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House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2013 - 2014
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | January 3, 2013 11:18 AM |
|---|---|
| From: | Representative Keith Gillespie |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | Assault of Law Enforcement Officer |
| In the near future, I will introduce legislation to amend 18Pa.C.S. 2702.1 Assault of Law Enforcement Officer; to address the circumstance of an offender knowingly or intentionally causing the officer to come into contact with blood, seminal fluid, saliva, urine or feces when the offender knew or had reason to know the offender was infected with a communicable disease, including HIV or hepatitis B. Currently, the offense of Assault of Law Enforcement Officer applies to an offender who knowingly or intentionally causes bodily injury to the law enforcement officer while in the performance of his duties. The statue does not include officer’s being bitten by an offender who knows he is infected with HIV or hepatitis B, for example. The legislation I will introduce is modeled upon an existing provision of the Crimes Code, that of Assault by Prisoner. Under Assault by Prisoner, it is unlawful for a person confined in a correctional institution to intentionally or knowingly cause a corrections officer to come into contact with blood, seminal fluid, saliva, urine or feces when the offender knew or had reason to know the offender was infected with a communicable disease, including HIV or hepatitis B. The offense is graded a felony of the second degree. To my mind, we should give police officers the same protections in the law we give to corrections officers. Consequently, the legislation carries the same grading as the offense of Assault by Prisoner, that of felony of the second degree. |
Introduced as HB56