A bill that was signed into law by Governor Kim Reynolds last Thursday protects certain businesses and organizations from COVID-19 related lawsuits.

Iowa District 24 Senator Jerry Behn of Boone says the “Coronavirus Lawsuit Protection,” which is retroactive to January 1st, offers protection from COVID-19 lawsuits for cities, school districts, churches, non-profit organizations, among others that act in good faith, and follow the restrictions and recommendations. He points out one important detail of the legislation.

“We didn’t want to just have a blanket immunity for anybody either. We weren’t saying that a bad actor can get away with something. We’d said, ‘You have to be acting in good faith.’ And as long as you act in good faith, we didn’t want there to be basically career-ending lawsuits.”

Behn adds, the bill does not include funding for businesses impacted by the virus. Those concerns were addressed through the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act funds, and other allocations from the governor. To hear more from Senator Behn, listen to today’s Community State Bank in Paton Let’s Talk Greene County program.