Bill > SB435

This bill amends Arkansas law to expand and clarify legal protections for healthcare workers by creating a new criminal offense of aggravated assault upon a healthcare worker and providing a comprehensive definition of who qualifies as a healthcare worker. The legislation broadens the definition of healthcare workers to include not just medical professionals like physicians and nurses, but also emergency responders, technicians, administrative staff, janitorial staff, security personnel, and food services staff who directly support healthcare operations across various settings such as hospitals, clinics, nursing homes, rehabilitation centers, and even at accident or crime scenes. The new law specifically criminalizes purposefully causing a known healthcare worker to come into contact with bodily fluids like blood, saliva, urine, or feces under circumstances that demonstrate extreme indifference to the worker's personal hygiene and safety, classifying such an act as a Class D felony. The bill also ensures that this new provision does not interfere with existing legal procedures related to juvenile case transfers or determinations of a defendant's fitness to proceed in a criminal case, thus maintaining important existing legal protections while adding new safeguards for healthcare workers.

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https://arkleg.state.ar.us/Bills/Detail?id=sb435&ddBienniumSession=2025%2F2025R