Today, Education and Labor Committee Republican Leader Virginia Foxx (R-NC) spoke in opposition to H.R. 1195, the Democrat-proposed Workplace Violence Prevention for Health Care and Social Service Workers Act. H.R. 1195 is the wrong solution to a serious problem. It will result in an overly prescriptive, catch-all rule that will hurt workers and employers in the already overwhelmed health care and social service industries.
On the House floor today, Foxx delivered the following remarks:
“Ensuring workplace safety for all American workers, especially our nation’s caregivers, is an issue of the utmost importance and is deserving of a serious and thorough solution. H.R. 1195 purports to take a responsible approach to the issue of workplace violence, but legislation that results in a rushed and overly-prescriptive rule that omits important input from stakeholders and experts while driving up compliance costs for already struggling industries is far from a sensible solution. Yet, that is what we are asked to consider today.
“Workers in the health care and social services industries are at an increased risk of workplace violence, with the Bureau of Labor Statistics finding they are five times more likely to experience violence in the workplace than workers in other industries.
“While the threat is real, the response the Democrats are proposing to address the situation – to further their own partisan agenda – is not grounded in reality. Workplace violence is already a well-recognized hazard by employers and employees in the health care and social services industries. According to a 2018 American Hospital Association survey, 97 percent of respondents indicated they already have workplace violence policies in place.
“In addition, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is already enforcing workplace violence prevention measures, issuing citations to employers who fail to provide safe workplaces during both the Obama and Trump administrations. The agency is also working on a rule through the standard OSHA rulemaking process and has announced plans to initiate a Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act panel—a key part of the rulemaking process that allows the agency to gather valuable feedback from small businesses before a regulation is written.
“H.R. 1195 is particularly ill-timed and ill-advised as it forces OSHA to issue an interim final rule on workplace violence within one year, which will significantly strain health care facilities that are heroically working on the front lines responding to a once-in-a-century pandemic.
“The CBO recently estimated the cost of this bill to private entities will be at least $1.8 billion in the first two years that the rushed OSHA rule is in effect—and $750 million annually after that. The cost to public facilities will be at least $100 million in the first two years and $55 million annually after that. Financially struggling health care facilities, such as rural hospitals that are already at risk of closure, cannot afford a rushed and costly government-imposed mandate from Washington bureaucrats.
“The House is considering H.R. 1195 at a time when the Biden administration is also considering a burdensome, over-reaching Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) on COVID-19. Though OSHA is weeks behind in deciding whether to issue the ETS, handing down two expensive, punitive federal mandates on an already burdened health care industry could be the straw that breaks the camel’s back. There may be a time and a place where a workplace violence regulation is appropriate, but now is certainly not it.
“While I cannot support H.R. 1195, I want to be clear: the safety of our nation’s health care and social service workers is not a partisan issue. Republicans offered a workable solution at a recent Committee markup and were willing to negotiate with our colleagues across the aisle on a compromise, one that requires OSHA to analyze a rule properly, heed appropriate and necessary input from stakeholders, and launch an educational campaign on workplace violence prevention.
“Yet, here we are considering another Democrat bill being pushed through with no Republican input.
“Health care workers are familiar with the Hippocratic Oath: first, do no harm. In its rush to judgment, H.R. 1195 does great harm. By short-circuiting the public-input process and prescribing a specific result from the beginning, this bill will not achieve what it aims to accomplish. Our health care workers and caregivers deserve an evidenced-based and effective solution that protects them in the workplace. H.R. 1195 fails to deliver this result.”
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