HB 421

                SPONSOR:
                Rep. Griffith & Sen. Poore
                Rep. Romer; Sens. Pinkney, Hoffner
        HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
        153rd GENERAL ASSEMBLY
        HOUSE BILL NO. 421
        AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 10 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO SEXUAL VIOLENCE PROTECTIVE ORDERS.
        BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE:
        Section 1. Amend § 7205, Title 10 of the Delaware Code by making deletions as shown by strike through and insertions as shown by underline as follows:
        § 7205. Nonemergency proceedings.
        (b) The following procedures govern a nonemergency proceeding:
        (7)
        The Superior Court must not consider the following evidence in determining whether to grant or deny a petition:
         A petition for a sexual violence protective order may not be denied based on evidence that:
        a. The respondent was voluntarily intoxicated when any of the acts alleged occurred.
        b. The petitioner was voluntarily intoxicated.
        c. The petitioner engaged in limited consensual sexual touching with the respondent.
        d. The petitioner did not report respondent’s non-consensual sexual conduct or non-consensual sexual penetration or contemporaneous or subsequent threatening conduct to law-enforcement officials.
        SYNOPSIS
        This Act changes the criteria for granting or denying a sexual violence protective order by prohibiting the consideration of certain information only in the decision to deny a protective order rather than prohibiting its consideration at all.