BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó






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          |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE            |                        AB 896|
          |Office of Senate Floor Analyses   |                              |
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                                   THIRD READING 


          Bill No:  AB 896
          Author:   Wagner (R)
          Amended:  8/18/15 in Senate
          Vote:     21  

           SENATE GOVERNANCE & FIN. COMMITTEE:  6-0, 7/15/15
           AYES:  Hertzberg, Nguyen, Beall, Lara, Moorlach, Pavley
           NO VOTE RECORDED:  Hernandez

           ASSEMBLY FLOOR:  73-1, 5/28/15 - See last page for vote

           SUBJECT:   Counties: search or rescue: costs


          SOURCE:    Author
          
          DIGEST:   This bill allows counties to seek reimbursement from  
          residents age 16 or older for search and rescue costs under  
          specified conditions. 

          Senate Floor Amendments of 8/18/15 require that a person's  
          actions leading to the emergency must have resulted in a  
          criminal conviction in order to be billed by a county for his or  
          her search or rescue, rather than a violation of the law, and  
          not simply "wanton and reckless misconduct."

          ANALYSIS:   


          Existing law:

          1)Allows a county board of supervisors to authorize the sheriff  
            to search for and rescue persons who are lost or are in danger  








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            of their lives within or in the immediate vicinity of the  
            county.  

          2)Permits the county or city and county that performed the  
            search and rescue to bill the county or city and county of  
            residence of the person searched for or rescued for all the  
            reasonable expenses exceeding $100. 

          3)Authorizes public agencies to 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.  

          4)Makes any person who intentionally enters into an area that is  
            closed to the public resulting in a search and rescue liable  
            for search and rescue costs up to $12,000. 

          5)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 the cost of providing rescue or emergency  
            medical services.

          This bill:

          1)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 any act in  
            knowing violation of a federal or state law or local ordinance  
            that results in a criminal conviction.

          2)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 an act in knowing  
            violation of a federal or state law or local ordinance that  
            results in a criminal conviction.
             
          3)Prohibits the county or city and county from collecting  
            charges from those persons who the county or city and county  







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            determine are unable to pay.

          4)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 was caused by  
            an act that resulted in a felony conviction of that resident  
            under federal or state law.

          5)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.
          
          Background
          
          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  







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          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 and raise the liability cap from  
          $5,000 to $12,000.
          
          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 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.  

          Prior Legislation







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          This bill is virtually identical to AB 2151 (Wagner, 2014),  
          which the Senate Governance and Finance 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  
          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.

          FISCAL EFFECT:   Appropriation:    No          Fiscal  
          Com.:NoLocal:    No


          SUPPORT:   (Verified  8/13/15)




          California State Sheriff's Association


          Rural County Representatives of California 


          OPPOSITION:   (Verified  8/13/15)


          None received
           
           
          ASSEMBLY FLOOR:  73-1, 5/28/15
          AYES:  Achadjian, Alejo, Travis Allen, Baker, Bigelow, Bonilla,  
            Bonta, Brough, Brown, Calderon, Campos, Chang, Chau, Chávez,  
            Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Dababneh, Dahle, Daly, Dodd,  
            Eggman, Frazier, Beth Gaines, Gallagher, Cristina Garcia,  
            Gatto, Gipson, Gomez, Gordon, Gray, Hadley, Harper, Roger  
            Hernández, Holden, Irwin, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Kim, Lackey,  
            Levine, Linder, Lopez, Low, Maienschein, Mathis, McCarty,  
            Medina, Melendez, Mullin, Nazarian, Obernolte, O'Donnell,  







                                                                     AB 896  
                                                                    Page  6


            Olsen, Patterson, Perea, Quirk, Rendon, Ridley-Thomas,  
            Rodriguez, Salas, Santiago, Steinorth, Mark Stone, Thurmond,  
            Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Wilk, Williams, Wood, Atkins
          NOES:  Gonzalez
          NO VOTE RECORDED:  Bloom, Burke, Eduardo Garcia, Grove, Mayes,  
            Weber

          Prepared by:Toren Lewis / GOV. & F. / (916) 651-4119
          8/19/15 20:42:52



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