Bill Text: NJ S1759 | 2024-2025 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Prohibits disclosure of personal information pertaining to certain health care workers who are victims of assault; establishes civil penalty for each violation.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2024-01-09 - Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Law and Public Safety Committee [S1759 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2024-S1759-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
221st LEGISLATURE
PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2024 SESSION
Sponsored by:
Senator PAUL D. MORIARTY
District 4 (Atlantic, Camden and Gloucester)
SYNOPSIS
Prohibits disclosure of personal information pertaining to certain health care workers who are victims of assault; makes violation disorderly persons offense.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel.
An Act concerning confidentiality of victim's personal information and supplementing Title 2A of the New Jersey Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. As used in this act, "public record" shall have the same meaning as P.L.1963, c.73 (C.47:1A-1 et seq.).
b. The name, address, and identity of a health care worker who is a victim of an alleged assault or aggravated assault while engaged in the duties of providing direct patient care or practicing the health care profession shall not appear on the indictment, complaint, or any other public record if the actor is a patient or resident at the health care facility and the victim is:
(1) a health care worker employed by a licensed health care facility to provide direct patient care;
(2) a health care professional licensed or otherwise authorized pursuant to Title 26 or Title 45 of the Revised Statutes to practice a health care profession; or
(3) a direct care worker at a State or county psychiatric hospital or State developmental center or veterans' memorial home.
The information shall be omitted or redacted, or initials or a fictitious name shall appear instead.
c. Any report, statement, photograph, court document, indictment, complaint or any other public record which states the name, address and identity of a victim shall be confidential and unavailable to the public. Unless authorized pursuant to a court order, any person who purposefully discloses, releases or otherwise makes available to the public any document listed in subsection a. of this section which contains the name, address, and identity of a victim shall be guilty of a disorderly persons offense.
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill would prohibit the disclosure of personal information pertaining to certain health care workers who are assaulted by a patient or resident of a health care facility.
According to data from the U.S. Department of Labor, health care and social service workers are almost four times as likely to be injured as a result of workplace violence than the average private sector worker. In 2013, the Bureau of Labor Statistics in the U.S. Department of Labor reported more than 23,000 significant injuries due to assault at work. More than 70 percent of these assaults were in health care and social service settings.
This bill would prohibit personal information of certain health care workers who are victims of assault from being disclosed in order to prevent further violence, threats or intimidation against the victim.
The bill prohibits the disclosure of the name, address, and identity of a victim of an alleged assault or aggravated assault on an indictment, complaint, or any other public record as defined in the Open Public Records Act (OPRA) if the actor is a patient or resident at the facility and the victim is a health care worker who was providing direct patient care or practicing the health care profession and is: 1) a health care worker employed by a licensed health care facility to provide direct patient care; 2) a health care professional licensed or otherwise authorized pursuant to Title 26 or Title 45 of the Revised Statutes to practice a health care profession; or 3) a direct care worker at a State or county psychiatric hospital or State developmental center or veterans' memorial home. The bill would require such information to be omitted or redacted, or initials or a fictitious name to appear instead.
The bill also requires that any report, statement, photograph, court document, indictment, complaint or any other public record which states the name, address, and identity of a victim would be confidential and unavailable to the public, unless authorized pursuant to a court order. Any person who purposefully discloses, releases or otherwise makes available to the public, without authorization, any of these documents would be guilty of a disorderly persons offense. A disorderly persons offense is punishable by up to six months imprisonment, a fine of up to $1,000, or both.
