Senate committee advances bill shielding veteran crisis responders from civil liability

Senator Johnson introduced Senate Bill 48 and told the Senate Judiciary Committee the bill aims to protect volunteers who respond to veterans in crisis from civil liability when they act in good faith. "Basically, we grant Good Samaritan protection to people who reach out and try to help others and to make sure they're not held civilly liable for the actions that they make in good faith," the sponsor said.

Sam Sellers, executive director of the nonprofit We Are The 22, described the group's veteran-to-veteran hotline and two-person response teams that carry trauma kits and, at times, wear body armor when answering late-night calls. "We're just fellow veterans who care enough to be there at 02:00 in the morning when they've got the bottle of Jack Daniels and the pistol on the table and are ready to — they're in a dark place," Sellers said, explaining the group's practice of responding directly to people in crisis.

Sellers told the committee his volunteers could not obtain liability insurance and that the bill is intended to remove the worry that a volunteer who acts in good faith could face a civil lawsuit if an intervention goes awry. "I don't want my guys to have in the back of their mind as they go out what's gonna happen if something does go sideways?" he said.

Sponsor Johnson framed the bill as consistent with other Good Samaritan protections that shield community volunteers, such as those who serve in volunteer fire departments. Joey Price, an attorney who joined Sellers at the table, said some states and federal law provide similar protections but the bill is intended to fill a gap in state law.

Committee members asked questions about the scale of the problem; the committee chair asked whether suicides had increased by 41 percent between the cited years, and Sellers affirmed the statistic. Sen. Tucker, a cosponsor, urged passage and said she had helped draft the legislation.

The committee made a motion to approve the bill, seconded, and the bill passed by voice vote with no recorded roll-call opposition on the transcript. The committee did not record individual member votes on the transcript; staff will include the committee's action in the bill record.