Massachusetts Senate Passes Healthcare Worker Workplace Violence Bill

BOSTON -- July 16, 2026, Massachusetts Senate passes landmark healthcare worker assault protection bill and advances $325 million economic development measure. The Senate voted unanimously Wednesday to engross House No. 4767, requiring all covered healthcare facilities to conduct annual risk assessments, develop violence prevention plans, and provide paid leave to workers assaulted on the job, leave that does not count against their own sick time. Assistant Majority Leader Joan B. Lovely of Salem, the bill's chief Senate sponsor, cited statistics showing a healthcare worker is assaulted every 36 minutes in Massachusetts and that 70 percent of nurses and providers report having been assaulted at work. A one-year implementation pause on the bill's warrantless-arrest provision, except for hospitals, was adopted on a motion by Senator Robyn K. Kennedy of Worcester, to address concerns about individuals with intellectual disabilities in group home settings. The Senate separately adopted a procedural order scheduling House No. 5576, an economic development bill authorizing $325.1 million in new bond obligations plus $100 million in direct FY2026 appropriations, for a second reading on July 22, with amendments due July 20 at 2:30 p.m. The session closed with the healthcare worker bill heading to conference with the House, which had passed a version making such assaults a felony, a provision the Senate did not include.