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Committee reviews technical amendment to S.9 to clarify after‑hours access for assault protection orders
Summary
Legislative counsel told the Judiciary Committee a draft amendment to S.9 is largely technical: it clarifies that after‑hours court access is available for orders related to sexual assault but not for stalking complaints, and aligns service language with existing Title 15 domestic abuse orders.
Michelle Childs of Legislative Council told the Judiciary Committee on March 25 that an amendment to S.9 is primarily technical in nature and intended to align language across protection‑order statutes.
The amendment (draft 1.2) keeps the underlying bill’s new process that allows the court administrator to establish after‑hours court access for orders related to sexual assault, while explicitly excluding stalking complaints from after‑hours filing. "The new sections that are being added to this are sections 1 and 2, and the chair is correct. They really are just technical," Childs said.
Childs pointed to a change in section 1 that makes explicit that stalking complaints are to be filed during regular court hours. She said the bill’s after‑hours procedure is limited to the orders against sexual assault. "The underlying bill is creating a process for the court administrator to establish after hours court access for just the [sexual] assault orders, not for stalking," Childs said.
The amendment also adds service language in section 2 to make the protection‑order service provisions parallel to Title 15 protections for domestic abuse. The added language requires the clerk to mail a copy of the order to the defendant at the defendant’s last known address; mail is considered service under the draft. Childs said the insertion mirrors the relief‑from‑abuse language in Title 15 and reported that judges and the bill sponsor are aware of and generally supportive of the alignment.
Committee members asked whether the stalking filing limitation had been discussed with survivor organizations; Childs said she had reached out and received a reply indicating those organizations were "fine" with focusing after‑hours access on sexual assault orders as the first step. She also noted there are over a thousand stalking orders filed in a typical period and that courts and survivors had not sought after‑hours access for those filings.
No formal motion or vote on the amendment is recorded in the transcript. Committee members indicated they had no further questions after the walk‑through and thanked staff for the explanation.
