Story by: Rachel Crosby
CARSON CITY — Tougher domestic violence policies are now on the books in Nevada.
Gov. Steve Sisolak on Monday signed Assembly Bill 60 into law. The measure, effective July 1, broadens the scope of what crimes constitute domestic violence and increases penalties related to stalking and repeat offenders.
It also introduces a penalty specific to the domestic battery of pregnant women, punishable at first as a gross misdemeanor and then as a category B felony.
“This is an exciting day for law enforcement, to be able to protect the citizens that we’re sworn to protect,” said Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford, who sponsored the bill. “Domestic violence is a growing trend in a negative sense for our state.”
The bill was one of three domestic violence measures Ford sponsored this session, each of which cleared the Legislature before close Monday.
Assembly Bill 41, also signed into law Monday, requires government agencies and public utilities to accept fictitious addresses instead of real ones. The state already allows the Department of Health and Human Services to issue fictitious addresses as a protective measure to victims of domestic violence, sex trafficking, stalking and sexual assault.
The state’s largest domestic violence organization, SafeNest, helps secure about 500 to 700 of such fictitious addresses a year for victims and their children, the organization’s CEO, Liz Ortenburger, said.