ROB BONTA Attorney General
AGO 20-301
AGO 20-301
California Attorney General Opinion
Office of the Attorney General State of California
February 3, 2022
ROB
BONTA Attorney General :
ANYA
M. BINSACCA Deputy Attorney General
The
HONORABLE THOMAS J. UMBERG, STATE SENATOR, has requested an
opinion on a question relating to Good Samaritan immunity.
QUESTION
PRESENTED AND CONCLUSION
Does
the declaration of a shelter crisis under Government Code
section 8698 or a state of emergency under Government Code
section 8625 create or define a “scene of an
emergency” for purposes of the Good Samaritan law in
Health and Safety Code section 1799.102?
No.
Although a scene of an emergency within the meaning of Health
and Safety Code section 1799.102 may sometimes exist within
an area where a shelter crisis or state of emergency has been
declared, such declarations do not, in and of themselves,
categorically create or define a scene of an emergency under
Health and Safety Code section 1799.102.
BACKGROUND
California
has a substantial population of people without
homes.1 Concern for the healthcare needs of this
unhoused population prompted the question here. We are
informed that medical professionals otherwise willing to
volunteer medical services to unhoused individuals sometimes
decline to do so based on concerns relating to insurance
coverage and liability issues. Senator Umberg asks whether
these professionals could be exempted from liability by the
Good Samaritan provision in Health and Safety Code section
1799.102.
Common
law principles provide that a person generally has no duty to
come to the aid of another, but if a person elects to provide
aid, that gives rise to a duty to exercise due care in doing
so.2
Good Samaritan laws are a legislative response to this due
care requirement, limiting or eliminating liability for those
who offer aid with no expectation of payment.[3]
The
Good Samaritan law at issue here, Health and Safety Code
section 1799.102, generally shields from liability a person
who provides emergency care, not for compensation, at the
“scene of an emergency.”4 We are asked whether the
declaration of a shelter crisis under Government Code section
8698, or the declaration of a state of emergency under
Government Code section 8625, creates or defines a scene of
an emergency within the meaning of Health and Safety Code
section 1799.102.
Government
Code section 8698 allows political entities—including
the State, cities, counties, and certain public
agencies—to declare a “shelter
crisis.”5 A shelter crisis is “a situation in
which a significant number of persons are without the ability
to obtain shelter, resulting in a threat to their health and
safety.”6 A shelter crisis declaration limits the
political entity’s liability for allowing the use of
public facilities for housing, and relaxes standards
regarding housing, health, and safety in favor of mitigating
the shelter crisis.7
Government
Code section 8625 empowers the Governor to declare a
“state of emergency” when conditions of disaster
or extreme peril to the safety of people or property exist
because of specified conditions, including natural disasters,
riots, and cyberterrorism, and the conditions are beyond the
ability of one locality to handle
independently.8 The Governor may declare a state of
emergency at the request of a local official (a city mayor or
authorized county official), or if the Governor finds that a
local government authority is inadequate to cope with the
emergency.9 The declaration of a state of emergency
gives the Governor “complete authority” over all
state agencies; the right to exercise all of the
State’s police powers within the affected area; and the
ability to deploy state employees, facilities, and equipment
to prevent or alleviate actual or threatened damage due to
the emergency.10
ANALYSIS
Does
either the declaration of a shelter crisis under Government
Code section 8698, or the declaration of a state of emergency
under Government Code section 8625, create or define a
“scene of an emergency” within the meaning of
Health and Safety Code section 1799.102? Not categorically.
As we explain below, the scene of an emergency within Health
and Safety Code section 1799.102 is a place where immediate
medical attention is required. Although such scenes of
emergency may exist within areas where a shelter crisis or
state of emergency has been declared, declarations under
Government Code sections 8625 or 8698 do not have the legal
effect of classifying all areas covered by those declarations
as a scene of an emergency for purposes of section 1799.102.
The
fundamental task when interpreting a statute is “to
determine the Legislature’s intent so as to effectuate
the law’s purpose.”11 That begins by examining
the statutory language and applying a plain, commonsense
meaning, while placing the examined language in the context
of the statute as a whole, as well as in the context of its
larger statutory framework.12 Where the statutory
language is unambiguous, its plain meaning controls. If the
language is susceptible to more than one reasonable
construction, we may look to other sources, “including
the ostensible objects to be achieved and the legislative...
