H-0813.1

HOUSE BILL 1532

ByRepresentatives Mosbrucker, Pettigrew, Dye, Goodman, Griffey, Walsh, Eslick, Corry, Graham, Kraft, Appleton, Senn, Shea, Stanford, Valdez, Kloba, Leavitt, and Macri

AN ACT Relating to traumatic brain injuries in domestic violence cases; amending RCW 26.50.035 and 10.99.030; and adding a new section to chapter 74.31 RCW.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1. A new section is added to chapter 74.31 RCW to read as follows:

(1) The department, in consultation with the advisory council established in RCW 74.31.020, shall recommend or develop an educational handout regarding traumatic brain injury to be provided to victims of domestic violence. The handout must include:

(a) An explanation of the potential for domestic abuse to lead to traumatic brain injury;

(b) Information on recognizing cognitive, behavioral, and physical symptoms of traumatic brain injury as well as potential impacts to a person's emotional well-being and mental health. A self-screening tool must be provided; and

(c) Recommendations for persons with traumatic brain injury to address or cope with the injury.

(2) The department must update the handout on a periodic basis and make the handout available for use by law enforcement as provided in RCW 10.99.030 and the administrative office of the courts as provided in RCW 26.50.035.

Sec. 2. RCW 26.50.035 and 2005 c 282 s 40 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) The administrative office of the courts shall develop and prepare instructions and informational brochures required under RCW 26.50.030(4), standard petition and order for protection forms, and a court staff handbook on domestic violence and the protection order process. The standard petition and order for protection forms must be used after September 1, 1994, for all petitions filed and orders issued under this chapter. The instructions, brochures, forms, and handbook shall be prepared in consultation with interested persons, including a representative of the state domestic violence coalition, judges, and law enforcement personnel.

(a) The instructions shall be designed to assist petitioners in completing the petition, and shall include a sample of standard petition and order for protection forms.

(b) The informational brochure shall describe the use of and the process for obtaining, modifying, and terminating a domestic violence protection order as provided under this chapter, an antiharassment no-contact order as provided under chapter 9A.46 RCW, a domestic violence no-contact order as provided under chapter 10.99 RCW, a restraining order as provided under chapters 26.09, 26.10, ((26.26))26.26A, 26.26B, and 26.44 RCW, an antiharassment protection order as provided by chapter 10.14 RCW, and a foreign protection order as defined in chapter 26.52 RCW.

(c) The educational handout on domestic violence and traumatic brain injury prepared by the department of social and health services pursuant to section 1 of this act must be included as part of the informational brochures to be provided to persons seeking protection orders.

(d) The order for protection form shall include, in a conspicuous location, notice of criminal penalties resulting from violation of the order, and the following statement: "You can be arrested even if the person or persons who obtained the order invite or allow you to violate the order's prohibitions. The respondent has the sole responsibility to avoid or refrain from violating the order's provisions. Only the court can change the order upon written application."

(((d)))(e) The court staff handbook shall allow for the addition of a community resource list by the court clerk.

(2) All court clerks shall obtain a community resource list from a domestic violence program, defined in RCW 70.123.020, serving the county in which the court is located. The community resource list shall include the names and telephone numbers of domestic violence programs serving the community in which the court is located, including law enforcement agencies, domestic violence agencies, sexual assault agencies, legal assistance programs, interpreters, multicultural programs, and batterers' treatment programs. The court shall make the community resource list available as part of or in addition to the informational brochures described in subsection (1) of this section.

(3) The administrative office of the courts shall distribute a master copy of the petition and order forms, instructions, and informational brochures to all court clerks and shall distribute a master copy of the petition and order forms to all superior, district, and municipal courts.

(4) For purposes of this section, "court clerks" means court administrators in courts of limited jurisdiction and elected court clerks.

(5) The administrative office of the courts shall determine the significant non-English-speaking or limited English-speaking populations in the state. The administrator shall then arrange for translation of the instructions and informational brochures required by this section, which shall contain a sample of the standard petition and order for protection forms, into the languages spoken by those significant non-English-speaking populations and shall distribute a master copy of the translated instructions and informational brochures to all court clerks by January 1, 1997.

(6) The administrative office of the courts shall update the instructions, brochures, standard petition and order for protection forms, and court staff handbook when changes in the law make an update necessary.

Sec. 3. RCW 10.99.030 and 2016 c 136 s 5 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) All training relating to the handling of domestic violence complaints by law enforcement officers shall stress enforcement of criminal laws in domestic situations, availability of community resources, and protection of the victim. Law enforcement agencies and community organizations with expertise in the issue of domestic violence shall cooperate in all aspects of such training.

(2) The criminal justice training commission shall implement by January 1, 1997, a course of instruction for the training of law enforcement officers in Washington in the handling of domestic violence complaints. The basic law enforcement curriculum of the criminal justice training commission shall include at least twenty hours of basic training instruction on the law enforcement response to domestic violence. The course of instruction, the learning and performance objectives, and the standards for the training shall be developed by the commission and focus on enforcing the criminal laws, safety of the victim, and holding the perpetrator accountable for the violence. The curriculum shall include training on the extent and prevalence of domestic violence, the importance of criminal justice intervention, techniques for responding to incidents that minimize the likelihood of officer injury and that promote victim safety, investigation and interviewing skills, evidence gathering and report writing, assistance to and services for victims and children, recognizing the signs of possible or probable traumatic brain injury, verification and enforcement of court orders, liability, and any additional provisions that are necessary to carry out the intention of this subsection.

(3) The criminal justice training commission shall develop and update annually an in-service training program to familiarize law enforcement officers with the domestic violence laws. The program shall include techniques for handling incidents of domestic violence that minimize the likelihood of injury to the officer and that promote the safety of all parties. The commission shall make the training program available to all law enforcement agencies in the state.

(4) Development of the training in subsections (2) and (3) of this section shall be conducted in conjunction with agencies having a primary responsibility for serving victims of domestic violence with emergency shelter and other services, and representatives to the statewide organization providing training and education to these organizations and to the general public.

(5) The primary duty of peace officers, when responding to a domestic violence situation, is to enforce the laws allegedly violated and to protect the complaining party.

(6)(a) When a peace officer responds to a domestic violence call and has probable cause to believe that a crime has been committed, the peace officer shall exercise arrest powers with reference to the criteria in RCW 10.31.100. The officer shall notify the victim of the victim's right to initiate a criminal proceeding in all cases where the officer has not exercised arrest powers or decided to initiate criminal proceedings by citation or otherwise. The parties in such cases shall also be advised of the importance of preserving evidence.

(b) A peace officer responding to a domestic violence call shall take a complete offense report including the officer's disposition of the case.

(7) When a peace officer responds to a domestic violence call, the officer shall:

(a) Advise victims of all reasonable means to prevent further abuse, including advising each person of the availability of a shelter or other services in the community, and giving each person immediate notice of the legal rights and remedies available. The notice shall include handing each person a copy of the following statement:

"IF YOU ARE THE VICTIM OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, you can ask the city or county prosecuting attorney to file a criminal complaint. You also have the right to file a petition in superior, district, or municipal court requesting an order for protection from domestic abuse which could include any of the following: (a) An order restraining your abuser from further acts of abuse; (b) an order directing your abuser to leave your household; (c) an order preventing your abuser from entering your residence, school, business, or place of employment; (d) an order awarding you or the other parent custody of or visitation with your minor child or children; and (e) an order restraining your abuser from molesting or interfering with minor children in your custody. The forms you need to obtain a protection order are available in any municipal, district, or superior court.

Information about shelters and alternatives to domestic violence is available from a statewide twenty-four-hour toll-free hotline at (include appropriate phone number). The battered women's shelter and other resources in your area are . . . . . (include local information)"

(8) The peace officer may offer, arrange, or facilitate transportation for the victim to a hospital for treatment of injuries or to a place of safety or shelter.

(9) The law enforcement agency shall forward the offense report to the appropriate prosecutor within ten days of making such report if there is probable cause to believe that an offense has been committed, unless the case is under active investigation. Upon receiving the offense report, the prosecuting agency may, in its discretion, choose not to file the information as a domestic violence offense, if the offense was committed against a sibling, parent, stepparent, or grandparent.

(10) Each law enforcement agency shall make as soon as practicable a written record and shall maintain records of all incidents of domestic violence reported to it, including a notation of a probable incident of traumatic brain injury.

(11) Records kept pursuant to subsections (6) and (10) of this section shall be made identifiable by means of a departmental code for domestic violence.

(12) Commencing January 1, 1994, records of incidents of domestic violence shall be submitted, in accordance with procedures described in this subsection, to the Washington association of sheriffs and police chiefs by all law enforcement agencies. The Washington criminal justice training commission shall amend its contract for collection of statewide crime data with the Washington association of sheriffs and police chiefs:

(a) To include a table, in the annual report of crime in Washington produced by the Washington association of sheriffs and police chiefs pursuant to the contract, showing the total number of actual offenses and the number and percent of the offenses that are domestic violence incidents for the following crimes: (i) Criminal homicide, with subtotals for murder and nonnegligent homicide and manslaughter by negligence; (ii) forcible rape, with subtotals for rape by force and attempted forcible rape; (iii) robbery, with subtotals for firearm, knife or cutting instrument, or other dangerous weapon, and strongarm robbery; (iv) assault, with subtotals for firearm, knife or cutting instrument, other dangerous weapon, hands, feet, aggravated, and other nonaggravated assaults; (v) burglary, with subtotals for forcible entry, nonforcible unlawful entry, and attempted forcible entry; (vi) larceny theft, except motor vehicle theft; (vii) motor vehicle theft, with subtotals for autos, trucks and buses, and other vehicles; (viii) arson; and (ix) violations of the provisions of a protection order or no-contact order restraining the person from going onto the grounds of or entering a residence, workplace, school, or day care, provided that specific appropriations are subsequently made for the collection and compilation of data regarding violations of protection orders or no-contact orders;

(b) To require that the table shall continue to be prepared and contained in the annual report of crime in Washington until that time as comparable or more detailed information about domestic violence incidents is available through the Washington state incident based reporting system and the information is prepared and contained in the annual report of crime in Washington; and

(c) To require that, in consultation with interested persons, the Washington association of sheriffs and police chiefs prepare and disseminate procedures to all law enforcement agencies in the state as to how the agencies shall code and report domestic violence incidents to the Washington association of sheriffs and police chiefs.

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