Present law requires a professional to take reasonable care to predict, warn of, or take precautions to protect an identified victim from a service recipient's violent behavior if, and only if, (i) the recipient has communicated to the qualified mental health professional or behavior analyst an actual threat of bodily harm against a clearly identified victim and (ii) the professional, using the reasonable skill, knowledge, and care ordinarily possessed and exercised by the professional's specialty under similar circumstances, has determined or reasonably should have determined that the recipient has the apparent ability to commit such an act and is likely to carry out the threat unless prevented from doing so.
This bill rewrites the above provisions to provide, instead that, the professional or analyst must (i) take reasonable care to predict, warn of, or take precautions to protect the identified victim or group of people from a service recipient's violent behavior and (ii) report the threat to the department of mental health and substance abuse services or the local law enforcement agency with jurisdiction over the municipality or county of residence of the recipient if, and only if:
(1) The recipient has communicated to the professional or analyst (i) an intent for or perceived actual threat of bodily harm against a clearly identified victim or (ii) an intent for or perceived actual threat of bodily harm against a group of people, including, but not limited to, students at a day care or school, people at a place of worship, and members of the recipient's family; and
(2) The professional or analyst, using the reasonable skill, knowledge, and care ordinarily possessed and exercised by the professional's or analyst's specialty under similar circumstances, has determined or reasonably should have determined that the recipient has the apparent ability to commit such an act.
This bill clarifies that a professional or analyst who acts or makes a reasonable attempt to act in accordance with this bill is not liable for damages in a civil action, subject to prosecution in a criminal proceeding, or subject to disciplinary action by a regulatory board for such act or reasonable attempt to act.
ON AUTUST 28, 2023, THE HOUSE ADOPTED AMENDMENT #1 AND PASSED HOUSE BILL 7008, AS AMENDED.
AMENDMENT #1 makes the duty to warn dependent on a service recipient's communication of an intent for an actual threat of bodily harm, so that the duty is not triggered by communication of a perception of a threat.
This amendment removes prediction of violent behavior as a component of the duty to warn.
This amendment revises the duty to report to require that, once the duty is triggered, the provider must report the threat to:
(1) The local law enforcement agency with jurisdiction over the municipality or county of residence of the service recipient; or
(2) If the threat is general and not imminent or clearly identified, 988, or local crisis response service.

Statutes affected:
Introduced: 33-3-206