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Architects and engineers urge law change to extend workers’‑comp protections for disaster volunteers
Summary
Witnesses testified in support of House Bill 5155, a proposal to treat volunteer architects and engineers who respond to declared disasters as state employees for certain protections such as workers’ compensation; supporters said the change would restore volunteer capacity and avoid ‘standing down’ responders.
Representative Carter introduced House Bill 5155, which would clarify that architects and related professionals who volunteer during declared disasters are treated as state employees for certain protections, chiefly workers’ compensation and death benefits.
Kenneth Folarski, president of the Rhode Island Architects and Engineers Emergency Response Task Force, said the task force is currently "standing down" because an attorney-general opinion left responders without clear workers’ compensation coverage during declared disasters. Folarski said that after Superstorm Sandy the state’s quick assessments by expert volunteers helped secure federal reimbursement—approximately $39.4 million in relief funding—and that current statutory gaps are discouraging responders from volunteering.
"We just want to have that first protection," Folarski said, describing risks volunteers accept in the field including hazardous terrain, electrical hazards, and animal encounters. Folarski and Lynnette Foray Menard of the American Council of Engineering Companies urged the committee to expand language to make clear engineers are covered as well as architects. Committee members asked whether federal reimbursement to the state reimburses professional hours; witnesses explained the state can seek federal reimbursement for volunteer hours when volunteers are properly documented under emergency declarations, but volunteers do not themselves receive that federal money.
Witnesses and members discussed Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC) procedures that allow out-of-state licensed professionals to practice during declared disasters. The committee did not take final action on the bill at this hearing; the measure will be reviewed further under the committee’s hold-for-study motion.
