CS/HB 1207 Summary

• Defines "health care provider" as physicians, registered nurses, employees, agents, or volunteers of hospitals or nursing homes performing care and treatment duties.

• Reclassifies assault and battery offenses committed against health care providers to higher felony degrees, matching penalties applied to law enforcement officers and firefighters.

• Battery of a health care provider reclassified from first-degree misdemeanor to third-degree felony; aggravated assault upgraded to second-degree felony with mandatory 3-year minimum sentence.

• Allows law enforcement to arrest without warrant for assault on health care providers and includes such offenses in background screening requirements for employees working with children.

• Effective date: October 1, 2017.