[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 11 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







110th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 11

     To provide liability protection to volunteer pilot nonprofit 
 organizations that fly for public benefit and to the pilots and staff 
        of such nonprofit organizations, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           December 19, 2007

  Mr. Inhofe introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
               referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
     To provide liability protection to volunteer pilot nonprofit 
 organizations that fly for public benefit and to the pilots and staff 
        of such nonprofit organizations, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Volunteer Pilot Organization 
Protection Act of 2007''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.

    (a) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
            (1) Many volunteer pilot nonprofit organizations fly for 
        public benefit and provide valuable services to communities and 
        individuals.
            (2) In calendar year 2006, volunteer pilot nonprofit 
        organizations provided long-distance, no-cost transportation 
        for more than 58,000 people during times of special need.
            (3) Such nonprofit organizations are no longer able to 
        purchase non-owned aircraft liability insurance to provide 
        liability protection at a reasonable price, and therefore face 
        a highly detrimental liability risk.
            (4) Such nonprofit organizations have supported the 
        homeland security of the United States by providing volunteer 
        pilot services during times of national emergency.
    (b) Purpose.--The purpose of this Act is to promote the activities 
of volunteer pilot nonprofit organizations that fly for public benefit 
and to sustain the availability of the services that such nonprofit 
organizations provide, including the following:
            (1) Transportation at no cost to financially needy medical 
        patients for medical treatment, evaluation, and diagnosis.
            (2) Flights for humanitarian and charitable purposes.
            (3) Other flights of compassion.

SEC. 3. LIABILITY PROTECTION FOR VOLUNTEER PILOT NONPROFIT 
              ORGANIZATIONS THAT FLY FOR PUBLIC BENEFIT AND TO PILOTS 
              AND STAFF OF SUCH NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS.

    Section 4 of the Volunteer Protection Act of 1997 (42 U.S.C. 14503) 
is amended--
            (1) in subsection (a)(4)--
                    (A) by redesignating subparagraphs (A) and (B) as 
                clauses (i) and (ii), respectively;
                    (B) by striking ``the harm'' and inserting ``(A) 
                except in the case of subparagraph (B), the harm'';
                    (C) in subparagraph (A)(ii), as redesignated by 
                this paragraph, by striking the period at the end and 
                inserting ``; and''; and
                    (D) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(B) the volunteer--
                    ``(i) was operating an aircraft in furtherance of 
                the purpose of a volunteer pilot nonprofit organization 
                that flies for public benefit; and
                    ``(ii) was properly licensed and insured for the 
                operation of such aircraft.''; and
            (2) in subsection (c)--
                    (A) by striking ``Nothing in this section'' and 
                inserting the following:
            ``(1) In general.--Except as provided in paragraph (2), 
        nothing in this section''; and
                    (B) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(2) Exception.--A volunteer pilot nonprofit organization 
        that flies for public benefit, the staff, mission coordinators, 
        officers, and directors (whether volunteer or otherwise) of 
        such nonprofit organization, and a referring agency of such 
        nonprofit organization shall not be liable for harm caused to 
        any person by a volunteer of such nonprofit organization while 
        such volunteer--
                    ``(A) is operating an aircraft in furtherance of 
                the purpose of such nonprofit organization;
                    ``(B) is properly licensed for the operation of 
                such aircraft; and
                    ``(C) has certified to such nonprofit organization 
                that such volunteer has insurance covering the 
                volunteer's operation of such aircraft.''.
                                 <all>