A bill moving through the Oregon Legislature aims to improve safety for mental health and addiction treatment workers, who face high rates of assault on the job.
The House Committee on Behavioral Health and Health Care passed House Bill 2203 and referred it to the Joint Committee on Ways and Means on April 8.
It was the same day a judge issued a verdict in the July 2023 murder of Haley Rogers, a mental health aide who was working alone on the night shift at a Gresham group home when she was killed. James Calvin Smith, who was a resident at the time, was found guilty except for insanity for fatally stabbing Rogers.
Rogers’ death resulted in fines for Cascadia Health, her employer, and legislative action pushed by AFSCME, which represented Rogers and other behavioral health workers.
HB 2203 would require behavioral health employers to create written safety plans and provide safety training. It would direct Oregon Occupational Safety and Health (OSHA) and the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) to help employers develop safety plans and conduct risk assessments of their work spaces. The bill also directs OHA to create a grant program to fund safety improvements like keyless entries, communication systems, and panic buttons.
In written testimony submitted to lawmakers, SEIU Local 503 retiree Twila Jacobsen described her daughter’s experience working at a locked facility and being pinned against the wall by two teenage residents, without any other staff around.
“The improvements as outlined in HB 2203 would have made her workspace much safer, and potentially she would have stayed with that job. She left it out of fear for her personal safety, and lack of training, tools and acknowledgement of the situation by management,” Jacobsen wrote.
HB 2203 is one of multiple bills recommended by the Joint Task Force on Improving the Safety of Behavioral Health Workers, which was created in 2024 by an AFSCME-backed bill.
HB 2203 is supported by the Oregon AFL-CIO, Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Oregon State Council, and the Oregon Education Association.
Rep. Travis Nelson (D-TK), who chaired the task force, told the Labor Press that safety and pay are big reasons for high turnover and low recruitment for behavioral health workers.
“Addressing the problem with violence is something that behavioral health workers have been crying out for,” Nelson said.
The task force included legislators, workers, and employers, and they published a report containing 20 recommendations in November 2024.
Another bill stemming from the task force, HB 2024, would allocate $45 million to grow Oregon’s behavioral health workforce.
