PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — Lawmakers in Congress are hoping to save lives with a new bill called the Cardiac Arrest Survival Act.

It would provide liability protection for businesses and individuals that buy and use automated external defibrillators.

Rep. Scott Franklin, who now represents Okeechobee County after redistricting, introduced the bill Tuesday along with Democratic Rep. Gerry Connolly from Virginia.

He said the timing being right after Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin’s cardiac arrest was just a coincidence, but that incident has now certainly made this issue top of mind for many people.

According to The Sudden Cardiac Arrest Foundation, around 356,000 people of all ages experience sudden cardiac arrest out of the hospital each year, and nine out of 10 of those victims die.

Automated external defibrillators, or AEDs, can be used to assist those people, but Franklin said state laws differ dramatically on who is eligible for immunity and protected from liability while using them.

He said currently, the use of AEDs is limited due to those conflicting state laws that discourage them from being used under the threat of lawsuits.

This bill would establish liability protection for businesses that acquire AEDs and the Good Samaritans who use them.

“This would provide that protection and also allow just greater visibility and awareness to the issue. You know, we have a lot of people that travel, particularly in Florida, even though we have good laws that would protect them, people may be coming from states, they may be visitors, where they don’t think they have that kind of protection and might be hesitant to render aid here in Florida,” Franklin said.

Franklin said this bill has been introduced in previous sessions of Congress but wasn’t able to make it over the finish line.

So right now, he said they’re continuing to recruit co-sponsors for the bill, and he believes it has wide support, so they’re hoping they won’t run into any roadblocks getting it passed and signed into law.