CHAPTER 80
Legislative Research Commission PDF Version
1
CHAPTER 80
( HB 194 )
AN ACT relating to workplace violence against healthcare workers.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky:
ď˘Section 1. KRS 508.025 is amended to read as follows:
(1) A person is guilty of assault in the third degree when the actor:
(a) Recklessly, with a deadly weapon or dangerous instrument, or intentionally causes or attempts to cause
physical injury to:
1. A state, county, city, or federal peace officer;
2. An employee of a detention facility, or state residential treatment facility or state staff secure
facility for residential treatment which provides for the care, treatment, or detention of a juvenile
charged with or adjudicated delinquent because of a public offense or as a youthful offender;
3. A healthcare provider as defined in KRS 311.821 or other person employed by or under
contract with a health clinic, doctor's office, dental office, long-term care facility, hospital, or
a hospital-owned or affiliate outpatient facility, if the event occurs in or on the premises of a
health clinic, doctor's office, dental office, long-term care facility, hospital, or a hospital-
owned or affiliate outpatient facility[while the healthcare provider is providing medical care in
an emergency room of a hospital];
4. An employee of the Department for Community Based Services employed as a social worker to
provide direct client services, if the event occurs while the worker is performing job-related
duties;
5. Paid or volunteer emergency medical services personnel certified or licensed pursuant to KRS
Chapter 311A, if the event occurs while personnel are performing job-related duties;
6. A paid or volunteer member of an organized fire department, if the event occurs while the
member is performing job-related duties;
7. Paid or volunteer rescue squad personnel affiliated with the Division of Emergency Management
of the Department of Military Affairs or a local disaster and emergency services organization
pursuant to KRS Chapter 39F, if the event occurs while personnel are performing job-related
duties;
8. A probation and parole officer;
9. A transportation officer appointed by a county fiscal court or legislative body of a consolidated
local government, urban-county government, or charter government to transport inmates when
the county jail or county correctional facility is closed while the transportation officer is
performing job-related duties;
10. A public or private elementary or secondary school or school district classified or certified
employee, school bus driver, or other school employee acting in the course and scope of the
employee's employment; or
11. A public or private elementary or secondary school or school district volunteer acting in the
course and scope of that person's volunteer service for the school or school district;
(b) Being a person confined in a detention facility, or a juvenile in a state residential treatment facility or
state staff secure facility for residential treatment which provides for the care, treatment, or detention of
a juvenile charged with or adjudicated delinquent because of a public offense or as a youthful offender,
inflicts physical injury upon or throws or causes feces, or urine, or other bodily fluid to be thrown upon
an employee of the facility; or
(c) Intentionally causes a person, whom the actor knows or reasonably should know to be a peace officer
discharging official duties, to come into contact with saliva, vomit, mucus, blood, seminal fluid, urine,
or feces without the consent of the peace officer. ACTS OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY 2
(2) (a) For a violation of subsection (1)(a) of this section, assault in the third degree is a Class D felony, unless
the offense occurs during a declared emergency as defined by KRS 39A.020 arising from a natural or
man-made disaster, within the area covered by the emergency declaration, and within the area impacted
by the disaster, in which case it is a Class C felony.
(b) For a violation of subsection (1)(b) of this section, assault in the third degree is a Class D felony.
(c) For violations of subsection (1)(c) of this section, assault in the third degree is a Class B misdemeanor,
unless the assault is with saliva, vomit, mucus, blood, seminal fluid, urine, or feces from an adult who
knows that he or she has a serious communicable disease and competent medical or epidemiological
evidence demonstrates that the specific type of contact caused by the actor is likely to cause
transmission of the disease or condition, in which case it is a Class A misdemeanor.
(d) As used in paragraph (c) of this subsection, "serious communicable disease" means a non-airborne
disease that is transmitted from person to person and determined to have significant, long-term
consequences on the physical health or life activities of the person infected.
Signed by Governor April 4, 2024.