The Senate Judiciary Committee heard HB 1002 sponsored by Sen. Messmer and Sen. Liz Brown regarding civil immunity related to COVID-19. The bill protects health care providers from professional discipline for certain acts or omissions related to health care services provided during a state disaster emergency. The provider is not protected from discipline if the action, omission, or decision constitutes gross negligence or willful misconduct. The bill also specifies that orders and recommendations issued by local, state, and federal government agencies and officials during the emergency do not create new causes of action or new legal duties and are inadmissible at trial. The bill prohibits bringing a cause of action based on exposure or transmission to COVID-19 unless the individual can establish gross negligence or willful misconduct.
On March 24, the Committee amended the bill by consent to remove Amendment 12. Sen. Messmer presented Amendment 13 which updated the dates throughout the bill to be consistent with Senate Bill 1, removed Title 10 Section 7 from the bill, and removed other references. The chair held the bill.
On March 31, Sen Messmer presented Amendment 16 which essentially removes Amendments 12 and 13. Amendment 16 eliminates some sections of the original bill. The committee agreed to amend the bill by consent. The amended bill passed 7-1.
Read the bill at: http://iga.in.gov/legislative/2021/bills/house/1002