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Architects, engineers urge committee to treat disaster response volunteers as state employees for liability and workers’ comp protections
Summary
Ken Folarski and the Rhode Island Architects and Engineers Emergency Response Task Force urged support for HB5157 to classify disaster response workers as state employees for workers’ compensation and legal defense; they said classification encourages out-of-state responders to assist during disasters.
Ken Folarski, president of the Rhode Island Architects and Engineers Emergency Response Task Force 7, testified in support of House Bill 5157, which would deem disaster response workers state employees for purposes of workers’ compensation and defense by the attorney general while responding in their duties.
Folarski explained that second responders—architects, engineers and building professionals—conduct post-disaster building safety assessments that inform state emergency operations and federal reimbursement. He said classification as state employees would provide workers’ compensation, death benefits and legal representation, and ensure out-of-state specialists will respond when requested. "Without these protections... architects and engineers will also not come from other states as well," he said in testimony.
Folarski told the committee this measure would protect both public safety—by enabling timely building assessments—and the state’s ability to document damage for FEMA reimbursement. The committee received written testimony and closed the hearing on HB5157 in the provided excerpt; no committee vote was recorded in the excerpt.
