Domestic Violence Bills Advance to the Full Louisiana House

Domestic Violence Bills Advance to the Full Louisiana House for Debate.

Louisiana lawmakers unanimously approved three anti- domestic violence bills into legislation sponsored by state Rep. Helena Moreno, D-New Orleans.  The bills have wide support from a wide range of groups, such as, the Louisiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence, sheriffs and state police, district attorneys and the United Way.

The Domestic Violence bills in question are part of a large anti-domestic violence package sponsored by Moreno and state Sen. J.P. Morrell, D-New Orleans.

The bills are:

• House Bill 753  bars anyone convicted of misdemeanor domestic abuse from possessing a firearm for a period of 10 years. Anyone who violates this could be charge with a felony and imprisoned for one to five years and fined $500 to $1,000.

• Also, under this bill, anyone against whom an active permanent injunction or protective order has been filed because they’re deemed to be a threat to their family would be barred from possessing a gun for the period of the order.

• House Bill 750  requires judges to immediately send a copy of protective orders they’ve issued to clerks of court in order to commence the process of including said orders into the Louisiana Protective Order Registry which is a non-public statewide register of domestic abuse and dating violence.

• The bill also requires law enforcement to arrest individuals who violate their protective orders. Under this bill, whenever law enforcement receives a domestic violence, if one of the individuals involved has an active protective order, law enforcement should assume that person is the aggressor in the incident.

• House Bill 747 classifies domestic abuse as aggravated assault- – abuse with a dangerous weapon—which is a crime of violence that requires offenders to serve out 85 percent of their sentence without opportunity for probation or parole.

• Current law states that a second domestic abuse (with or without a weapon) offense is still a misdemeanor; this bill changes it a felony.
• This bill also requires individuals convicted of either domestic abuse battery or domestic abuse battery aggravated assault to complete a 26-week court-monitored program.