Committee backs bill to extend 10-year protective orders on conviction and update domestic-violence data reporting

The House Families and Children Committee voted to send House Bill 6 11 to the full House with a favorable report after adopting a committee substitute.

Representative Stephanie Dietz said the bill creates parity for victims of felony assault and stalking by allowing a 10-year interpersonal protective order (IPO) upon conviction for first- or second-degree assault when the parties are family members, members of an unmarried couple, or in a dating relationship. Under the provision described to the committee, the conviction would serve as a petition and the court could issue the IPO for up to 10 years, renewable in 10-year increments.

Dietz also outlined reporting updates in the committee substitute: adding the Administrative Office of the Courts and the attorney general’s office to agencies receiving domestic-violence data, aligning calls-for-service data collection on the JC3 form with practice, and creating a new data field to capture legal representation in protective-order hearings. She said the bill also updates the cabinet’s data components related to child dependency, neglect, and family violence.

Olivia Spradlin, recorded in the transcript as representing the same coalition identified earlier in testimony, expressed the coalition’s support for the substitute.

The committee adopted the substitute and voted 14 yes, 0 no; the bill was reported with favorable expression to the House floor.