House Bill 956
AUTOMATIC FELONY ENHANCEMENT FOR SIMPLE ASSAULT AGAINST MUNICIPAL WORKERS
Description: HB 956 would amend Pennsylvania's aggravated assault statute (18 § 2702) to add municipal workers as the fortieth category to the list of officers or employees against whom simple assault would automatically be charged as a second-degree felony aggravated assault.
PA Justice Alliance Member Positions & Feedback
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The ACLU-PA opposes HB 956 for the following reasons:
HB 956 (and bills like it) propose arbitrary and overly punitive penalties for offenses that if committed against anyone else, are punished far less severely.
HB 956 would automatically charge a simple assault against a municipal worker as aggravated— increasing the penalty from a maximum of 2 years incarceration for a second-degree misdemeanor to up to 10 years in prison for a second-degree felony—an additional 8 years in prison.
Serially expanding the aggravated assault statute dilutes the distinction between types of assault and risks rendering the offense of simple assault all but meaningless.
HB 956 singles out certain employment categories for special treatment. HB 956 would mete out greater punishment based not on the intent or severity of the assault, but rather on the employment status of the victim.
Only those with political or other clout can get their employment category added to the list of covered classes. There is no rhyme or reason or even objective criteria to determine why some employment categories are included and others are not. It is tantamount to a list of favorites.
Taken to the extreme, this subsection ensures that as long as you only assault someone without a job, you won’t face the same punishment you would if you had assaulted someone with a job.
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HB 956 constitutes a massive expansion of the crimes code. By making all employees of local government part of a protected class, this bill makes what would otherwise be a misdemeanor simple assault a felony aggravated assault. This means that any attempt or any time someone causes “bodily injury” to any municipal or county employee, this will be charged as a felony aggravated assault. Bodily injury is defined "impairment of physical condition or substantial pain" and can include things like bruises, cuts, or scrapes. There is no qualifying language in the bill that limits such enhancement of the charge to the time the person is working.
Beyond PDAP’s default objection to bills that expand the crimes code and enhance penalties, PDAP opposes HB 956 because of the massive scope of this expansion of the crimes code. There are at least 30,000 municipal employees in Philadelphia. Allegheny County has over 6,000 employees. While there is no available comprehensive estimate for the number of people who serve full or part time in any part of county or local government, this bill elevates tens of thousands of people into a protected class.
Not only does the bill elevate too many people into a protected class, but it is also overbroad. Nothing in the bill limits this enhancement to the time when someone is working in the course of their duties. This means that following a scuffle involving any municipal employee at home or in any domestic dispute is still elevated to a felony—even for an attempt to cause an injury as small as a cut, scrape, or bruise.
Lastly, HB 956 is unnecessary. If the goal of the bill is to protect municipal employees from the public when they are at work, prosecutors and judges already can and do take the individual circumstances of an offense or a victim into account in sentencing.
Converting what is otherwise a misdemeanor offense into a felony, with all of the bail, prior record score, and collateral consequences that come with felony offenses is unnecessary to keep people safe.
We ask you to vote no on HB 956.
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HB 956 will lead to more children being charged as if they were adults, because it expands the cases that will be charged as Aggravated Assault, which when charged against a child aged 15 or older, is automatically, without any review or discretion, charged in adult court. We oppose any expansion of adult charges against children. We want to highlight to the committee the impact that this bill would have on children by exposing them to the adult criminal legal system. This impact will be disproportionately felt by Black children. In Pennsylvania, Black boys make up 7% of the youth population, but 56% of adult prosecution convictions (PA Juvenile Justice Task Force Report). Any expansion of the practice of charging children as if they are adults, which this bill would effectively achieve, will perpetuate these disparities. We respectfully urge you to oppose HB 956.
