What are the liabilities of members of a state emergency response commission and a local emergency planning committee, if an incident is not handled properly despite following procedures developed and reviewed by those commission and committee members?  Can the individual members be sued and held liable?

The general rule is that persons who serve on government committees have no liability for their actions except for gross negligence.  According to EPA's Office of General Counsel, however, this issue varies from state to state.  Those who wish to know the answer to this question must check with their individual State Attorney General's offices with regard to liability when serving on state emergency response commissions and local emergency planning committees.