REPORT TITLE:



DESCRIPTION:


 
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THE SENATE                              S.B. NO.           
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 1999                                
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________


                   A  BILL  FOR  AN  ACT

RELATING TO LIMITED LIABILITY FOR COUNTIES.



BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 1      SECTION 1.  Chapter 46, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended
 
 2 by adding a new section to be appropriately designated and to
 
 3 read as follows:
 
 4      "§46-   .  Counties' liability limited for hazardous
 
 5 recreational activities.
 
 6      Neither a public entity nor a public employee is liable to
 
 7 any person who participates in a hazardous recreational activity,
 
 8 including any person who assists the participant, or to any
 
 9 spectator who knew or reasonably should have known that the
 
10 hazardous recreational activity created a substantial risk of
 
11 injury to himself or herself and was voluntarily in the place or
 
12 risk, or having the ability to do so failed to leave, for any
 
13 damage or injury to property or persons arising out of that
 
14 hazardous recreational activity.
 
15      For the purposes of this section, hazardous recreational
 
16 activity means a recreational activity which creates a
 
17 substantial (as distinguished from a minor, trivial, or
 
18 insignificant) risk of injury.
 
19      "Hazardous recreational activity" also means:
 

 
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 1      (1)  Animal riding, including equestrian competition,
 
 2 archery, bicycle racing or jumping, mountain bicycling, boating,
 
 3 canoeing, diving, hang gliding, hiking, kayaking, motorized
 
 4 vehicle racing, off-road motorcycling or four-wheel driving of
 
 5 any kind, orienteering, pistol and rifle shooting, rock climbing,
 
 6 rocketeering, rodeo, spelunking, sky diving, sport parachuting,
 
 7 paragliding, body contact sports (i.e., sports in which it is
 
 8 reasonable foreseeable that there will be rough bodily contact
 
 9 with one or more participants), skateboarding, inline skating,
 
10 roller hockey, surfing, trampolining, tree climbing, tree rope
 
11 swinging, waterskiing, white water rafting, and windsurfing.  For
 
12 the purposes of this subdivision, "mountain bicycling" does not
 
13 include riding a bicycle on paved pathways, roadways, or
 
14 sidewalks.
 
15      (2)  Any form of diving into water from other than a diving
 
16 board or diving platform, or at any place or from a structure
 
17 where diving is prohibited and reasonable warning thereof has
 
18 been given.
 
19      In a claim by a person against a county alleging personal
 
20 injury or death that occurred when the person was participating
 
21 in, assisting, or observing a hazardous recreational activity on
 
22 county-owned or controlled property, the county shall be liable
 
23 only if the injury or death occurred as a direct result of the
 

 
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 1 county's:
 
 2      (1)  Failure to warn when:
 
 3      (A)  The county had actual knowledge of a physically
 
 4           hazardous condition, sufficient time to warn against
 
 5           the condition, and failed to do so; and
 
 6      (B)  When the physically hazardous condition was not known
 
 7           to the person and would not have been known to a
 
 8           reasonably prudent person participating, assisting, or
 
 9           observing the same hazardous recreational activity;
 
10      (2)  Gross negligence, recklessness, or wilful, wanton, or
 
11           deliberate conduct.
 
12      (3)  When permission to participate in the hazardous
 
13 recreational activity was granted by the county for a specific
 
14 fee.  For the purposes of this paragraph, a "specific fee" does
 
15 not include a fee or consideration charged for a general purpose
 
16 such as a general park admission charge, a vehicle entry or
 
17 parking fee, or an administrative or group use application or
 
18 permit fee, as distinguished from a specific fee charged for
 
19 participation in the specific hazardous recreational activity out
 
20 of which the damage or injury arose.
 
21      Nothing in this section shall limit the liability of an
 
22 independent concessionaire, or any person or organization other
 
23 than the public entity, whether or not the person or organization
 

 
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 1 has a contractual relationship with the public entity to use the
 
 2 public property, for injuries or damages suffered in any case as
 
 3 a result of the operation of a hazardous recreational activity on
 
 4 public property by the concessionaire, person, or organization."
 
 5      SECTION 2.  This Act does not affect rights and duties that
 
 6 matured, penalties that were incurred, and proceedings that were
 
 7 initiated, before its effective date.
 
 8      SECTION 3.  New statutory material is underscored.
 
 9      SECTION 4.  This Act shall take effect upon its approval.
 
10 
 
11                           INTRODUCED BY:_________________________
 

 
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