AR SB517

Clergy members and lay persons offering religious or spiritual support may be physically present with patients in healthcare facilities to pray with or offer spiritual support.

Healthcare facilities with any in-person visitation policy must allow clergy members to visit patients who request or consent to visits for religious purposes, including during states of emergency.

When a patient's death is imminent, healthcare facilities must allow clergy member visits if the patient, their healthcare agent, or support person requests it, regardless of other facility policies.

Healthcare facilities may require clergy members to comply with reasonable health and safety precautions and health screenings unless the precautions substantially burden the clergy member's free exercise of religion; if substantially burdened, facilities may only require compliance if it furthers a compelling government interest with the least restrictive burden.

These protections apply to all state and local laws and their implementation adopted before or after the effective date, and future state laws are subject to these provisions unless they explicitly exclude application.