Bill Text: HI HB2349 | 2010 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Assault; Terroristic Threatening; Emergency Medical Service
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 16-0)
Status: (Passed) 2010-05-27 - (H) Act 146, on 5/27/2010 (Gov. Msg. No. 363). [HB2349 Detail]
Download: Hawaii-2010-HB2349-Amended.html
STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2989
Honolulu, Hawaii
RE: H.B. No. 2349
H.D. 1
S.D. 2
Honorable Colleen Hanabusa
President of the Senate
Twenty-Fifth State Legislature
Regular Session of 2010
State of Hawaii
Madam:
Your Committee on Judiciary and Government Operations, to which was referred H.B. No. 2349, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, entitled:
"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO VIOLENCE AGAINST HEALTH CARE PERSONNEL,"
begs leave to report as follows:
The purpose of this measure is to extend the offenses of assault in the second degree and terroristic threatening in the first degree to include actions committed against emergency medical services personnel to include a physician, physician's assistant, nurse, or nurse practitioner who provides medical services in the emergency room of a hospital.
Written comments in support of the measure were submitted by two private organizations. Written comments presented to your Committee may be reviewed on the Legislature's website.
Your Committee received comments indicating that violence against healthcare personnel appears to be on the rise. Emergency department workers routinely find themselves at increased violence due to the high volatility of the emergency patient population, with an increasing number of patients and visitors using drugs and alcohol, or having psychiatric disorders or dementia, which make them more prone to violence. Nationally, studies have shown that between thirty-five per cent and eighty per cent of hospital staff have been physically assaulted at least once and that nurses are at an increased risk for violence while on duty. Your Committee finds that extending the offenses of assault in the second degree and terroristic threatening in the first degree to include actions committed against emergency medical services personnel in emergency rooms is a logical extension of the current provisions covering emergency response personnel.
Your Committee has amended this measure by inserting an effective date of July 1, 2050, to ensure further discussion on this measure.
As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary and Government Operations that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2349, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2349, H.D. 1, S.D. 2.
Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary and Government Operations,
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____________________________ BRIAN T. TANIGUCHI, Chair |
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