Senate hears testimony on H.259 to expand workplace-violence prevention for hospital staff

The Senate Health & Welfare Committee on April 3 heard more than an hour of testimony on H.259, legislation “relating to preventing workplace violence in hospitals” that would require health-care organizations to create and implement workplace-violence prevention programs with frontline staff representation and specified training and reporting.

The bill’s backers told senators the measure is aimed at protecting caregivers, retaining nurses and other direct‑care staff, and preserving care access as hospitals confront growing volumes and workforce shortages.

Liz Kudo, an emergency nurse with 16 years of experience, described multiple incidents she said illustrate the everyday risk faced by emergency‑department staff, including verbal threats, an incident in which a patient pulled a gun and threatened her family, and other assaults. Kudo said Vermont leads the nation in days away from work due to workplace violence and that reporting of incidents remains low. “This isn’t something that I signed up for,” she told the committee.

Betsy Hassan, president of ANA Vermont and a nursing director at the University of Vermont Medical Center, said the association supports policy interventions that hold organizations accountable and create consistent protections across facilities. Hassan outlined core elements the bill would require: a workplace‑violence prevention program, an oversight committee with direct‑care staff on it, periodic risk assessments and security plans that address de‑escalation and defensive training, trauma‑informed care and victim support through the legal process, and periodic reassessment after an incident. Hassan also said the advocates are seeking an exemption from the state certificate‑of‑need process for safety upgrades (for example, ballistic glass) and want the Agency of Human Services to work with hospitals to identify incentives and funding sources.

Dan Green of the Vermont Association of Hospitals and Health Systems said the bill largely codifies recommendations from an earlier report and that hospitals support including frontline workers in planning and law‑enforcement coordination to implement Act 24. “This bill really continues this effort forward,” he said.

Lindsay Owen, executive director of Disability Rights Vermont, said her organization generally supports the bill’s goals but urged changes to ensure the patient and lived‑experience voice is included in safety‑plan teams and security risk assessments. Owen also asked that reporting requirements explicitly include incidents that involve patients and people in crisis — for example, seclusion, restraint or involuntary medication — and suggested that the protection‑and‑advocacy agency be named as a recipient of those reports. She warned that patients in mental‑health crises are often unable to control behaviors and that implementation should avoid worsening harm to those individuals.

Witnesses cited federal and national context in their presentations, including existing OSHA guidance, national accreditation standards such as Joint Commission recommendations (not universally applicable across Vermont hospitals), federal legislative efforts (witnesses referred to a bill identified as H.R. 1195), and Vermont’s own Act 24 and Act 109 as touchstones for prior work on related topics.

Committee members asked clarifying questions about training, reporting, funding and equity across smaller and larger hospitals. Witnesses and senators agreed the bill aims to let individual hospitals design safety plans that fit local circumstances while requiring accountability and frontline input.

No formal committee vote on H.259 was recorded during the hearing; committee staff said amendments and a proposed BAA change were expected to be discussed later and that an amendment incorporating the governor’s executive order language might be filed.

What’s next: Committee staff and sponsors will review testimony and proposed amendments; senators indicated they expect further drafting and possible budget language to follow.