BILL ANALYSIS �
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 2151|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 2151
Author: Wagner (R)
Amended: 6/24/14 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE GOVERNANCE & FINANCE COMMITTEE : 7-0, 6/18/14
AYES: Wolk, Knight, Beall, DeSaulnier, Hernandez, Liu, Walters
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 72-0, 5/19/14 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Counties: search and rescue: costs
SOURCE : Orange County Board of Supervisors
DIGEST : This bill allows counties to seek reimbursement from
residents age 16 or older for search and rescue costs, under
specified circumstances.
ANALYSIS : Existing 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 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.
Existing 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
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AB 2151
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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. Existing 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
the cost of providing rescue or emergency medical services.
This bill 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,
including, but not limited to, the cost of operating vehicles or
aircraft, the salaries of employees, and the cost of providing
emergency medical services.
This bill 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, including but not
limited to, the cost of operating vehicles or aircraft, the
salaries of employees, and the cost of providing emergency
medical services.
In order to recover the costs, the need for the search and
rescue had to necessitate the use of extraordinary methods and
was caused by any of the following:
1. Any intentional act in knowing violation of any federal or
state law or local ordinance.
2. Any act or omission by the person searched for or rescued
that shows wanton and reckless misconduct in disregard for
his/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.
The bill 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.
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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/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 wilful 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.
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Comments
In 2013, two teenagers in Orange County became lost while
hiking, resulting in an extensive search that cost the
responding agencies more than $160,000. The hikers admitted to
being under the influence of drugs when they became disoriented
and lost their way. Counties find it difficult to bear the
financial burdens of extraordinary search and rescue costs.
This bill holds individuals who break the law, or who are
reckless, accountable for the costs of an extraordinary search
and rescue effort to aid them.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No Local:
No
SUPPORT : (Verified 6/24/14)
Orange County Board of Supervisors (source)
California State Association of Counties
California State Firefighters Association
Orange County Fire Authority
Orange County Taxpayers Association
Rural County Representatives of California
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author, "The proposal
would allow the County to recover the actual cost of
extraordinary search or rescue efforts from a resident who is 16
years of age or older and whose act in violation of any federal
or state law or local ordinance, or any act or omission that
shows wanton and reckless misconduct in disregard for their
safety, was a contributing factor to the need for the County's
search or rescue or for another county's search or rescue of
that resident."
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 72-0, 5/19/14
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Bigelow, Bloom, Bocanegra,
Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown, Buchanan, Ian Calderon,
Campos, Chau, Ch�vez, Chesbro, Conway, Cooley, Dababneh,
Dahle, Daly, Dickinson, Donnelly, Eggman, Fong, Fox, Frazier,
Beth Gaines, Garcia, Gatto, Gordon, Gorell, Gray, Grove,
Hagman, Hall, Harkey, Roger Hern�ndez, Holden, Jones,
Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Linder, Logue, Lowenthal, Maienschein,
Medina, Melendez, Mullin, Muratsuchi, Olsen, Pan, Patterson,
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Perea, John A. P�rez, V. Manuel P�rez, Quirk, Quirk-Silva,
Rendon, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Skinner, Stone, Ting,
Wagner, Waldron, Wieckowski, Wilk, Williams, Yamada, Atkins
NO VOTE RECORDED: Ammiano, Gomez, Gonzalez, Mansoor, Nazarian,
Nestande, Weber, Vacancy
AB:d 6/25/14 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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