Bill would let lifeguards’ liability protection lapse

City and county leaders warned Wednesday that Hawaii taxpayers will pay the price if state lawmakers refuse to pass a bill extending liability protection for lifeguards working at public beaches.

State law currently provides limited protection from lawsuits when lifeguards undertake rescues, which shields the counties, the state and the lifeguards themselves from lawsuits except in cases where there is “gross negligence or wanton acts or omissions” on the part of the lifeguards.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Scott Nishimoto advanced a draft of Senate Bill 562 last week that would allow that liability shield to end on June 30, prompting the Kauai, Maui and Honolulu mayors as well as several council members to call a news conference Wednesday to urge lawmakers to extend that protection.

Without that liability protection, the counties could be vulnerable to expensive lawsuits each time someone is injured or drowns at a county or city beach, county officials said.

Kauai County Council Chairman Mel Rapozo said the proposed House draft of the bill “does absolutely nothing but punish the counties, and the only people that benefit from this action that’s about to pass (are) the trial attorneys, the personal injury attorneys who stand to gain a significant amount of revenue because they will now have the ability to sue the counties and the state.”

Nishimoto issued a written statement after the news conference countering that the measure he crafted is “a balanced and fair bill that addresses the safety and protection of lifeguards and the public.”

He said other first responders such as police, firefighters and emergency medical technicians do not have the same level of legal immunity that the state has granted to lifeguards in the existing law. “The amended bill treats all first responders equally,” Nishimoto said.

According to Nishimoto’s statement, “the current law leaves members of the public, who are injured or die because a lifeguard may have performed his or her job in an unreasonable manner, without any way to seek justice. If your loved one is hurt or dies due to negligence, would you not want the right to seek resolution? Under the current law, you have no recourse.”

Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell said the city will not remove any of its 236 lifeguards from the county beaches where they work now if Nishimoto’s version of the bill passes. He said those lifeguards perform 3,100 rescues a year, and “we’re going to continue to do our job, but we’re asking the state Legislature to help us to do that job.”

Lawmakers in the state Senate approved a draft of SB 562 that would extend the liability protections for county lifeguards until June 30, 2021, and lawmakers are now expected to meet in conference committee to try to work out the differences between the House and Senate drafts of the bill.

If those negotiations fail and lawmakers do nothing, the liability protection for the counties will expire on June 30.