House amends COVID liability bill to address concerns
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CHARLESTON -- The West Virginia House of Delegates will vote later today on a bill to provide liability protections to businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic after amending the bill Tuesday to make the protections less broad.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Moore Capito, R-Kanawha, offered an amendment Tuesday morning to Senate Bill 277, the COVID-19 Jobs Protection Act.
The bill, introduced on behalf of Gov. Jim Justice, provides certain civil immunity from liability claims for injuries and damages resulting in severe coronavirus illnesses and death.
The legislation provides protections for individuals, health care providers, health care facilities, colleges and universities, businesses, and manufacturers, from all suits and claims against for loss, damages, personal injuries, or death arising from COVID-19 retroactive to Jan. 1, 2020.
Capito's amendment changes the definition of "impacted care" in the bill to make it less broad. The definition now reads as "care offered, delayed, postponed, or otherwise adversely affected at a health care facility or from a health care provider that impacted the health care facility or health care provider's response to … COVID-19 or the COVID-19 emergency."
"'Impacted care' caused, I think, some heartburn to some folks as we reviewed this bill," Capito said. "We thought it perhaps to be too expansive. We wanted to ensure that we were providing appropriate protections for West Virginians."
The West Virginia chapter of AARP have been vocal opponents of SB 277, raising concerns about giving blanket immunity to nursing homes and assisted living facilities. Long-term care facilities were some of the hardest hit during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic both statewide and nationally. Nearly 700 residents have died of COVID-19 in West Virginia's long-term care facilities.
"Senate Bill 277 provides immunity beyond the start of the pandemic … applying to any cause of action after that date," AARP-WV stated on their website. "What this means is that West Virginia families have no opportunity for legal redress on behalf of their loved one in a nursing home or long-term care facility for the three-month window prior to the announcement of the Mountain State's first COVID-positive case on March 17, 2020."
House Judiciary Committee Minority Chairman Chad Lovejoy, D-Cabell, attempted to amend the bill to include an exception when actions are so blatantly dangerous that they cause an illness or death related to COVID-19.
"If conduct is carried out to a patient, for instance, with conscious, conscious, reckless and outrageous indifference to the health, safety, and welfare of that patient, then they have the ability to make a claim," Lovejoy said. "I think that if we sync up this law and pass this secondary amendment, we can balance the protection of our businesses while also protecting our most vulnerable."
Lovejoy's secondary amendment failed 31-67, while Capito's committee amendment was adopted by voice vote.
(Adams can be contacted at sadams@newsandsentinel.com)