Increasing penalties for the crimes of assault and battery if committed against a public-facing worker while such worker is engaged in the performance of such worker's assigned duties.

HB 2774 increases penalties for assault or battery committed against public-facing workers (such as retail staff, healthcare workers, or customer service employees) while they are performing job duties. It upgrades this offense from a class C misdemeanor to a class B misdemeanor under Kansas law. The bill specifically targets attacks during work hours, applying to all workers defined as "public-facing" in the statute. This change makes these assaults punishable more severely than standard assault offenses.