SB 97 - AS AMENDED BY THE SENATE
03/27/03 0921s
2003 SESSION
06/01
SENATE BILL 97
COMMITTEE: Executive Departments and Administration
This bill declares that firefighters working for a private firefighting unit which has contracted with a local governing body are agents of the municipality and enjoy the same privileges and immunities as the employees of the municipality.
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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.
Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]
Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
03/27/03 0921s
03-1061
06/01
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Three
AN ACT limiting the liability of firefighters working for certain private firefighting units.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
1 Status of Firefighters who are Members of Private Firefighting Units Which Contract with a Municipality. Amend RSA 154:1-d, II to read as follows:
II. Any firefighter, paid or volunteer, who is acting in an official capacity under the direction or supervision of the elected or appointed fire chief, or designee, of a municipal fire department organized in accordance with RSA 154:1, or who is a member of a not for profit private firefighting unit which has contracted with a municipality or other political subdivision and is organized in accordance with RSA 154:1-c, or who is participating in a fire department activity sanctioned by the local governing body or its designee, shall be an agent of the municipality, enjoying the same privileges and immunities as the municipality or employees of the municipality. Such privileges and immunities include, but are not limited to, indemnification for civil rights damages to the extent set forth in RSA 31:106, and indemnification for any other accidental damages to the extent set forth in RSA 31:105, if the municipality has adopted that section.
2 Effective Date. This act shall take effect 60 days after its passage.
LBAO
03-1061
4/7/03
SB 97 FISCAL NOTE
AN ACT limiting the liability of firefighters working for certain private firefighting units.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The New Hampshire Municipal Association indicates this bill, as amended by the Senate (Senate Amendment #2003-0921s), will have an indeterminable increase in local expenditures in FY 2003 and each year thereafter. There is no fiscal impact on state, county and local revenue or state and county expenditures.
METHODOLOGY:
The New Hampshire Municipal Association states this bill makes private fire fighters agents of the municipality which will place additional risk of lawsuit for those municipalities using private fire fighting units. The Association states that even though the municipality must contract with the private unit, the unit is not under the direct control of the municipality, therefore, municipalities are likely to incur added expense for insurance coverage against risk of lawsuit for the acts or omissions of these private fire fighting units. The amount of this increased expense is indeterminable.