This bill establishes the Municipal Emergency Response Cost Recovery Act, which allows municipalities to bring a civil action in superior court to recover extraordinary emergency response costs incurred due to mass casualty events on private property. "Extraordinary emergency response costs" are defined as documented and reasonable expenses related to police, fire, emergency medical services, mutual aid assistance, overtime compensation, specialized equipment deployment, and investigation directly attributable to a mass casualty event. A "mass casualty event" is defined as an incident occurring on private property that results in death or serious bodily injury to three or more individuals.

To recover costs, municipalities must prove by a preponderance of the evidence that the private property owner owed a duty to maintain reasonable safety measures, negligently failed to implement or maintain those measures, and that such negligence was a proximate cause of the mass casualty event and the resulting extraordinary emergency response costs. The act clarifies that it does not create strict liability.

Recovery under this chapter is limited to documented and reasonable extraordinary emergency response costs, and the court may award reasonable attorneys' fees and costs to a prevailing municipality. Prejudgment and post-judgment interest shall be awarded in accordance with existing law.

The chapter applies to any mass casualty event occurring on or after January 1, 2024, and any action brought under this chapter must be commenced within three years of the date of the event.