New Florida law shields billionaire-owned space companies from being sued

Florida lawmakers passed a bill last week that provides billionaire-owned private spaceflight companies — like SpaceX and Blue Origin — with more legal protection from being sued by spaceflight participants and crew members.

Signed into law by Florida Governor DeSantis on Thursday, May 25, the SB 1318 Spaceflight Entity Liability Bill requires all spaceflight participants, or customers, to sign a waiver releasing launch companies from all liability for injury or death at any point during a mission.

"As the industry continues to advance, so must our regulatory environment," said Anna Farrar, vice president of Space Florida, the state’s aerospace finance and development authority. "This law provides an informed awareness framework for all those involved in the development of the next-generation human spaceflight systems."

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Introduced in March by the Senate Military and Veterans Affairs, Space, and Domestic Security Committee, the law defines a "participant" of spaceflight as any crew member, including government-sponsored astronauts and spaceflight participants. John Shoffner of SpaceX's recent Axiom-2 mission, for example, paid for his trip to the International Space Station and returned for splashdown late Tuesday.

According to Farrar, Florida defined spaceflight as part of the state's unique transportation ecosystem two decades ago.

"This is one of the reasons Florida leads in the evolution of the commercial space marketplace," Farrar said. "That vision requires a regulatory framework that provides businesses with a predictable and stable operating environment, which ultimately benefits taxpayers, job seekers, and our overall economy."

The version of the law signed on Thursday also adds liability protection for private and public spaceflight companies from being sued by employees that fly as crew members, something that until now hasn't been a concern. NASA employees that flew aboard space shuttle missions were government-sponsored astronauts. That isn't true for SpaceX, which is owned in majority shares by Elon Musk.

Two crew members of the upcoming Polaris Dawn mission, privately funded by billionaire Jared Isaacman, are SpaceX employees. Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon are both engineers at SpaceX and will fly as mission specialists. They'll be joined by Isaacman as mission commander and Scott Poteet, a former Air Force pilot and mission director for Isaacman's first private spaceflight mission, Inspiration4, in 2021. All are trained by SpaceX to fly aboard the Dragon and Falcon 9 vehicles and are planned to participate in the first-ever commercial spacewalk.

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But the law doesn't just apply to SpaceX.

Boeing is set to fly a crew of two NASA astronauts to the International Space Station from Florida as early as this summer aboard its Starliner spacecraft on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket.

Other companies like Blue Origin, owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos, could also be impacted once launch operations begin in Florida. For now, the company launches employees and paying customers on suborbital trips to space aboard its New Shepard spacecraft from Texas.

"Spaceflight liability laws are part of the growth and development of the space industry ecosystem and are part of creating (a) regulatory framework," Farrar said.

While the Spaceflight Entity Liability Bill provides companies with legal protection from the inherent risk that comes with spaceflight activities, it is limited protection. Any company that holds a Federal Aviation Administration launch, re-entry, operator, or launch site license for spaceflight activities can still be held accountable in Florida for crew member injury or death if it results from negligence.

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Three instances in which the immunity provided by the law doesn't apply are if the company:

• Commits an act or omission that constitutes gross negligence or willful or wanton disregard for the safety of the participant which proximately causes the injury or death of the participant;

• Has actual knowledge or reasonably should have known of a dangerous condition on the land or in the facilities or equipment used in the spaceflight activities which proximately causes the injury or death of the participant;

• Or intentionally injures the participant.

"The space industry is at the forefront of technological advancements and groundbreaking discoveries," said Farrar. "We must continue to be just as advanced when it comes to our space regulatory and financial framework."

For the latest, visit floridatoday.com/launchschedule.

Contact Jamie Groh at JGroh@floridatoday.com and follow her on Twitter at @AlteredJamie.

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This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Florida law gants more protection to billionaire-owned space companies