Wyoming Judiciary Committee declines to advance bill creating permanent protection orders after divided testimony

The Senate Judiciary Committee heard extended testimony on Senate File 12 on a proposal to create "permanent protection orders" and to remove the existing tolling provisions for protection orders in Title 7 and Title 35.

Cara Chambers, a member of the Wyoming Attorney General’s Office Division of Victim Services, told the committee the bill would create a new statutory mechanism allowing courts to enter permanent protection orders either when a respondent shows a history and severity of violence or upon conviction of a violent felony already defined in state law. Chambers said the draft mirrors language in both Title 7 (stalking/sexual assault protection orders) and Title 35 (domestic violence protection orders) and that the bill’s length reflects parallel changes required in both titles. "One of the major things that this bill does ... is strike all of that very cumbersome tolling language," Chambers said.

Chambers cited the…