HB2620 Summary

• Amends Arizona Revised Statutes Section 13-1204 to expand aggravated assault protections to include health care workers engaged in work duties, making assault on a health care worker a felony unless the assailant lacks culpable mental state due to mental disability or serious mental illness.

• Adds new Section 36-420 requiring health care employers with more than 50 employees to develop and implement a written workplace violence prevention plan by July 1, 2022.

• Mandates health care employers post at least 12-inch by 12-inch signs in public areas warning that assault on health care workers may be prosecuted as a felony.

• Requires health care employers to establish reporting procedures, conduct postincident investigations, provide worker training on workplace violence hazards, and maintain incident logs documenting all violent incidents.

• Prohibits health care employers from discriminating or retaliating against workers for reporting violence incidents, seeking law enforcement assistance, or reasonably acting in self-defense against imminent physical threats.