Bill > A697

Introduced Session

This bill would prohibit the disclosure of personal information pertaining to certain health care workers who are assaulted by a patient or resident of a health care facility. According to data from the U.S. Department of Labor, health care and social service workers are almost four times as likely to be injured as a result of workplace violence than the average private sector worker. In 2013, the Bureau of Labor Statistics in the U.S. Department of Labor reported more than 23,000 significant injuries due to assault at work. More than 70 percent of these assaults were in health care and social service settings. This bill would prohibit personal information of certain health care workers who are victims of assault from being disclosed in order to prevent further violence, threats or intimidation against the victim. The bill prohibits the disclosure of the name, address, and identity of a victim of an alleged assault or aggravated assault on an indictment, complaint, or any other public record as defined in the Open Public Records Act (OPRA) if the actor is a patient or resident at the facility and the victim is a health care worker who was providing direct patient care or practicing the health care profession and is: 1) a health care worker employed by a licensed health care facility to provide direct patient care; 2) a health care professional licensed or otherwise authorized pursuant to Title 26 or Title 45 of the Revised Statutes to practice a health care profession; or 3) a direct care worker at a State or county psychiatric hospital or State developmental center or veterans' memorial home. The bill would require such information to be omitted or redacted, or initials or a fictitious name to appear instead. The bill also requires that any report, statement, photograph, court document, indictment, complaint or any other public record which states the name, address, and identity of a victim would be confidential and unavailable to the public, unless authorized pursuant to a court order. Any person who purposefully discloses, releases or otherwise makes available to the public, without authorization, any of these documents would be guilty of a disorderly persons offense. A disorderly persons offense is punishable by up to six months imprisonment, a fine of up to $1,000, or both.

AI Summary

Committee Categories

Daniel Benson (D)*,  Shavonda Sumter (D)*,  Valerie Vainieri Huttle (D)*, 

Introduced, Referred to Assembly Law and Public Safety Committee (on 01/14/2020)