Bill > H7819

This bill establishes a new legal process allowing municipalities to recover costs incurred from responding to serious violent incidents, referred to as "mass casualty events," which are defined as incidents on private property resulting in death or serious bodily injury to three or more people. Specifically, a municipality can sue a "private property owner," meaning any private entity that owns or controls property, in superior court to recoup "extraordinary emergency response costs." These costs are defined as documented and reasonable expenses for police, fire, emergency medical services, mutual aid, overtime, specialized equipment, and investigations directly related to the event. To win such a lawsuit, the municipality must prove that the private property owner had a duty to maintain reasonable safety measures, negligently failed to do so, and that this negligence directly led to the mass casualty event and the resulting emergency response costs; the bill explicitly states it does not create strict liability, meaning the property owner is not automatically responsible. If successful, the municipality can recover these documented costs, plus reasonable attorney fees and interest, and this law applies to mass casualty events occurring on or after January 1, 2024, with lawsuits needing to be filed within three years of the event.