HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 1844        FILED ON: 1/18/2023

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 1547

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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PRESENTED BY:

Natalie M. Higgins and Tram T. Nguyen

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To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General
Court assembled:

The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill:

An Act to improve protections relative to domestic violence.

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PETITION OF:

HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 1844        FILED ON: 1/18/2023

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 1547

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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In the One Hundred and Ninety-Third General Court
(2023-2024)

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An Act to improve protections relative to domestic violence.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
 

SECTION 1. (a) For the purposes of this section, the following words shall have the following meanings:

“Coercive control”, for purposes of this chapter, coercive control is a pattern of conduct that has the purpose or effect of substantially restricting an individual’s safety or autonomy through intimidation, isolation, implicit or explicit threats, or by compelling compliance. Conduct undertaken by an individual to protect themselves or their children from the risk of present or  future harm does not constitute coercive control. Examples of coercive control include:

(i) Isolating the other parent from friends, relatives, faith, cultural, or linguistic communities, employment, education, or other support networks;

(ii) Repeatedly humiliating or using degrading language or behaviors towards the petitioner;

(iii) Controlling, regulating, or monitoring the individual’s activities, communications, movements, finances, economic resources, or access to resources;

(iv) Threatening to harm, abduct or kill the individual or a child or relative of the individual;

(v) Threatening to publish information or make false reports to the police or the authorities;

(vi) Damaging property or household goods;

(vii) Forcing the individual to take part in criminal activity;

(viii)  Committing or threatening to commit cruelty or abuse to animals connected to the family;

(ix)  Using repeated court actions not warranted by existing law or good faith argument to harass, coerce, or control the other party, diminish or exhaust the other party’s financial resources, or compromise the other party’s employment or housing;

(x)  Cleaning, accessing, displaying, using, or wearing a firearm in an intimidating or threatening manner; and

(xi) Threatening deportation or to contact local or federal agencies based on actual or perceived immigration status, refusing to file immigration applications, refusing to sponsor, withholding essential documents needed for immigration applications, or threatening to withdraw immigration applications filed on the other parent’s or child’s behalf or coercing or forcing the other parent to violate the terms of their immigration visa.

“Technological abuse”, an act or pattern of behavior intended to harm, threaten, intimidate, control, stalk,  harass, impersonate, exploit, or extort,  such as cyberstalking or other forms of electronic monitoring or surveillance, nonconsensual sharing of explicit images, or impersonation. Technological abuse can utilize any form of technology, including but not limited to Internet, social networking sites, computers, mobile devices, cellular telephones, apps, location tracking devices, instant messages, text messages, and other forms of technology.

(b) Section 1 of Chapter 209A of the General Laws is hereby amended by inserting the following after subsection (c) in the definition of “abuse”:-

(d) coercive control

(e) technological abuse.

SECTION 2. The fourth sentence of Section 63 of ch. 277 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2018 Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting after the word “sections” the following words:- 13A, 13M