PRINTER'S NO. 1206
No. 916 Session of 2005
INTRODUCED BY GREENLEAF, EARLL, O'PAKE, RAFFERTY, BOSCOLA,
LEMMOND, WOZNIAK, WAUGH AND C. WILLIAMS, OCTOBER 11, 2005
REFERRED TO TRANSPORTATION, OCTOBER 11, 2005
AN ACT
1 Amending Title 75 (Vehicles) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated
2 Statutes, further providing for liability for emergency
3 response in flooded roadways and highways; and providing for
4 exclusion from insurance coverage under certain
5 circumstances.
6 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
7 hereby enacts as follows:
8 Section 1. Title 75 of the Pennsylvania Consolidated
9 Statutes is amended by adding a section to read:
10 § 3720. Liability for emergency response in flooded roadway or
11 highway.
12 (a) General rule.--Any person who intentionally, knowingly
13 and willfully drives a vehicle on a roadway or highway that is
14 temporarily covered by a rise in water level, including
15 groundwater or overflow of water, and has been closed to the
16 public by competent authority, where such closure is posted by
17 sign, barricade or other device because of flooding, shall be
18 liable for the expenses of emergency response required to remove
19 from the roadway or highway the driver or any passenger in the
1 vehicle that becomes inoperable or the vehicle that becomes
2 inoperable, or both.
3 (b) Reckless driving.--Any person convicted of violating
4 section 3736 (relating to reckless driving) for driving a
5 vehicle into any area that is temporarily covered by a rise in
6 water level, including groundwater or overflow of water may,
7 upon conviction, be sentenced to pay the expenses of any
8 emergency response required to remove from the area the driver
9 or any passenger in the vehicle that becomes inoperable or the
10 vehicle that becomes inoperable, or both.
11 (c) Liability.--
12 (1) The expenses of the emergency response shall be a
13 charge against the person liable for those expenses pursuant
14 to subsection (a) or (b). The charge constitutes a debt of
15 that person and may be collected proportionately by the
16 public agency, for-profit entity or not-for-profit entity
17 that incurred the expenses.
18 (2) The person's liability for the expenses of an
19 emergency response shall not exceed $2,000 for a single
20 incident.
21 (3) The liability imposed under this section is in
22 addition to and not in limitation of any other liability that
23 may be imposed.
24 (d) Exclusion of insurance coverage.--An insurance policy
25 may exclude coverage for a person's liability for expenses of an
26 emergency response under this section.
27 (e) Definitions.--As used in this section, the following
28 words and phrases shall have the meanings given to them in this
29 subsection:
30 "Expenses of an emergency response." Those reasonable and
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1 necessary costs directly incurred by a public agency, for-profit
2 entity or not-for-profit entity that makes an appropriate
3 emergency response to an incident. The term includes the costs
4 of providing police, firefighting, search and rescue and
5 emergency medical services at the scene of an incident and
6 salaries of the persons who respond to the incident. The term
7 does not include charges assessed by an ambulance service.
8 "Public agency." The Commonwealth and a city, county,
9 municipal corporation or other public authority that is located
10 in whole or in part in this Commonwealth and that provides
11 police, firefighting, medical or other emergency services.
12 Section 2. This act shall take effect in 60 days.
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