S 1600 Re-checks Congress.gov for new actions and updates the bill's status, and fills in any sponsors, committees, or related bills that are missing. It does not re-pull sponsors/cosponsors/committees/related — those rarely change — and it skips all work if nothing has changed upstream, so it's cheap to click.
To protect hospital personnel from violence, and for other purposes.
Summary
This bill would create a new federal crime for assaulting hospital personnel on hospital grounds. Assault of hospital workers would be punishable by up to 10 years imprisonment, with enhanced penalties up to 20 years if a weapon is used, serious bodily injury results, or the assault occurs during a declared public emergency. The bill covers assaults on staff of various types of medical facilities including hospitals, long-term care facilities, and children's hospitals. It also requires the Government Accountability Office to study the effects of the law on workplace violence in healthcare settings.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
3 cosponsors
Actions (2)
- May 5, 2025 Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. · senate
- May 5, 2025 Introduced in Senate
Similar bills (6)
Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.
Full text
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
May 5, 2025
Mrs. Hyde-Smith (for herself and Mr. King) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
A BILL
To protect hospital personnel from violence, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the “Save Healthcare Workers Act”.
SEC. 2. PREVENTION OF VIOLENCE AGAINST HOSPITAL PERSONNEL.
(a) Prohibition on Assault of Hospital Personnel in the Performance of Duties.—Chapter 7 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following: “Sec. 120. Assault of hospital personnel
“(a) In General.—Whoever knowingly assaults an individual employed by a hospital engaged in interstate commerce, or an entity contracting with a hospital or other medical facility engaged in interstate commerce, on the grounds of a hospital while the individual is engaged in or on account of duties at the hospital shall be fined under this title, imprisoned for not more than 10 years, or both.
“(b) Enhanced Penalties.—
“(1) Acts involving dangerous weapons or acts that result in bodily injury.—Whoever, in the commission of any act described in subsection (a), uses a firearm or dangerous weapon or inflicts serious bodily injury, shall, in addition to the penalties provided for in that subsection, be fined under this title, imprisoned for not more than 20 years, or both.
“(2) Acts committed during emergency declarations.— Whoever commits any act described in subsection (a) during the period of a declaration of a public emergency for the area in which the act is committed shall be fined under this title, imprisoned for not more than 20 years, or both.
“(c) Affirmative Defense.—
“(1) In general.—It shall be an affirmative defense to a prosecution under this section that—
“(A) the defendant is a person with a physical, mental, or intellectual disability;
“(B) the conduct of the defendant was a clear and direct manifestation of such disability; and
“(C) the defendant, as a result of such disability, was unable to appreciate the nature and quality or wrongfulness of such conduct.
“(2) Burden of proof.—The defendant has the burden of proving the defense under this subsection by a preponderance of the evidence.
“(d) Definitions.—In this section:
“(1) Dangerous weapon.—The term ‘dangerous weapon’ means a weapon, device, instrument, material, or substance, animate or inanimate, that is used for, or is readily capable of, causing death or serious bodily injury.
“(2) Declaration of a public emergency.—The term ‘declaration of a public emergency’ means an emergency or major disaster declared by the President pursuant to the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5121 et seq.).
“(3) Disability.—The term ‘disability’ means a disability described in section 3(1)(A) of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12102(1)(A)).
“(4) Grounds of a hospital.—The term ‘grounds of a hospital’ means the hospital buildings and the land used for the purposes of the hospital, including all buildings, roads, paths, and open spaces.
“(5) Hospital.—The term ‘hospital’ means any of the following medical facilities:
“(A) A hospital (as defined in section 1861(e) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395x(e))).
“(B) A long-term care hospital (as defined in section 1861(ccc) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 1395x(ccc))).
“(C) A rehabilitation facility (as described in section 1886(j)(1)(A) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 1395ww(j)(1)(A))).
“(D) A children’s hospital (as described in section 1886(d)(1)(B)(iii) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 1395ww(d)(1)(B)(iii))).
“(E) A cancer hospital (as described in section 1886(d)(1)(B)(v) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 1395ww(d)(1)(B)(v))).
“(F) A critical access hospital (as defined in section 1861(mm)(1) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 1395x(mm)(1))).
“(G) A rural emergency hospital (as defined in section 1861(kkk)(2) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 1395x(kkk)(2))).
“(6) Serious bodily injury.—The term ‘serious bodily injury’ has the meaning given the term in section as the meaning given the term in section 1365(h).”.
(b) Clerical Amendment.—The table of sections for chapter 7 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:
“120. Assault of hospital personnel.”.
SEC. 3. GAO STUDY.
The Comptroller General of the United States shall conduct a study on—
(1) how this Act, and the amendments made by this Act, has affected workplace violence in healthcare settings; and
(2) whether Federal, State, Tribal, and local prosecutions for workplace violence in healthcare settings have increased or decreased because of the ability to prosecute these incidents as Federal crimes. <all>
Comments