or with a wanton and
reckless disregard of the possible results." The courts have
found that three essential elements must be present to raise a
negligent act to the level of willful or wanton misconduct: (1)
actual or constructive knowledge of the peril to be apprehended,
(2) actual or constructive knowledge that injury is a probable,
as opposed to a possible, result of the danger, and (3)
conscious failure to act to avoid the peril.
Some local officials want to reinstate the statutory authority
to allow counties to recover costs of search and rescue from
residents that break the law or behave recklessly, and raise the
liability cap from $5,000 to $12,000.
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Proposed Law
Assembly Bill 896 allows a county or city and county that is
billed by another county or city and county, for a search and
rescue of one of its residents who is 16 years or age or older,
to seek reimbursement from that resident for the actual costs
incurred, if the need for the search or rescue necessitated the
use of extraordinary methods and was caused by either or both of
the following:
Any intentional act in knowing violation of any federal
or state law or local ordinance;
Any act or omission by the person searched for or
rescued that shows wanton and reckless misconduct in
disregard for his or her safety.
AB 896 requires a person 16 years of age or older living within
a county or city and county, who is searched for or rescued, to
pay the county or city and county conducting the search or
rescue for the actual cost incurred within 30 days, of the need
for the search and rescue necessitated the use of extraordinary
methods and was caused by either, or both of the following:
Any intentional act in knowing violation of any federal
or state law or local ordinance;
Any act or omission by the person searched for or
rescued that shows wanton and reckless misconduct in
disregard for his or her safety.
The bill prohibits the county or city and county from collecting
charges from those persons who the county or city and county
determine are unable to pay.
AB 896 prohibits a county or city and county from billing a
resident more than $12,000, adjusted annually for inflation as
determined by the Department of Industrial Relations, for a
search or rescue, unless the search or rescue is the result of a
criminal violation punishable as a felony.
The bill further provides that a county or a city and county may
only seek reimbursement as authorized by the bill if the board
of supervisors adopts an ordinance consistent with this bill.
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State Revenue Impact
No estimate.
Comments
1. Purpose of the bill . In 2013, two teenagers became lost
while hiking in Orange County, resulting in an extensive search
that cost the responding agencies more than $160,000. The
hikers later admitted to being under the influence of drugs,
which led them to become disoriented and lost. Counties find it
difficult to bear the financial burdens of extraordinary search
and rescue costs. AB 896 would hold individuals who break the
law, or who are reckless, accountable for the costs of an
extraordinary search and rescue effort to aid them.
2. Stuck with the bill. Several states use methods other than
billing their citizens to recoup some of their search and rescue
costs. For example, Colorado and New Hampshire offer voluntary
"hike safe" cards to hikers, ranging in price from $3-25 per
year per person, the revenue from which is used to help offset
state agencies' search and rescue costs. In New Hampshire,
which enacted a law similar to AB 896 in 1999, "hike safe"
cardholders are indemnified from liability for any search and
rescue costs brought about by their own negligence. As of last
month, New Hampshire had sold approximately 1,400 "hike safe"
cards, which generated about $36,000 in revenue. While
indemnifying irresponsible hiking may be controversial,
recovering search and rescue costs from hikers after the fact
can prove difficult and time consuming for counties.
Furthermore, the prospect of being billed thousands of dollars
after being rescued could deter people in need from calling for
help. It is unclear that billing hikers for their own search
and rescue after the fact is an optimal way to of offset
counties' search and rescue costs.
3. Previous legislation. This bill is virtually identical to AB
2151 (Wagner, 2014), which this Committee passed on June 18,
2014. Governor Brown eventually vetoed AB 2151, citing the
bill's "vague language that may create an incentive for counties
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to abuse the authority" granted by the bill, and the fact that
"current law already allows counties to recover costs for search
and rescue through a civil lawsuit if they can prove 'gross
negligence' on behalf of the rescued individual." In his veto
message, the Governor expressed concern that charging
individuals up to $12,000 without filing a civil suit could
deprive citizens of their right to due process. This bill is
indistinguishable from the legislation the Governor vetoed.
Assembly Actions
Assembly Local Government 7-1
Assembly Floor 73-1
Support and
Opposition (6/18/15)
Support : California State Sheriff's Association; Rural County
Representatives of California.
Opposition : Unknown.
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