House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda

House of Representatives
Session of 2019 - 2020 Regular Session

Posted:	January 27, 2020 01:32 PM
From:	Representative Michael J. Driscoll
To:	All House members
Subject:	Limited Liability for Volunteer Park Organizations

Community parks offer area residents an opportunity to directly interact with nature, as well as participate in a variety of outdoor recreational activities. Often, community parks and/or their related community centers provide a safe environment in which educational programs are offered, as well as theatre, mentoring programs, youth violence reduction initiatives, services for disabled individuals, older adult services, recycling opportunities, urban agriculture, and physical recreational and sports activities. These programs and activities are often organized and maintained by volunteer park organizations which are dedicated to the advocacy, care, and enhancement of park spaces, but fall under the authority of the local municipal or county government. With any activity or volunteer organization comes a risk and sometimes unintended consequences when their programs are open to the public. Unfortunately, no matter how well organized and maintained, accidents do sometimes occur, especially in an outdoor setting. Therefore, to protect volunteer park organizations, I plan to introduce legislation to provide that a volunteer park organization cannot generally be held liable for volunteer public services, programs or projects. I hope you will join me in co-sponsoring this important measure.
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Introduced as HB2310