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Committee hears amendment to H657 narrowing provider immunity and fixing shelter statute exemption
Summary
An amendment to H657 would narrow immunity language so providers who rely in good faith on a certification form have immunity unless grossly negligent, and would correct a statutory exemption so shelter staff are not shielded from prohibitions against taking a child with intent to commit a criminal act.
The committee heard an amendment to H657 from Angela on March 31 that narrows immunity language and corrects an unintended statutory exemption in the sheltering statute.
Angela explained the amendment replaces broad immunity language with a more specific formulation: "An entity provider or health care professional who relies in good faith on a certification form presented by a person who claims to be a certified unaccompanied youth pursuant to the section shall be immune from liability for such reliance unless they act with gross negligence." The goal, she said, is to protect providers who follow the bill's processes while preserving remedies for victims of grossly negligent conduct.
She also described a separate fix to 13 BSA 1311 (transcribed in the hearing as written) that narrows an existing exemption. The correction restricts the exemption for shelter directors and staff so they remain exempt from prohibitions against knowingly sheltering or aiding a runaway child (subdivisions B1 and B2), but not from the prohibition that bars taking, enticing, or harboring a child with the intent of committing a criminal act. The revision was presented as a technical clarification identified by the Office of the Child, Youth and Family Advocate.
Committee members said the changes appeared to address earlier testimony and did not require a straw poll; they set the amendment as a clarifying fix to be included as the committee finalizes recommended language.
