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HomeMy WebLinkAboutLegislative Review CMTE AB 2139 (Garcia)REQUEST: SUBMITTED BY: DATE: CONTENTS: CONSIDERATION ACTION ON AB APRIL 5, 2006 CITY OF PALM DESERT Community Services Division Staff Report OF LEGISLATIVE REVIEW COMMITTEE 2139 (GARCIA) AT ITS MEETING OF Patricia Scully, CFEE, Senior Management Analyst April 27, 2006 AB 2139 Language RECOMMENDATION: By Minute Motion, concur with the action taken by the Legislative Review Committee at its meeting of April 5, 2006, and direct staff to prepare a letter of support for the Mayor's signature with regard to AB 2139 (Garcia) relative to emergency protective orders. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Passage of AB 2139 would require law enforcement officers to advise victims of domestic violence that they may request emergency protective orders. BACKGROUND: Existing law authorizes a law enforcement officer to seek an emergency protective order when the officer asserts reasonable grounds to believe that a person is in immediate and present danger of domestic violence, that a child is in immediate and present danger of abuse by a family or household member, that a child is in immediate and present danger of being abducted by a parent or relative, or that an elder or dependent adult is in immediate or present danger of abuse. Passage of AB 2139 would require a law enforcement officer who responds to a situation involving domestic violence to inform the victim of such an act that he or she may request the officer to request an emergency protective order. CITY COUNCIL STAFF REPORT RE: AB 2139 (GARCIA) APRIL 27, 2006 Because domestic violence is an issue which plagues all communities throughout the State and is one which often has tragic results, the City of Palm Desert is supportive of any action that works towards ensuring the safety of victims of these crimes. Therefore, the Legislative Review Committee recommends that the City Council support AB 2139 and direct staff to prepare a letter stating that position to appropriate legislators for the Mayor's signature. PATRICIA SCULLY, CFEE SENIOR MANAGEMENT AN YST ,SHEILA K.-WLIGAN ACM/COMMUNITY SI PS:mpg 2 CARLOS L. ORVEGA CITY MANAGER CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE-2005-06 REGULAR SESSION ASSEMBLY BILL No. 2139 Introduced by Assembly Member Garcia February 21, 2006 An act to add Section 6275 to the Family Code, relating to emergency protective orders. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 2139, as introduced, Garcia. Emergency protective orders. Existing law authorizes a law enforcement officer to seek an emergency protective order when the officer asserts reasonable grounds to believe that a person is in immediate and present danger of domestic violence, that a child is in immediate and present danger of abuse by a family or household member, that a child is in immediate and present danger of being abducted by a parent or relative, or that an elder or dependent adult is in immediate and present danger of abuse, as specified. An emergency protective order expires at the earlier of the fifth court day or seventh calendar day following the date of issuance. This bill would require a law enforcement officer who responds to a situation involving domestic violence to inform the victim of domestic violence that he or she may request the officer to request an emergency protective order. Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no. State -mandated local program: no. The people of the State of California do enact as follows: 1 SECTION 1. Section 6275 is added to the Family Code, to 2 read: 99 AB 2139 — 2 1 6275. A law enforcement officer who responds to a situation 2 involving domestic violence shall inform the victim of domestic 3 violence that he or she may request the officer to request an 4 emergency protective order pursuant to this part. E 99 FACT SHEET- AB 2139 (GARCIA) Sponsor: AUTHOR Staff Contact: Dillon Gibbons - 916-319-2080 Code Sections Affected: Adds section 6275 to the Family Code relating to Emergency Protective Orders (EPO). Need for Bill: Often times victims of domestic violence are uninformed about their rights and the actions they can take to protect themselves from future abuse and violence. The information officers can provide about EPOs, which acts as a temporary restraining order, is potentially life saving. This type of information should not be left to the discretion of an officer to share with victims, it should be mandatory. Background: Currently when a public safety officer is on a domestic violence call the officer MAY inform the victim of their right to request that the officer request an EPO. It is bad policy to leave informing a victim of their rights to such an important protection tool to the discretion of an officer. Estimates range from 960,000 incidents of violence against a current or former spouse, boyfriend, or girlfriend per year to three million women who are physically abused by their husband or boyfriend per year. • Around the world, at least one in every three women has been beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise abused during her lifetime. • Nearly one-third of American women (31 percent) report being physically or sexually abused by a husband or boyfriend at some point in their lives, according to a 1998 Commonwealth Fund survey. • Nearly 25 percent of American women report being raped and/tit physically assaulted by a current or former spouse, cohabiting partner, or date at some time in their lifetime, according to the National Violence Against Women Survey, conducted from November 1995 to May 1996. • Thirty percent of Americans say they know a woman who has been physically abused by her husband or boyfriend in the past year. • In the year 2001, more than half a million American women (588,490 women) were victims of nonfatal violence committed by an intimate partner. • Intimate partner violence is primarily a crime against women. In 2001, women accounted for 85 percent of the victims of intimate partner violence (588,490 total) and men accounted for approximately 15 percent of the victims (103,220 total). While women are less likely than men to be victims of violent crimes overall, women are five to eight times more likely than men to be victimized by an intimate partner. • In 2001, intimate partner violence made up 20 percent of violent crime against women. The same year, intimate partners committed three percent of all violent crime against men. • As many as 324,000 women each year experience intimate partner violence during their pregnancy. • Women of all races are about equally vulnerable to violence by an intimate. • Male violence against women does much more damage than female violence against men; women are much more likely to be injured than men. • The most rapid growth in domestic relations caseloads is occurring in domestic violence filings. Between 1993 and 1995, 18 of 32 states with three year filing figures reported an increase of 20 percent or more. Women are seven to 14 times more likely than men to report suffering severe physical assaults from an intimate partner. Domestic Homicides • On average, more than three women are murdered by their husbands or boyfriends in this country every day. In 2000, 1,247 women were killed by an intimate partner. The same year, 440 men were killed by an intimate partner. • Women are much more likely than men to be killed by an intimate partner. In 2000, intimate partner homicides accounted for 33.5 percent of the murders of women and less than four percent of the murders of men. • Pregnant and recently pregnant women are more likely to be victims of homicide than to die of any other cause, and evidence exists that a significant proportion of all female homicide victims are killed by their intimate partners. • Research suggests that injury related deaths, including homicide and suicide, account for approximately one-third of all maternal mortality cases, while medical reasons make up the rest. But, homicide is the leading cause of death overall for pregnant women, followed by cancer, acute and chronic respiratory conditions, motor vehicle collisions and drug overdose, peripartum and postpartum cardiomyopthy, and suicide.