Bill Text: FL S1318 | 2023 | Regular Session | Comm Sub

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Spaceflight Entity Liability

Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill

Status: (Passed) 2023-05-26 - Chapter No. 2023-139 [S1318 Detail]

Download: Florida-2023-S1318-Comm_Sub.html

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       Florida Senate - 2023                             CS for SB 1318
       
       
        
       By the Committee on Military and Veterans Affairs, Space, and
       Domestic Security; and Senator Wright
       
       
       
       
       583-03303-23                                          20231318c1
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to spaceflight entity liability;
    3         amending s. 331.501, F.S.; defining the term “crew”;
    4         revising definitions; exempting a spaceflight entity
    5         from liability for injury to or death of a crew
    6         resulting from spaceflight activities under certain
    7         circumstances; revising exceptions; requiring a
    8         spaceflight entity to have a crew sign a specified
    9         warning statement; revising the contents of the
   10         warning statement; providing an effective date.
   11          
   12  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   13  
   14         Section 1. Section 331.501, Florida Statutes, is amended to
   15  read:
   16         331.501 Spaceflight; informed consent.—
   17         (1) For purposes of this section, the term:
   18         (a) “Crew” means a crew or government astronauts as those
   19  terms are defined in 51 U.S.C. s. 50902.
   20         (b)(a) “Participant” means a any spaceflight participant as
   21  that term is defined in 51 U.S.C. s. 50902.
   22         (c)(b) “Spaceflight activities” means launch services or
   23  reentry services as those terms are defined in 51 U.S.C. s.
   24  50902 as well as activities occurring between launch and
   25  landing.
   26         (d)(c) “Spaceflight entity” means a any public or private
   27  entity holding a United States Federal Aviation Administration
   28  launch, reentry, operator, or launch site license for
   29  spaceflight activities or which is otherwise authorized by the
   30  United States Government to conduct spaceflight activities. The
   31  term also includes a any manufacturer or supplier of spaceflight
   32  components, services, or vehicles that have been reviewed by the
   33  United States Federal Aviation Administration as part of issuing
   34  such a license, permit, or authorization.
   35         (2)(a) Except as provided in paragraph (b), a spaceflight
   36  entity is not liable for injury to or death of a participant or
   37  crew resulting from the inherent risks of spaceflight activities
   38  so long as the warning contained in subsection (3) is
   39  distributed and signed as required. Except as provided in
   40  paragraph (b), a participant, or participant’s representative,
   41  crew, or crew’s representative may not maintain an action
   42  against or recover from a spaceflight entity for the loss,
   43  damage, or death of the participant or crew resulting
   44  exclusively from any of the inherent risks of spaceflight
   45  activities.
   46         (b) Paragraph (a) does not prevent or limit the liability
   47  of a spaceflight entity if the spaceflight entity does any one
   48  or more of the following:
   49         1. Commits an act or omission that constitutes gross
   50  negligence or willful or wanton disregard for the safety of the
   51  participant or crew, which and that act or omission proximately
   52  causes injury, damage, or death to the participant or crew;
   53         2. Has actual knowledge or reasonably should have known of
   54  an extraordinarily a dangerous condition that is not inherent in
   55  on the land or in the facilities or equipment used in the
   56  spaceflight activities and the danger proximately causes injury,
   57  damage, or death to the participant or crew; or
   58         3. Intentionally injures the participant or crew.
   59         (c) Any limitation on legal liability afforded by this
   60  subsection to a spaceflight entity is in addition to any other
   61  limitation of legal liability otherwise provided by law.
   62         (3)(a) Every spaceflight entity providing spaceflight
   63  activities to a participant, whether such activities occur on or
   64  off a launch the site of a facility capable of launching a
   65  suborbital flight, shall have each participant or crew sign the
   66  warning statement specified in paragraph (b).
   67         (b) The warning statement described in paragraph (a) must
   68  shall contain, at a minimum, the following statement:
   69  
   70         “WARNING: Under Florida law, there is no liability for
   71         an injury to or death of a participant or crew in a
   72         spaceflight activity provided by a spaceflight entity
   73         if such injury or death results from the inherent
   74         risks of the spaceflight activity. Injuries caused by
   75         the inherent risks of spaceflight activities may
   76         include, among others, injury to land, equipment,
   77         persons, and animals, as well as the potential for you
   78         to act in a negligent manner that may contribute to
   79         your injury or death. You are assuming the risk of
   80         participating in this spaceflight activity.”
   81  
   82         (c) Failure to comply with the warning statement
   83  requirements in this section shall prevent a spaceflight entity
   84  from invoking the privileges of immunity provided by this
   85  section.
   86         Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2023.