HB 307 - SEXUAL ASSAULT PROTECTIVE ORDERS  2:41:13 PM CHAIR RAMRAS [announced that the final order of business would be] HOUSE BILL NO. 307, "An Act relating to sexual assault protective orders." 2:41:34 PM BILL EDWARDS, Staff, Representative Lindsey Holmes, Alaska State Legislature, explained on behalf of the sponsor, Representative Holmes, that HB 307 repairs a gap in magistrate and district court judge jurisdiction with regard to issuing protective orders in cases of sexual assault. Currently there are three types of protective orders - those pertaining to domestic violence (DV), those pertaining to sexual assault, and those pertaining to stalking. Prior to 2001, protective orders were issued only in cases of DV, but House Bill 1 in 2001 extended this protection to cases involving stalking outside of a domestic relationship, and Senate Bill 54 in 2006 further extended this protection to cases involving sexual assault outside of a domestic relationship. MR. EDWARDS explained that the current problem is that the statute giving magistrates and district court judges the authority to issue protective orders was not amended to specifically state that a protective order could be issued for cases involving sexual assault, as was intended with the aforementioned Senate Bill 54. As a result, magistrates and district court judges in some parts of the state, particularly rural parts of the state, have been saying, quite correctly, that they don't have the authority to issue protective orders in cases involving sexual assault. This means that victims of these crimes have to go to a superior court judge, and this is particularly burdensome on victims who live in communities that are far away from a superior court. House Bill 307 remedies this by amending AS 22.15.100(9)(B) such that magistrates and district court judges would have the authority to issue a protective order in cases involving sexual assault. MR. EDWARDS, in conclusion, noted that members' packets contain minutes pertaining to the aforementioned Senate Bill 54; e-mail correspondence between himself and that bill's sponsor confirming that the intent of that bill was for magistrates and district court judges to issue protective orders in cases involving sexual assault; and a letter of support for HB 307 from the Alaska Network on Domestic Violence & Sexual Assault (ANDVSA). 2:44:15 PM PEGGY BROWN, Executive Director, Alaska Network on Domestic Violence & Sexual Assault (ANDVSA), said the ANDVSA supports HB 307, and had noticed the aforementioned oversight that's resulted in some magistrates and district court judges, particularly in rural areas of Alaska, [refusing to issue protective orders in cases involving sexual assault]. Closing such loopholes might seem inconsequential, but doing so has a huge impact out in the field, and provides the tools with which perpetrators can be brought to justice and victims can be protected. CHAIR RAMRAS, after ascertaining that no one else wished to testify, closed public testimony on HB 307. 2:45:50 PM REPRESENTATIVE DAHLSTROM moved to report HB 307 out of committee with individual recommendations and the accompanying fiscal notes. There being no objection, HB 307 was reported from the House Judiciary Standing Committee.