S.B. No. 240
 
 
 
 
AN ACT
  relating to workplace violence prevention in certain health
  facilities.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Title 4, Health and Safety Code, is amended by
  adding Subtitle H to read as follows:
  SUBTITLE H. HEALTH FACILITY EMPLOYEES
  CHAPTER 331. WORKPLACE VIOLENCE PREVENTION
         Sec. 331.001.  DEFINITIONS. In this chapter:
               (1)  "Commission" means the Health and Human Services
  Commission.
               (2)  "Committee" means the workplace violence
  prevention committee or other committee responsible for developing
  a facility's workplace violence prevention plan under Section
  331.002.
               (3)  "Facility" means:
                     (A)  a home and community support services agency
  licensed or licensed and certified under Chapter 142 to provide
  home health services as defined by Section 142.001 that employs at
  least two registered nurses;
                     (B)  a hospital licensed under Chapter 241 and a
  hospital maintained or operated by an agency of this state that is
  exempt from licensing under that chapter;
                     (C)  a nursing facility licensed under Chapter 242
  that employs at least two registered nurses;
                     (D)  an ambulatory surgical center licensed under
  Chapter 243;
                     (E)  a freestanding emergency medical care
  facility as defined by Section 254.001; and
                     (F)  a mental hospital licensed under Chapter 577.
         Sec. 331.002.  WORKPLACE VIOLENCE PREVENTION COMMITTEE. (a)
  Each facility shall establish a workplace violence prevention
  committee or authorize an existing facility committee to develop
  the workplace violence prevention plan required under Section
  331.004.
         (b)  A committee must include at least:
               (1)  one registered nurse who provides direct care to
  patients of the facility;
               (2)  except as provided by Subsection (c), one
  physician licensed to practice medicine in this state who provides
  direct care to patients of the facility; and
               (3)  one facility employee who provides security
  services for the facility if any and if practicable.
         (c)  If a facility described by Section 331.001(3)(A) does
  not have on staff at least one physician described by Subsection
  (b)(2), the facility is not required to include a physician on the
  committee.
         (d)  A health care system that owns or operates more than one
  facility may establish a single committee for all of the system's
  facilities if:
               (1)  the committee develops a violence prevention plan
  for implementation at each facility in the system; and
               (2)  data related to violence prevention remains
  distinctly identifiable for each facility in the system.
         Sec. 331.003.  WORKPLACE VIOLENCE PREVENTION POLICY. (a) A
  facility shall adopt, implement, and enforce a written workplace
  violence prevention policy in accordance with this section to
  protect health care providers and employees from violent behavior
  and threats of violent behavior occurring at the facility.
         (b)  The workplace violence prevention policy must:
               (1)  require the facility to:
                     (A)  provide significant consideration of the
  violence prevention plan recommended by the facility's committee;
  and
                     (B)  evaluate any existing facility violence
  prevention plan;
               (2)  encourage health care providers and employees of
  the facility to provide confidential information on workplace
  violence to the committee;
               (3)  include a process to protect from retaliation
  facility health care providers or employees who provide information
  to the committee; and
               (4)  comply with commission rules relating to workplace
  violence.
         Sec. 331.004.  WORKPLACE VIOLENCE PREVENTION PLAN. (a) A
  facility shall adopt, implement, and enforce a written workplace
  violence prevention plan in accordance with this section to protect
  health care providers and employees from violent behavior and
  threats of violent behavior occurring at the facility.
         (b)  A facility's workplace violence prevention plan must:
               (1)  be based on the practice setting;
               (2)  adopt a definition of "workplace violence" that
  includes:
                     (A)  an act or threat of physical force against a
  health care provider or employee that results in, or is likely to
  result in, physical injury or psychological trauma; and
                     (B)  an incident involving the use of a firearm or
  other dangerous weapon, regardless of whether a health care
  provider or employee is injured by the weapon;
               (3)  require the facility to provide at least annually
  workplace violence prevention training or education that may be
  included in other required training or education provided to the
  facility's health care providers and employees who provide direct
  patient care;
               (4)  prescribe a system for responding to and
  investigating violent incidents or potentially violent incidents
  at the facility;
               (5)  address physical security and safety;
               (6)  require the facility to solicit information from
  health care providers and employees when developing and
  implementing a workplace violence prevention plan;
               (7)  allow health care providers and employees to
  report incidents of workplace violence through the facility's
  existing occurrence reporting systems; and
               (8)  require the facility to adjust patient care
  assignments, to the extent practicable, to prevent a health care
  provider or employee of the facility from treating or providing
  services to a patient who has intentionally physically abused or
  threatened the provider or employee.
         (c)  The written workplace violence prevention plan may
  satisfy the requirements of Subsection (b) by referencing other
  internal facility policies and documents.
         (d)  A committee at least annually shall:
               (1)  review and evaluate the workplace violence
  prevention plan; and
               (2)  report the results of the evaluation to the
  governing body of the facility.
         (e)  Each facility shall make available on request an
  electronic or printed copy of the facility's workplace violence
  prevention plan to each health care provider or employee of the
  facility. If the committee determines the plan contains information
  that would pose a security threat if made public, the committee may
  redact that information before providing the plan.
         Sec. 331.005.  RESPONDING TO INCIDENT OF WORKPLACE VIOLENCE.
  (a) Following an incident of workplace violence, a facility shall
  at a minimum offer immediate post-incident services, including any
  necessary acute medical treatment for each health care provider or
  employee of the facility who is directly involved in the incident.
         (b)  A facility may not discourage a health care provider or
  employee from exercising the provider's or employee's right to
  contact or file a report with law enforcement regarding an incident
  of workplace violence.
         (c)  A person may not discipline, including by suspension or
  termination of employment, discriminate against, or retaliate
  against another person who:
               (1)  in good faith reports an incident of workplace
  violence; or
               (2)  advises a health care provider or employee of the
  provider's or employee's right to report an incident of workplace
  violence.
         Sec. 331.006.  ENFORCEMENT. An appropriate licensing agency
  may take disciplinary action against a person who violates this
  chapter as if the person violated an applicable licensing law.
         SECTION 2.  Not later than September 1, 2024, a facility
  subject to Chapter 331, Health and Safety Code, as added by this
  Act, shall adopt a workplace violence prevention policy and adopt
  and implement a workplace violence prevention plan in accordance
  with Sections 331.003 and 331.004, Health and Safety Code, as added
  by this Act.
         SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2023.
 
 
 
 
 
  ______________________________ ______________________________
     President of the Senate Speaker of the House     
 
         I hereby certify that S.B. No. 240 passed the Senate on
  March 27, 2023, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0; and that
  the Senate concurred in House amendment on May 2, 2023, by the
  following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0.
 
 
  ______________________________
  Secretary of the Senate    
 
         I hereby certify that S.B. No. 240 passed the House, with
  amendment, on April 18, 2023, by the following vote: Yeas 122,
  Nays 26, one present not voting.
 
 
  ______________________________
  Chief Clerk of the House   
 
 
 
  Approved:
 
  ______________________________ 
              Date
 
 
  ______________________________ 
            Governor