NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
 
BILL NUMBER: A10452
SPONSOR: Rules (Woerner)
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the penal law, in relation to assaults on medical
providers and employees and volunteers of hospitals
 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
To include physicians, nurses, ambulance, directors, employees, agents
and volunteers of hospitals performing an assigned duty within the Class
D felony of assault in the second degree.
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section one amends subdivision 3 and 11 of section 120.05 of the penal
law to include assaults on physicians, nurses, and hospital personnel.
Section two establishes the effective date.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
The current law classifies an assault in the second degree for a variety
of healthcare and public service professionals, including peace offi-
cers, police officers, firefighters, sanitation workers and emergency
medical technicians. This bill provides the same standards for physi-
cians, nurses, and hospital workers by raising the penalty for assaults
on hospital personnel by classifying an assault on hospital personnel as
an assault in the second degree, a Class D felony. This legislation
clarifies the law in order to ensure a safe worker environment for
physicians, nurses, and employees and volunteers of hospitals.
 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New bill.
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
None.
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the sixtieth day after it shall have
become a law; provided, however that the amendments to subdivision 11 of
section 120.05 of the penal law made by section one of this act take
effect on the same date and in the same manner as section 2 of part Z of
chapter 55 of the laws of 2024 take effect.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
10452
IN ASSEMBLY
May 24, 2024
___________
Introduced by COMMITTEE ON RULES -- (at request of M. of A. Woerner) --
read once and referred to the Committee on Codes
AN ACT to amend the penal law, in relation to assaults on medical
providers and employees and volunteers of hospitals
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivisions 3 and 11 of section 120.05 of the penal law,
2 subdivision 3 as amended by chapter 267 of the laws of 2016 and subdivi-
3 sion 11 as amended by section 2 of part z of chapter 55 of the laws of
4 2024, are amended to read as follows:
5 3. With intent to prevent a peace officer, a police officer, prosecu-
6 tor as defined in subdivision thirty-one of section 1.20 of the criminal
7 procedure law, [registered nurse, licensed practical nurse,] a physi-
8 cian, a physician assistant, a health care provider, a primary care
9 practitioner or primary care physician, a nurse or nursing professional
10 including a registered nurse, nurse practitioner, certified or licensed
11 nurse practitioner, a certified nursing assistant, or a licensed practi-
12 cal nurse, ambulance personnel, a director of a hospital or a medical
13 director, employee, attendant, agent or volunteer of a hospital as
14 defined in section twenty-eight hundred one of the public health law, a
15 public health sanitarian, New York city public health sanitarian, sani-
16 tation enforcement agent, New York city sanitation worker, a firefight-
17 er, including a firefighter acting as a paramedic or emergency medical
18 technician administering first aid in the course of performance of duty
19 as such firefighter, an emergency medical service paramedic or emergency
20 medical service technician, or medical or related personnel in a hospi-
21 tal emergency department, a city marshal, a school crossing guard
22 appointed pursuant to section two hundred eight-a of the general munici-
23 pal law, a traffic enforcement officer, traffic enforcement agent or
24 employee of any entity governed by the public service law in the course
25 of performing an essential service, from performing a lawful duty, by
26 means including releasing or failing to control an animal under circum-
27 stances evincing the actor's intent that the animal obstruct the lawful
28 activity of such peace officer, police officer, prosecutor as defined in
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD15676-01-4
A. 10452 2
1 subdivision thirty-one of section 1.20 of the criminal procedure law,
2 [registered nurse, licensed practical nurse,] physician, physician
3 assistant, health care provider, primary care practitioner or primary
4 care physician, a nurse or nursing professional including a registered
5 nurse, nurse practitioner, certified or licensed nurse practitioner, a
6 certified nursing assistant, or a licensed practical nurse, ambulance
7 personnel, a director of a hospital or a medical director, employee,
8 attendant, agent or volunteer of a hospital as defined in section twen-
9 ty-eight hundred one of the public health law, a public health sanitari-
10 an, New York city public health sanitarian, sanitation enforcement
11 agent, New York city sanitation worker, firefighter, paramedic, techni-
12 cian, city marshal, school crossing guard appointed pursuant to section
13 two hundred eight-a of the general municipal law, traffic enforcement
14 officer, traffic enforcement agent or employee of an entity governed by
15 the public service law, [he or she] such person causes physical injury
16 to such peace officer, police officer, prosecutor as defined in subdivi-
17 sion thirty-one of section 1.20 of the criminal procedure law, [regis-
18 tered nurse, licensed practical nurse,] physician, physician assistant,
19 health care provider, primary care practitioner or primary care physi-
20 cian, a nurse or nursing professional including a registered nurse,
21 nurse practitioner, certified or licensed nurse practitioner, a certi-
22 fied nursing assistant, or a licensed practical nurse, ambulance person-
23 nel, a director of a hospital or a medical director, employee, attend-
24 ant, agent or volunteer of a hospital as defined in section twenty-eight
25 hundred one of the public health law, a public health sanitarian, New
26 York city public health sanitarian, sanitation enforcement agent, New
27 York city sanitation worker, firefighter, paramedic, technician or
28 medical or related personnel in a hospital emergency department, city
29 marshal, school crossing guard, traffic enforcement officer, traffic
30 enforcement agent or employee of an entity governed by the public
31 service law; or
32 11. With intent to cause physical injury to a train operator, ticket
33 inspector, conductor, signalperson, bus operator, station agent, station
34 cleaner, terminal cleaner, station customer assistant, traffic checker;
35 person whose official duties include the sale or collection of tickets,
36 passes, vouchers, or other revenue payment media for use on a train,
37 bus, or ferry the collection or handling of revenues therefrom; a person
38 whose official duties include the maintenance, repair, inspection, trou-
39 bleshooting, testing or cleaning of buses or ferries, a transit signal
40 system, elevated or underground subway tracks, transit station struc-
41 ture, including fare equipment, escalators, elevators and other equip-
42 ment necessary to passenger service, commuter rail tracks or stations,
43 train yard, revenue train in passenger service, a ferry station, or a
44 train or bus station or terminal; or a supervisor of such personnel,
45 employed by any transit or commuter rail agency, authority or company,
46 public or private, whose operation is authorized by New York state or
47 any of its political subdivisions, a city marshal, a school crossing
48 guard appointed pursuant to section two hundred eight-a of the general
49 municipal law, a traffic enforcement officer, traffic enforcement agent,
50 prosecutor as defined in subdivision thirty-one of section 1.20 of the
51 criminal procedure law, sanitation enforcement agent, New York city
52 sanitation worker, public health sanitarian, New York city public health
53 sanitarian, [registered nurse, licensed practical nurse,] physician,
54 physician assistant, health care provider, primary care practitioner or
55 primary care physician, a nurse or nursing professional including a
56 registered nurse, nurse practitioner, certified or licensed nurse prac-
A. 10452 3
1 titioner, a certified nursing assistant, or a licensed practical nurse,
2 ambulance personnel, a director of a hospital or a medical director,
3 employee, attendant, agent or volunteer of a hospital as defined in
4 section twenty-eight hundred one of the public health law, emergency
5 medical service paramedic, or emergency medical service technician, [he
6 or she] such person causes physical injury to such train operator, tick-
7 et inspector, conductor, signalperson, bus operator, station agent,
8 station cleaner, terminal cleaner, station customer assistant, traffic
9 checker; person whose official duties include the sale or collection of
10 tickets, passes, vouchers or other revenue payment media for use on a
11 train, bus, or ferry or the collection or handling of revenues there-
12 from; a person whose official duties include the maintenance, repair,
13 inspection, troubleshooting, testing or cleaning of buses or ferries, a
14 transit signal system, elevated or underground subway tracks, transit
15 station structure, including fare equipment, escalators, elevators and
16 other equipment necessary to passenger service, commuter rail tracks or
17 stations, train yard, revenue train in passenger service, a ferry
18 station, or a train or bus station or terminal; or a supervisor of such
19 personnel, city marshal, school crossing guard appointed pursuant to
20 section two hundred eight-a of the general municipal law, traffic
21 enforcement officer, traffic enforcement agent, prosecutor as defined in
22 subdivision thirty-one of section 1.20 of the criminal procedure law,
23 [registered nurse, licensed practical nurse,] physician, physician
24 assistant, health care provider, primary care practitioner or primary
25 care physician, a nurse or nursing professional including a registered
26 nurse, nurse practitioner, certified or licensed nurse practitioner, a
27 certified nursing assistant, or a licensed practical nurse, ambulance
28 personnel, a director of a hospital or a medical director, employee,
29 attendant, agent or volunteer of a hospital as defined in section twen-
30 ty-eight hundred one of the public health law, public health sanitarian,
31 New York city public health sanitarian, sanitation enforcement agent,
32 New York city sanitation worker, emergency medical service paramedic, or
33 emergency medical service technician, while such employee is performing
34 an assigned duty on, or directly related to, the operation of a train or
35 bus, cleaning of a train or bus station or terminal, assisting custom-
36 ers, checking traffic, the sale or collection of tickets, passes, vouch-
37 ers, or other revenue media for use on a train, bus, or ferry or mainte-
38 nance or cleaning of a train, a bus, a ferry, or bus station or
39 terminal, signal system, elevated or underground subway tracks, transit
40 station structure, including fare equipment, escalators, elevators and
41 other equipment necessary to passenger service, commuter rail tracks or
42 stations, train yard or revenue train in passenger service, a ferry
43 station, or such city marshal, school crossing guard, traffic enforce-
44 ment officer, traffic enforcement agent, prosecutor as defined in subdi-
45 vision thirty-one of section 1.20 of the criminal procedure law, [regis-
46 tered nurse, licensed practical nurse,] physician, physician assistant,
47 health care provider, primary care practitioner or primary care physi-
48 cian, a nurse or nursing professional including a registered nurse,
49 nurse practitioner, certified or licensed nurse practitioner, a certi-
50 fied nursing assistant, or a licensed practical nurse, ambulance person-
51 nel, a director of a hospital or a medical director, employee, attend-
52 ant, agent or volunteer of a hospital as defined in section twenty-eight
53 hundred one of the public health law, public health sanitarian, New York
54 city public health sanitarian, sanitation enforcement agent, New York
55 city sanitation worker, emergency medical service paramedic, or emergen-
56 cy medical service technician is performing an assigned duty; or
A. 10452 4
1 § 2. This act shall take effect on the sixtieth day after it shall
2 have become a law; provided, however that the amendments to subdivision
3 11 of section 120.05 of the penal law made by section one of this act
4 take effect on the same date and in the same manner as section 2 of part
5 Z of chapter 55 of the laws of 2024 take effect.