Session: 2025-2026
ACLU-PA Position: Opposes
HB 956 (PN 1030) 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.
Aggravated assault offenses are designed to impose tougher penalties for actions that cause greater harm, injury, or risk of death. Pennsylvania law primarily distinguishes simple assault from aggravated assault based on intent and severity of the injury—a distinction intended to ensure that the punishment fits the crime. But Pennsylvania’s aggravated assault statute has been repeatedly expanded to impose tougher penalties for cases of simple assault when the assault was committed against special classes of employment.
The ACLU-PA opposes this bill 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.
