Washington ? Contractors working on Hurricane Katrina relief efforts for the federal government want Congress to limit their liability from lawsuits and are drafting legislation to seek such protection, industry officials say.

The Army Corps of Engineers and the Federal Emergency Management Agency have relied on contractors, including several who started work without a contract, to fix the levees in New Orleans and pump water out of the city. But the companies have become concerned about the liability issue because of lawsuits filed against construction firms that helped clean up the World Trade Center after the 9-11 terrorist attacks.

“We’re asking for some reasonable limits for going into the Gulf Coast and dealing with unknowns,” Michael Kennedy, general counsel for the Associated General Contractors of America, said after a meeting Monday of the trade group in Washington. “A contractor goes into an unknown situation to remove debris or fix a utility line, and three years from now someone decides they did it improperly.”

The Corps has already contracted with more than a dozen companies for work worth $2.8 billion during the next year. Those companies will be joined by dozens more as reconstruction of the region begins.

The bill that the trade group is drafting would limit contractors’ liabilities but still hold them responsible for following government regulations, Kennedy said. It would be similar to regulations the Homeland Security Department unveiled last year that protect companies selling security technology from lawsuits triggered by a terrorist act.

Legislation was introduced in the House last week to shield volunteer contractors from liability. The general contractors’ bill would extend the coverage to companies working under the government.

“You can consider these contractors as an extension of the government; they are performing a lot of public” duties, Kennedy said.

Robert Boh, president of Boh Bros. Construction Co. of New Orleans, said he favors such a bill. His firm moved its New Orleans offices to Baton Rouge, La., after the hurricane hit but was soon hired by the Corps to fix the levees and pump water out of the city.

“We’re simply showing up and responding to verbal direction,” Boh said. “We’re not adequately able to assess the request for risks.”