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Sponsor outlines workplace violence prevention bill for hospitals, would require security plans and incident reporting
Summary
Sponsor presented H259, a workplace violence prevention bill that would require hospital security plans, multidisciplinary planning teams, annual evaluations and incident reporting; bill would exclude security implementation expenses from hospital budget review and take effect July 1, 2025.
A bill labeled H259 was presented to the committee as a workplace violence prevention program for hospitals. The sponsor described the measure as the result of stakeholder work—nurses, hospital representatives and others—who developed model language before introduction.
The bill requires hospitals to implement a security plan addressing prevention, managing aggressive behavior and de‑escalation; it specifies who should be on the planning team and requires annual evaluation. Hospitals must develop an incident reporting system to document and analyze workplace assaults and how each incident was handled; employees must be notified of the plan and reporting process. The bill includes a non‑retaliation provision for employees who report incidents.
The sponsor told the committee the bill would exclude expenses for security plan implementation from the hospital budget review process but said hospitals must report related costs to the Green Mountain Care Board during budget review. The measure’s effective date in the draft is July 1, 2025. Committee members asked whether hospitals with existing plans would need to create new plans or could amend current plans; the sponsor said hospitals could amend existing policies to meet standardized statewide expectations.
Committee members did not vote on H259 and the sponsor said additional testimony would be taken before any formal action.
