§ 30-15-15. Immunity from liability — Compensation for death or injury of disaster response workers.
(a) All functions under this chapter, and all other activities relating to disaster response,
are hereby declared to be governmental functions. Neither the state, nor any political
subdivision thereof, nor other agencies of the state or political subdivision thereof,
nor, except in cases of willful misconduct, gross negligence, or bad faith, any disaster
response worker complying with, or reasonably attempting to comply with this chapter,
or any order, rule, or regulation promulgated pursuant to the provisions of this chapter,
or pursuant to any ordinance relating to precautionary measures enacted by any political
subdivision of the state, shall be liable for the death of, or injury to, persons,
or for damage to property, as a result of disaster response activity. The provisions
of this section shall not affect the right of any person to receive benefits to which
he or she would otherwise be entitled under this chapter, nor under the Workers' Compensation
Act, chapters 29 — 38 of title 28, nor under any pension law, nor the right of any
person to receive any benefits or compensation under any act of Congress.
(b) Any requirement for a license to practice any professional, mechanical, or other skill
shall not apply to any authorized disaster response worker who shall, in the course
of performing his or her duties as such, practice such professional, mechanical, or
other skill during a disaster emergency.
(c) In the absence of any other benefits as provided by law, all disaster response workers
who shall be killed or sustain disability or injury while in training for or on disaster
response duty shall be construed to be employees of the state, any other provisions
of the law to the contrary notwithstanding, and shall be compensated in like manner
as state employees are compensated under the provisions of chapters 29 — 38 of title
28.
(d) In the absence of any other benefits as provided by law, any and all authorized disaster
response workers who shall, in the course of performing their duties as such, practice
professional, architecture, mechanical, engineering or other skill during a disaster
emergency shall be entitled to all rights in like manner as state employees under
the provisions of chapters 29 — 38 of title 28 and under § 9-31-8.
(e) As used in this section, the term "disaster response worker� shall include any full-
or part-time paid, volunteer, or auxiliary employee of this state, other states, territories,
or possessions, the District of Columbia, the federal government, any neighboring
country, or any political subdivision thereof, or any agency or organization, or any
private person, firm, or corporation performing disaster response services at any
place in this state subject to the order or control of, or pursuant to a request of,
the state government or any political subdivision thereof.