Senate committee advances transport bill after debate over immunity language

The Senate Medical Affairs Committee voted to advance S299, a bill that updates transportation rules for mental‑health patients and provides civil‑liability protections for third‑party carriers that meet departmental minimum standards — but the move came after sustained questioning about how broad that immunity should be.

Committee staff said the measure, modeled on statutes from another state, would extend certain certificate timeframes and allow relatives to participate in transport if a patient is not a flight or safety risk. The bill also adds hospitals and departmental entities to those allowed to arrange transportation and creates civil‑liability immunity for law enforcement, EMTs, certifying physicians and third‑party contractors when they meet the department’s minimum standards.

Several senators pressed staff and sponsors to tighten the immunity language. One senator warned that the provision appears to afford lower standards to third‑party contractors than to governmental entities and said the bill should not reduce protections for vulnerable patients. Staff responded that the minimum standards are intended to preserve care quality, that violations of those standards remain actionable, and that sponsors were open to amending the language; the bill was passed out of committee with a recommendation to continue refining the statutory text.

Sponsors and staff said the bill grew from incidents in 2018 and was reviewed by the Department of Mental Health (now referenced as Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities in the draft language). The committee accepted the subcommittee’s recommendation and reported the bill favorably on the understanding that sponsors will work with members to define and, if necessary, tighten the statutory immunity standards before final passage.

The committee’s report sends S299 to the Senate floor; staff said the measure was intended to improve transport safety while limiting liability where third‑party carriers meet regulatory standards.