Title: An act relating to hearings for antiharassment protection orders.

Brief Description: Revising standards for antiharassment protection order hearings.

Sponsors: Representatives Williams, Lovick, Priest, Flannigan and Serben.

Hearing Date: 2/1/05

Staff: Edie Adams (786-7180).

Background:

A person who is the victim of unlawful harassment may petition the court for a civil antiharassment protection order against the alleged harasser. Unlawful harassment means a willful course of conduct directed at a specific person that seriously alarms, annoys, or harasses the person and that has no legitimate purpose. The course of conduct must be of a type that would cause a reasonable person to suffer substantial emotional distress and must actually cause the petitioner to suffer substantial emotional distress.

A court may grant an ex parte temporary antiharassment protection order and, after a full hearing, a longer-term antiharassment protection order. Both orders require the respondent to refrain from engaging in harassment and may include provisions prohibiting the respondent from contacting the petitioner or from going within a certain distance of the petitioner's home or workplace. A respondent who knows of and willfully disobeys an antiharassment protection order is guilty of a gross misdemeanor.

A petition for an antiharassment protection order must be accompanied by an affidavit that states the specific facts and circumstances of the alleged harassment. The court must order a hearing within 14 days upon receipt of the petition for an antiharassment protection order.

If the petitioner seeks an ex-parte temporary antiharassment protection order, the petitioner must file an affidavit that shows reasonable proof of unlawful harassment and irreparable harm if the temporary order is not granted.

Summary of Bill:

A court may order a hearing on a petition for an antiharassment protection order that does not allege a sex offense only if the petition alleges a prima facie case of harassment. A petition that alleges a sex offense does not need to make this prima facie showing in order for the court to set a hearing on the petition.

Appropriation: None.

Fiscal Note: Not requested.

Effective Date: The bill takes effect 90 days after adjournment of session in which bill is passed.