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Senate advances malpractice immunity bill for pandemic events after amendment adding 'felony' exception
Summary
The Utah Senate advanced SB 153, which extends limited immunity to health-care providers during declared pandemics, after adding an amendment specifying that immunity does not apply where the provider has engaged in felony criminal conduct. Lawmakers debated scope, licensure and malpractice insurance implications.
The Utah Senate on floor action advanced Senate Bill 153, a measure that provides limited immunity from malpractice liability to health-care providers and facilities acting during declared emergencies such as pandemics, after adopting an amendment narrowing the immunity exceptions.
Senator Howard A. Bell, sponsor, told colleagues the bill “in certain circumstances expands the application of immunity from liability during an emergency to health care facilities” but retains exceptions for gross negligence or conduct that caused the emergency. He described the provision as the product of lengthy meetings with banks, construction and title interests and other stakeholders that produced the compromise now before the Senate.
During debate senators pressed on policy limits and unintended effects. Senator Margaret Hilliard warned about licensure and insurance consequences, asking how out‑of‑state professionals would be treated and whether immunity might leave victims without remedies. Hilliard said the Uniform State Laws drafting process had wrestled with similar questions.
Senator Bell proposed — and the body adopted — a verbal amendment to insert the word “felony” before “criminal conduct” in the list of exceptions so that immunity would not cover providers who engaged in felony criminal conduct. Bell explained the change as refining the bill’s exception language.
Other senators noted operational data that informed the discussion: the transcript record cites 45 acute-care hospitals statewide with 4,915 beds and 662 ventilators, and speakers repeatedly framed the measure as addressing resource and personnel shortages during a large-scale public-health event.
After the amendment votes and a division call on the floor, the Senate approved the amended bill to be read for a third time; the clerk announced the result as 26 yes, 0 no, with 3 absent. The bill will return for final passage procedures and be sent to the House for its further action.
The debate left unresolved practical questions senators raised about how an emergency would be declared under Title 26A and how malpractice insurance markets might respond to expanded statutory immunity. Sponsors said they would refine definitions and intent language as the bill moves forward.
