Orange County leaders are helping to further protect domestic violence survivors. Recently, members of the Orange County Domestic Violence Commission (DVC) outlined two bills for the upcoming legislative session this month that will help save lives. Both the bills are sponsored by Senator David Simmons, (Florida Senate, District 10), who is also the Rules Committee Chairman.<\/p>\n
Simmons, Carol Wick, Chief Executive Officer of Harbor House, as well as DVC Co-Chairs Circuit Judge Alice Blackwell, Ninth Judicial Circuit Court and Dick Batchelor, President, Dick Batchelor Management Group, Inc., announced the two bills during a recent press conference.<\/p>\n
The \u201cNo contact legislation bill\u201d (Senate Bill 342)<\/strong> will ensure that once an order of no contact has been ordered by the court that it will be in effect immediately \u2013 beginning while the perpetrator is in jail and will remain in effect until modified by the court.<\/p>\n \u201cThis has been a growing concern that perpetrators of violence, specifically domestic violence, are calling victims from jail to intimidate and harass after an order of no contact had been ordered by the court,\u201d explained Wick.<\/p>\n The \u201cElectronic monitoring bill\u201d (Senate Bill 1286)<\/strong> would make it a third-degree felony to tamper with an electronic monitoring device issued to alleged abusers who have had an injunction filed against them. Currently, it is not a criminal act to tamper with or remove a court-mandated electronic monitoring device unless issued as part of community control.<\/p>\n \u201cOrange County\u2019s Domestic Violence Commission represents a true community-coordinated response to the specific domestic violence issues faced in our community,\u201d said Mayor Teresa Jacobs. \u201cI\u2019m so proud that these pieces of legislation are a result of the Commission\u2019s recommendations. The bills will be instrumental in closing the legal loopholes in our system to ensure that domestic violence survivors get the protection they deserve.\u201d<\/p>\n In addition, the Florida Sheriff\u2019s Association and the Florida Coalition Against Domestic Violence support the legislation.<\/p>\n \u201cAs advocates, both of these bills are critical to the safety of not only domestic abuse survivors but any person who is a victim of a crime where the offender still poses a threat,\u201d added Wick. \u201cVery simply, they protect survivors of violent crime and hold offenders responsible.\u201d<\/p>\n In 2014, Orange County\u2019s Domestic Violence Commission provided more than 60 recommendations for improvements to services for Orange County families impacted by domestic violence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Orange County leaders are helping to further protect domestic violence survivors. Recently, members of the Orange County Domestic Violence Commission (DVC) outlined two bills for the upcoming legislative session this month that will help save lives. Both the bills are sponsored by Senator David Simmons, (Florida Senate, District 10), who is also the Rules Committee Chairman.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5326,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[24,540,29],"class_list":["post-2636","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community-services","tag-county-news","tag-domestic-violence-commission","tag-featured-stories"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n