Victims of Domestic Violence & Sexual Assault gain greater protections with package of bills passed by state House

February 28, 2007

OLYMPIA – The state House today passed a package of legislation designed to help domestic violence and sexual assault victims gain greater protections from their abusers. The bills would also ensure that the law works for, rather than against, victims, as was intended by previous laws passed by the Legislature.

The first of the three bills to pass, HB 1520, prohibits law enforcement and prosecutors from requiring a sexual assault victim to take a polygraph exam as a condition of investigating the offense. Evidence presented before the House Judiciary Committee suggested that the requirement of a polygraph exam could deter victims from reporting crimes. The tests results for victims under duress can also be inaccurate.

"It would be sickening to imagine an 11-year-old who was recently victimized in my district being treated as though she were a perpetrator and forced to take a polygraph exam to be taken seriously,” said State Representative Brendan Williams (D – 22), the bill’s prime sponsor.

“In the most traumatic circumstances of one's life a victim should not be subjected to more victimization."

House Bill 1555, also prime sponsored by Rep. Williams, clarifies landmark legislation that passed last session creating sexual assault protection orders by steering sexual assault victims toward those orders as opposed to domestic violence protection orders that would be inappropriate for their needs. Sexual assault protection orders were created in order to serve victims who fell through the cracks of protections offered by existing protection orders – including domestic violence orders.

Freshman legislator Jamie Pedersen (D – 43) sponsored the third bill in the package, HB 1642, which also marked his first bill to pass the House as a state representative.

The legislation closes a loophole in the Domestic Violence Prevention Act, which left victims vulnerable to contact by their abusers. Under current interpretation of the law, police and prosecutors have been unable to stop violations of no-contact orders where there was no threat.

"HB 1642 will help police and prosecutors protect victims of domestic violence from intimidation and harassment by clarifying that no contact means NO contact,” said Pedersen.

Pedersen’s bill would make contact in violation of an order a gross misdemeanor on par with the intended interpretation of the Domestic Violence Protection Act.

All three bills now move to the Senate for further consideration.

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Staff Contact: James Paribello, (360) 786-7843

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