To Require A Public Employer To Offer And Provide Coverage For Licensed Counseling For A Public Safety Employee Who Has Experienced A Traumatic Event; And To Declare An Emergency.
HB1505 requires public employers in Arkansas to provide coverage for licensed counseling to public safety employees who experience a qualifying traumatic event in the line of duty. The bill defines covered employees broadly to include police officers, firefighters, probation officers, surveillance officers, and adult or juvenile detention officers employed by the state, political subdivisions, cities, or towns. It also defines what counts as a traumatic event, including exposure to extraordinary bodily injury or death, serious injury or abuse of a minor, threats to life, or mass casualty incidents.
The bill guarantees up to 12 covered counseling visits per calendar year for an employee who experiences a traumatic event, with limited carryover of unused visits in certain circumstances and a cap of 18 covered visits in a calendar year. Counseling may be provided through telehealth, and the public employer must pay for the counseling subject to the employee’s health plan deductibles and conditions. Employees generally may choose the licensed mental health professional, and employers may satisfy the requirement through a program they create or join that meets the bill’s standards. The bill also states that payment for counseling does not create a presumption that the incident is compensable under workers’ compensation law.
The bill’s practical impact is to restore and make permanent a counseling coverage requirement that the emergency clause says had expired on January 1, 2025, after Act 2023, No. 537 lapsed. It adds a new section to Arkansas Code Title 21, Chapter 5, Subchapter 1, creating a statewide mandate for public employers to fund trauma-related mental health services for covered public safety personnel. It also clarifies that the counseling must be provided by licensed mental health professionals with trauma and crisis expertise and evidence-based treatment methods.
The overall sentiment appears strongly supportive. The bill passed both chambers unanimously, with 97-0 in the House and 32-0 in the Senate, and the emergency clause reflects a legislative view that immediate mental health support is necessary for public safety and public peace. The lack of recorded committee opposition or floor debate in the provided materials also suggests broad bipartisan agreement on the need for the benefit.
Notable points of contention are limited in the available record, but the bill does include some policy boundaries that may have been intended to address cost and liability concerns. These include tying payment to the employee’s current health plan deductibles and conditions, allowing employers to use existing or joint programs to comply, and expressly stating that payment does not establish workers’ compensation coverage. The main policy focus is therefore less on whether counseling should be provided and more on how the benefit is administered and financed.
HB1505 amends Arkansas law by adding a new statutory requirement in Title 21 for public employers to cover licensed counseling for public safety employees after a traumatic event. It affects state and local public employers, including the state, political subdivisions, cities, and towns, and it covers a defined set of employees such as police officers, firefighters, probation officers, surveillance officers, and detention officers. The bill also interacts with workers’ compensation statutes by expressly stating that counseling payments do not create a presumption of compensability under Arkansas workers’ compensation law.
The bill appears to have received overwhelmingly positive support. It passed the House 97-0 and the Senate 32-0, indicating unanimous approval in both chambers. The emergency clause language shows a strong legislative consensus that the counseling coverage is important for the safety, health, and continued service of public safety employees.
No significant opposition is reflected in the provided committee or vote history. The main issues embedded in the bill are administrative and fiscal rather than ideological: who qualifies as a covered employee, how many visits are covered, whether telehealth is allowed, how employers may comply, and how payment interacts with health plan deductibles and workers’ compensation. The bill also preserves employer flexibility by allowing participation in a compliant program and by not requiring an employer to secure a counselor who declines to participate.