CHAPTER 326
HB 1079 - FINAL VERSION
28Mar2024... 1096h
13Jun2024... 2298CofC
13Jun2024... 2361EBA
2024 SESSION
24-2349
05/10
HOUSE BILL 1079
SPONSORS: Rep. Proulx, Hills. 15
COMMITTEE: Executive Departments and Administration
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AMENDED ANALYSIS
This bill revises membership of critical incident stress management teams and terminology regarding critical incident intervention and management. This bill also establishes the rural and underserved area educator incentive program and makes an appropriation therefor.
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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.
Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]
Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
28Mar2024... 1096h
13Jun2024... 2298CofC
13Jun2024... 2361EBA 24-2349
05/10
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Twenty Four
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
326:1 Critical Incident Intervention and Management; Definitions. RSA 153-A:17-a, I is repealed and reenacted to read as follows:
I. In this section:
(a) "Critical incident" means an event or events that result in acute or cumulative psychological stress or trauma to an emergency response/public safety worker because of their exposure to the event or events.
(b) "Critical incident stress" means a strong emotional, behavioral, cognitive, or physical reaction that has the potential to interfere with an emergency response/public safety worker's ability to function and that results from the response to a critical incident or long-term occupational exposure to a series of critical incident responses over a period of time that are believed to be causing debilitating stress that is affecting an emergency response/public safety worker and their work performance or personal experiences. This may include, but is not limited to, physical and emotional illness, failure of usual coping mechanisms, loss of interest in the job, personality changes, or loss of ability to function.
(c) "Critical incident stress management" means a process of crisis intervention designed to assist emergency response/public safety workers in coping with the psychological trauma resulting from response to a critical incident or personal experiences.
(d) "Critical incident stress management and crisis intervention services" means consultation, peer support, debriefing, defusing, intervention services, management, prevention, and referral provided by a critical incident stress management team member and/or management team.
(e) "Critical incident stress management team" or "team" means the group of one or more trained volunteers, including members of peer support groups organized by a unit of state, local, or county government, or members of a union of emergency response/public safety workers, as defined in subparagraph (g), who offer critical incident stress management and crisis intervention services following a critical incident or long term or continued, debilitating stress being experienced by emergency response/public safety workers, including retired emergency response/public safety workers, and affecting them or their families.
(f) "Critical incident stress management team member" means an emergency response/public safety worker, including any retired emergency response/public safety workers, specially trained to provide critical incident stress management and crisis intervention services as a member of an organized and registered team.
(g) “Emergency response/public safety worker” means any law enforcement officer certified under RSA 106-L, certified county corrections officer, sheriff or deputy sheriff, state police officer, civilian law enforcement employee, civilian county corrections employee, any call, volunteer, or regular firefighter, civilian fire department employee, rescue or ambulance worker, including ambulance service, emergency medical personnel, first responder service, and volunteer personnel, hospital emergency department personnel, telecommunicators, and local dispatchers.
(h) "Hospital emergency department personnel" means staff rendering care, rescue, support, and lifesaving services while working for and/or in the hospital emergency department.
(i) "Local dispatcher" means a person who determines the location, status, and assistance required by callers and walk-in customers for public safety services and dispatches the appropriate police, fire, ambulance, or other units to provide needed emergency services at the state, city, town, or private emergency services level.
(j) "Telecommunicator" means an employee of the department of safety, division of emergency services and communications who is responsible for receiving at the public safety answering point telephone calls made to E911 and transferring or relaying such calls to public or private safety agencies.
326:2 Critical Incident Intervention and Management. Amend RSA 153-A:17-a, II and III to read as follows:
II.(a) Team members shall undergo and sustain certification standards set forth in guidelines established by the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation (ICISF) approved by the commissioner of the department of safety, or a similar organization for which the commissioner shall not unreasonably withhold approval. The team shall be registered with ICISF, or a similar organization and the commissioner of safety, and maintain training standards to date as required.
(b) All critical incident stress management team members, sworn, [or] civilian, or retired, shall be designated by the police chief, sheriff, director of the division of state police, fire chief, commissioner of the department of corrections, superintendent of county corrections, chief of emergency medical services, [or] director of the division of emergency services and communications, or head of a union of emergency response/public safety workers as defined by RSA 281-A:2, V-c.
III.(a) Any information divulged to the team or a team member during the provision of critical incident stress management and crisis intervention services shall be kept confidential and shall not be disclosed to a third party or in a criminal, civil, or administrative proceeding. Records kept by critical incident stress management team members are not subject to subpoena, discovery, or introduction into evidence in a criminal, civil, or administrative action. Except as provided in subparagraph (c), no person, whether critical incident stress management team member or team leader providing [or receiving] critical incident stress management and crisis intervention services, nor any person receiving any critical incident stress management and crisis intervention services, shall be required to testify or divulge any information disclosed or obtained solely through such crisis intervention.
(b) The purpose of this section is to provide a consistent framework for the operation of critical incident stress management teams and their members. In any civil action against any individual, agency, or government entity, including the state of New Hampshire, arising out of the conduct of a member of such team, this section is not intended and shall not be admissible to establish negligence in any instance where requirements herein are higher than the standard of care that would otherwise have been applicable in such action under state law.
(c) A communication shall not be deemed confidential pursuant to this section if:
[(1) The communication indicates the existence of a danger to the individual who receives critical incident stress management and crisis intervention services or to any other person or persons.
(2) The communication indicates the existence of past child abuse or neglect of the individual, abuse of an adult as defined by law, or family violence as defined by law.
(3) The communication indicates the existence of past or present acts constituting an intentional tort or crime, provided the applicable statute of limitation has not expired on the act indicated.]
(1)(A) The communication is an explicit threat of suicide by an individual in which the individual shares:
(i) An intent to die by suicide; and
(ii) A plan for a suicide attempt or the means by which the individual plans to carry out a suicide attempt.
(B) A communication that contains the disclosure of suicidal thoughts, but not the information described in both subparagraphs (A)(i) and (ii) shall be deemed confidential.
(2) The communication is an explicit threat of imminent serious physical bodily harm or death to another individual or individuals.
(3) The communication indicates the abuse or neglect of:
(A) A child; or
(B) An elderly or vulnerable adult as defined in RSA 161-F:43.
(4) The communication contains information otherwise required by law to be disclosed.
(5) The communication indicates the existence of past or present acts constituting an intentional commission of a crime, provided the applicable statute of limitation has not expired on the act indicated.
326:3 New Section; Department of Education; Rural and Underserved Area Educator Incentive Program. Amend RSA 21-N by inserting after section 8-d the following new section:
21-N:8-e Rural and Underserved Area Educator Incentive Program.
I. In this section:
(a) "Department” means the department of education.
(b) “Division” means the division of educator support and higher education.
(c) “Commission” means the New Hampshire higher education commission.
(d) "Rural and underserved area educator" means a full-time, credentialed individual employed as an instructional employee in an eligible public school district or at an eligible chartered public school.
(e) "Rural school district" means:
(1) There are fewer than 20 enrolled students per square mile within the area encompassed by the school district’s boundaries; or
(2) The regional public health network in which a plurality of the school district’s market value for assessment purposes is located is deemed rural as defined by the department of health and human services, division of public health.
II. The department shall identify specific schools that are affected by critical educator shortages using the following criteria:
(a) Rural isolation of the school; or
(b) Economic disadvantage of the school based on eligibility for funds pursuant to title I, part A of the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act, as amended.
III. Rural and underserved area educators who are employed at schools identified in paragraph II shall be eligible for payment of retention grants as outlined in this section.
IV. Grant payments may be provided on behalf of a rural and underserved area educator who:
(a) Is employed in a school identified in paragraph II; and
(b) Has a signed contract with such school.
V. To qualify for grant payments under this section, a rural and underserved area educator shall submit an application to the commission. For grant payment applications, the application shall include any documentation required by the department for verification of the applicant's eligibility.
VI. A rural and underserved area educator shall be eligible for grant payments for up to 4 years, provided that the educator remains employed at the same school or by the same school district. The department may remit payment of the grant on behalf of the rural and underserved area educator in accordance with the requirements of this section and rules adopted by the commission.
VII. The total incentive award shall be:
(a) In the amount of $1,500 upon completion of the first year;
(b) In the amount of $2,500 upon completion of the second year;
(c) In the amount of $3,500 upon completion of the third year; and
(d) In the amount of $4,500 upon completion of the fourth year.
VIII. The commission shall adopt rules pursuant to RSA 541-A to establish protocols for determining the number of incentive awards that will be made annually based on available appropriations for the program.
IX. Incentive awards under this section shall be offered to the extent of available funding.
326:4 Rural and Underserved Area Educator Incentive Program; Appropriation. There is hereby appropriated the sum of $1 for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2025, to the department of education, division of educator support and higher education, for the purpose of funding the rural and underserved area educator incentive program established in RSA 21-N:8-e. All funds appropriated for the program shall be nonlapsing. The governor is authorized to draw a warrant for said sums out of any money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated.
326:5 Effective Date. This act shall take effect 60 days after its passage.
Approved: August 02, 2024
Effective Date: October 01, 2024