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SB 435 Arkansas Senate · 2025 Regular Session

TO CREATE THE CRIMINAL OFFENSE OF AGGRAVATED ASSAULT UPON A HEALTHCARE WORKER; AND TO DEFINE "HEALTHCARE WORKER" REGARDING ASSAULT AND BATTERY.

Senate Bill 435 creates a new criminal offense in Arkansas called aggravated assault upon a healthcare worker. The bill broadly defines "healthcare worker" to include various roles, such as physicians, nurses, paramedics, and administrative or support staff, across diverse healthcare settings. This offense occurs when a person purposely causes a healthcare worker, while on duty, to come into contact with bodily fluids like saliva, blood, or urine, demonstrating extreme indifference to the worker's safety and hygiene. Aggravated assault upon a healthcare worker is classified as a Class D felony.
Issues: ✗ Criminal JusticeOpposes Criminal JusticeCreates new criminal offense expanding penalties for assaulting healthcare workers, directly increasing criminalization in criminal justice context.95% confidence ✓ Labor & EmploymentSupports Labor & EmploymentBill creates criminal penalties for assaulting healthcare workers, directly enhancing workplace safety protections for labor sector workers as defined in the topic.95% confidence
Bill status signed all 5 stages cleared
Introduction
Mar 2025
Committee Review
Apr 2025
Senate Passage
Apr 2025
House Passage
Apr 2025
Signed into Law
Apr 2025
Introduced Mar 11, 2025 Signed Apr 18, 2025
Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

Act 753 → SB 435 · 2 edits
MINOR
The bill text was reformatted from Act 753 to SB 435, removing the approval date line and adding blank lines for spacing. No substantive policy changes were made to the legislative content.
TECHNICAL

Removed the approval date line (APPROVED: 4/17/25) that was present in the previous version.

Added blank lines for formatting purposes between sections of the bill.

Floor votes

How they voted

This bill passed the Senate by voice vote (no roll call recorded).
Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions
15
Key actions
7
Committee
2
Apr 18, 2025
Signed into law
Notification that SB435 is now Act 753
upper
Apr 15, 2025
Upper · Passed
Returned from the House as passed.
upper
Apr 15, 2025
Lower · Passed
Returned to the Senate as passed.
lower
Apr 15, 2025
Lower · Passed
Read the third time and passed and ordered transmitted to the Senate.
lower
Apr 10, 2025
Lower · Passed
Returned by the Committee Do Pass
lower
Mar 18, 2025
Upper · Passed
Read the third time and passed.
upper
Mar 17, 2025
Upper · Passed
Returned by the Committee, with the recommendation that it Do Pass
upper
Mar 11, 2025
Introduced
Filed
upper
2 primary · 0 co-sponsors

Sponsors

Role
Legislator
Party
State
District
P
Photo of Lee Johnson
Lee Johnson
RRepublican
AR
47
P
Photo of Missy Irvin
Missy Irvin
RRepublican
AR
24