Sacramento Snapshot: New bill seeks to add protections for victims of abuse

Kayleigh Kozak plans to face the man who abused her as a child, in person, to let him know she is seeking a lifetime order of protection against him. That’s because, in her home state of Arizona, she got a law passed that grants lifetime protection orders for victims of violent crimes.

And she’s working to ensure California is next.

Kozak was in Sacramento last week with Assemblymember Diane Dixon, R-Newport Beach, to advocate for a new bill that would allow California judges to issue lifetime protection orders during sentencing for a violent felony, including a felony sex offense.

While protective orders are granted in cases of domestic violence, child or elder abuse and other crimes, they often are only in place for a short time — meaning victims will go back to court to seek extensions where they may have to face their perpetrator.

Civil domestic violence restraining orders, for example, are available for up to five years initially but can be renewed for a longer period. But the renewal process includes an evidentiary hearing that can be difficult for victims.

“For many survivors, reengaging with a person who has caused harm by initiating adversarial litigation is extremely frightening, retraumatizing and dangerous,” said Jane Stoever, director of the UCI Initiative to End Family Violence.

The bill, AB 1931, is still in its early stages; it was referred to the Committee on Public Safety but does not yet have a hearing date.

But since Arizona’s law passed in 2021, more than 1,000 people have been able to receive lifetime protection orders, according to local news outlets there. Similar legislation was passed in Wisconsin in 2022, and a bill is working its way through Missouri this year.

A perhaps unique aspect to the California bill, said Stoever, is it gives deference to what a survivor wants. So if someone declines a permanent order, a court would respect that, she said.

“Very few domestic and sexual violence cases are charged as felonies and result in felony convictions, so the permanent no-contact protective order available through the bill protects survivors of highly violent and near-lethal abuse,” said Stoever. “The bill will also be helpful for these abuse survivors seeking the permanent no-contact order to not have to go through a separate court process of seeking a civil domestic violence restraining order if only needing this relief, and law enforcement tends to more readily enforce criminal protective orders.”

“This bill is critical to ensure we are protecting the vulnerable members of our community from retaliation, continued violence, stalking and harassment from their perpetrators,” said Dixon, who is sponsoring the bill dubbed “Kayleigh’s Law.”

Kristy von Waldburg, an Orange County resident and childhood sexual abuse survivor, was also in Sacramento last week to advocate for the bill. She said it “gives much-needed and overdue support to victims and survivors by adding another layer of protection for their healing and justice.”

Noting that not everyone has a strong support system when they do choose to report abuse, von Waldburg said: “If they’re going to be brave enough to step into a courtroom and face their perpetrator and go through the legal process, I think this is the least we can do for them, offer them something on the backend that gives them that protection, makes them feel save and maybe step into their healing even more and start serving their communities.”

Standing in front of the Capitol building Wednesday, March 20, in front of a sign that read “Because You Still Matter,” Kozak recounted how she reported her middle school soccer coach who sexually abused her when she was just 12 and 13 years old. But in 2020 — 15 years later — she received a notification: The perpetrator was eligible to have his lifetime parole lifted. She would no longer have an order of protection against him.

So she set out to change the law, in Arizona and across the country.

Now 32 years old, Kozak had a message for other survivors: “You are not alone.”

In other news

• The Senate Public Safety Committee last week OK’d three gun safety measures from Sen. Catherine Blakespear, who represents southern Orange County communities, including one that aims to keep firearms away from someone experiencing a mental health crisis.

SB 1002 builds on existing law that prohibits certain people who have been involuntarily confined at a healthcare facility for psychiatric treatment from possessing a firearm for up to five years.

The bill seeks to ensure people actually do relinquish their guns — more than 4,800 Californians continue to possess guns despite being required to give them up due to mental health reasons, according to data from Blakespear’s office — by requiring the Department of Justice to inform a person of the gun prohibition and instruction courts and health care facilities to inform people how to properly give up guns, among other things.

“In California, we have strong gun safety laws, but we need to make sure they are working as designed,” Blakespear said.

• Assemblymember Blanca Pacheco, whose district includes La Habra, attended the groundbreaking of the expansion of the California Firefighters Memorial Wall. The memorial near the Capitol already has the names of more than 1,500 who have died in the line of duty, but it has run out of space.

“I’m honored to support this meaningful tribute, which will ensure that the bravery of our firefighters will be remembered for generations,” said Pacheco, D-Downey.

Joined @CaFireFound and @CAFirefighters for a poignant groundbreaking ceremony for the #CAFirefightersMemorial Capitol Park wall expansion. I’m honored to support this meaningful tribute, which will ensure that the bravery of our firefighters will be remembered for generations. pic.twitter.com/tPVnk0f9yP

— Assemblywoman Blanca Pacheco (@AsmPacheco) March 20, 2024

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• It’s officially spring break for the legislature. They’ll be back to work in Sacramento on April 1.

Source: Orange County Register