HOUSE BILL NO. 5 "An Act relating to sexual abuse of a minor; relating to sexual assault; relating to the code of military justice; relating to consent; relating to the testing of sexual assault examination kits; and providing for an effective date." 4:01:05 PM REPRESENTATIVE GERAN TARR, SPONSOR, thanked the committee for the opportunity to introduce the legislation. She shared that the bill had 15 prior hearings in prior committee. She reported that the draft Committee Substitute (CS), version U that she wanted the committee to consider accomplished three things. She explained that the bill changed the timeframe for testing rape kits from one year to six months. She indicated that the second item updated the definition of consent. The current definition of consent was established in the late 1970s and no longer reflected what was presently culturally and socially acceptable, which had changed. The modern definition that was included in the CS was in statute in many states and was included in Section 5. She stated the definition of consent in the CS as follows freely given, reversible agreement specific to the conduct at issue freely given means agreement to cooperate in the act was positively expressed by word or action. She shared that she had been working with the Department of Law (DOL) to ensure that the definition was copesetic and clearly understood. The language the use or threat of use of force was removed because it was problematic when trying to criminally prosecute sexual assault cases. She referred to an article included in members packets titled Without justice in Nome, Women Wrestle with Trauma and Healing After Sexual Assault (copy on file) as an example of the need for an updated definition of consent. She noted the broad support from stakeholders and citizens for the bill. The current statute was ineffective, and change was necessary to rectify the problem. She highlighted that the third item in the CS was the crime of rape by fraud reflected on page 1, line 13 through 14 in the bill and read the language by impersonating someone known to the person for the purpose of obtaining consent. She offered that currently the behavior was not criminalized. She described a circumstance that characterized the behavior. 4:05:07 PM Representative Tarr continued to speak about the bill. She indicated that the there were many cases in the state that fit the description. If the state adopted the provision, it would be the thirteenth state to do so. The fraud provision was reflected in the crime of sexual assault in the first degree for penetration and sexual assault in the second degree for sexual contact. She elaborated that the rape by fraud for sexual penetration was a Class A felony and for contact a Class B felony. The use of force was added as an element of sexual assault in the first degree and was a gradient that made the assault rise to a certain level or degree of crime. She concluded her summary of the CS. 4:07:01 PM AT EASE 4:08:17 PM RECONVENED Vice-Chair Ortiz MOVED to ADOPT the proposed committee substitute for HB 5, Work Draft 32-LS0065\U (Radford, 5/10/22). 4:08:42 PM AT EASE 4:08:59 PM RECONVENED Vice-Chair Ortiz restated the motion for version U. There being NO OBJECTION, it was so ordered. HB 5 was HEARD and HELD in committee for further consideration. Co-Chair Merrick reviewed the schedule for the following morning.