S. 1701 — STORM Act

This section establishes a new section 504 in Title V of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act to authorize the President to certify private "health care workforce platforms" (i.e., technology platforms partnering with credentialed independent contractor health care workers to provide surge capacity during emergencies declared under section 501) and enter voluntary agreements with them (with terms of at least one year) to deploy such workers. The section directs the President, during an emergency, to coordinate with states to facilitate waivers of state licensure requirements for out-of-state independent contractor health care workers (i.e., those licensed in at least one state, providing services contractually, and vetted by a certified platform) responding via such platforms when used by the federal government, states, or affected local governments. It requires the President to establish model procedures and criteria for these waivers—including qualifications, background checks, expedited deployment, and reliance on platform vetting—and to coordinate with state authorities. The section further requires the President to submit to Congress, not later than one year after enactment and annually thereafter, a report on the use of such waivers, including the number of workers deployed, deployment durations, and challenges encountered. (Thus, the provision aims to address health care workforce shortages in disasters by enabling rapid deployment of vetted out-of-state professionals.) Finally, the section provides liability protections for compliant workers and platforms—excluding cases of willful misconduct, gross negligence, or bad faith—and deems them federal employees under the Federal Tort Claims Act for claims arising from activities under federal contracts or direction in emergencies where primary federal responsibility is determined under section 501(b). The President must issue implementing regulations.