H 7819Civil Procedure

Courts and Civil Procedure - Procedure Generally - Municipal Emergency Response Cost Recovery

Towns can sue negligent private property owners to recover costs for responding to mass casualty events like shootings.

Held for study

Population
Affected

Introduced Feb 26, 2026Committee House Judiciary

Plain-English Summary

This bill allows Rhode Island municipalities to file civil lawsuits against private property owners to recover "extraordinary emergency response costs" resulting from mass casualty events. To win the lawsuit, the town must prove the property owner was negligent in maintaining reasonable safety measures and that this negligence caused the event. A mass casualty event is defined as an incident on private property causing death or serious injury to three or more people. The bill applies retroactively to events occurring on or after January 1, 2024.

For younger readers

Sometimes, a very bad event happens at a building, like a school or a business, where many people get hurt. When this happens, police officers, firefighters, and ambulances have to rush to help, which costs the town a lot of money. This new law says that if the building owners were careless and didn't keep the place safe, the town can go to court to make the owners pay for the police and emergency help. This helps make sure that the people living in the town don't have to pay for the building owner's mistake with their taxes.

Who & Where It Applies

Impacted groups

Private Property OwnersMunicipalitiesTaxpayersUniversities and CollegesEmergency Responders

Impacted communities

All

Constitutional & Fiscal Check

None Likely

Estimated cost

None

Estimated revenue

Amount unknown

Bill Analysis

Both viewpoints

For Progressives

Protects community resources by ensuring that taxpayer funds designated for public services are reimbursed rather than depleted by the negligence of private entities.
Encourages corporate accountability by creating a financial incentive for property owners, including for-profit institutions, to maintain higher safety standards for the public.
Provides financial relief to municipalities, allowing them to maintain social safety nets and other essential services that might otherwise be cut due to budget deficits caused by emergency responses.
Could financially devastate non-profit organizations, community centers, or educational institutions that serve the public good but lack the funds to pay massive legal judgments.
May encourage "security theater" and increased surveillance in private spaces, potentially infringing on civil liberties and creating hostile environments for marginalized communities.
Focuses on financial recoupment after a tragedy occurs rather than addressing the systemic root causes of violence, such as mental health access or gun control.

For Conservatives

Protects the local taxpayer by ensuring that private entities, rather than the public purse, bear the financial burden of their own negligence.
Upholds the rule of law by establishing a legal framework where entities are held responsible for failures to meet established duties of care.
Supports local police and fire departments by ensuring their budgets are replenished after large-scale events, ensuring operational readiness.
Imposes retroactive liability for events occurring back to January 1, 2024, which undermines legal stability and fairness for property owners who cannot change past actions.
Places a potentially ruinous financial burden on businesses and private property owners, likely driving up insurance premiums and the cost of doing business in the state.
Expands the size and scope of government litigation, giving municipalities a new tool to extract revenue from the private sector through the court system.

Votes

Loading votes...

Full Bill Text

Changes to existing Rhode Island law · 33 additions

SECTION 1. Legislative findings and purpose. The general assembly hereby finds and declares as follows:

(1) A mass casualty shooting event recently occurred on the campus of a private institution of higher education within the state, resulting in death, serious bodily injury, and significant emotional trauma to students, faculty, families, and the broader community.

(2) Municipal police departments, fire departments, and emergency medical services from multiple cities and towns responded to the incident and expended substantial public funds in emergency response, investigation, suspect apprehension, mutual aid coordination, and related public safety operations.

(3) Municipal emergency response costs arising from large-scale violent incidents may substantially exceed ordinary operating budgets and may result in significant unanticipated burdens on local taxpayers.

(4) Private property owners, including institutions of higher education, have a responsibility to implement reasonable safety measures appropriate to the size, use, and risk profile of their premises.

(5) Concerns have been publicly raised regarding whether reasonable safety measures — including secure building access controls, qualified security leadership, modern surveillance systems, and appropriate response to credible safety warnings — were adequately implemented or maintained prior to the incident.

(6) It is not the intent of the general assembly by this act to determine civil liability for any specific event or entity, but to establish a uniform and prospective judicial mechanism under which municipalities may seek reimbursement of extraordinary emergency response costs when such costs are proven in a court of law to have been proximately caused by negligent failure to implement reasonable safety measures.

(7) The purpose of this act is to protect taxpayers from bearing extraordinary public safety costs when such costs are attributable to proven negligence, while preserving due process and judicial determination of fault.

SECTION 2. Title 9 of the General Laws entitled "COURTS AND CIVIL PROCEDURE — PROCEDURE GENERALLY" is hereby amended by adding thereto the following chapter: 9-1.5-1. Definitions. As used in this chapter:

(1) “Extraordinary emergency response costs” means documented and reasonable costs incurred by a municipality for police, fire, emergency medical services, mutual aid assistance, overtime compensation, specialized equipment deployment, and investigation directly attributable to a mass casualty event.

(2) “Mass casualty event” means an incident occurring on private property resulting in death or serious bodily injury to three (3) or more individuals.

(3) “Private property owner” means any private nonprofit or for-profit entity that owns or controls real property within the state. 9-1.5-2. Civil cause of action.

(a) A municipality that incurs extraordinary emergency response costs arising from a mass casualty event may bring a civil action in the superior court to recover such costs from a private property owner.

(b) In order to recover under this chapter, the municipality shall prove by a preponderance of the evidence that:

(1) The private property owner owed a duty under the circumstances to maintain reasonable safety measures;

(2) The private property owner negligently failed to implement or maintain reasonable safety measures; and

(3) Such negligence was a proximate cause of the mass casualty event and the resulting extraordinary emergency response costs.

(a) Recovery under this chapter shall be limited to documented and reasonable extraordinary emergency response costs.

(b) The court may award reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs to a prevailing municipality.

(c) Prejudgment and post-judgment interest shall be awarded in accordance with § 9-21- 10. 9-1.5-4. Applicability. This chapter shall apply to any mass casualty event occurring on or after January 1, 2024. Any action brought pursuant to this chapter shall be commenced within three (3) years of the date of the event.

SECTION 3. This act shall take effect upon passage and shall apply to any mass casualty event occurring on or after January 1, 2024.