Criminal Justice

Increases the penalty for battery on certain health care employees and school employees. Specifies that the enhancement for battery committed against a department of child services (DCS) employee applies only to those DCS employees whose responsibilities include personally supervising a child or parent, personally providing services to a child or parent, or personally interviewing a child or parent as part of an investigation. Requires the employer of a health care or school employee who is the victim of battery to make a semiannual report to the department of labor concerning workplace batteries.

Provides that at the time of sentencing for a person convicted of making an unlawful proposition the court may require the person to complete a prostitution offender program approved by the court. Requires a person ordered to complete a prostitution offender program to pay a fee.

HB 1432 establishes a pretrial screening process to determine if a defendant facing a death penalty charge has an intellectual disability. This directly affects individuals charged with capital offenses who may qualify for exemption from the death penalty under federal constitutional standards. The bill requires courts to evaluate intellectual disability before trial, ensuring this determination occurs early in the legal process. The measure passed the House unanimously (96-0) and is now under review by the Senate Committee on Corrections and Criminal Law.

Repeals and replaces the existing adult expungement statute with a new expungement process that makes certain changes to: (1) time periods for filing expungement; (2) crimes that are eligible for expungement; and (3) other procedural matters relating to expungement. Adds a provision concerning the expungement of juvenile arrest records.