Friends,
Last night the Assembly voted on AB284, and I want to set the record straight about why I was opposed to this bill.
AB284 has been proposed by Assemblywoman Lucy Flores to allow victims of domestic violence to end a lease agreement with their abuser. I wholeheartedly agree with this sentiment; however, I could not vote for the bill because of a critical flaw that was not corrected.
Currently, a victim of domestic violence must contact police or request a restraining order to receive protections. Under this bill, we would allow the termination of a lease with a police report, a restraining order or the affidavit of a 3rd party.
My concern with the 3rd party is that there is no obligation to contact the police so an investigation can be conducted. There is no opportunity for the police to take preventative stepssuch as revoking concealed weapon permits or removing firearms that are allowed when a complaint of domestic violence is filled.
As someone who has filed for a restraining order, I believe the system was setup to make sure victims of domestic violence have the resources they need to protect themselves, and sometimes that means allowing the police to disarm the other person. It is important to me that there are no unintended consequences of AB284 that would put the safety of a victim of domestic violence in jeopardy.
While this bill has passed from the Assembly, there is still time to ask Assemblywoman Flores and the Nevada Senate to reconsider allowing the affidavit of the 3rd party. We need to make sure that every case of domestic violence is reported to the police because our community's safety depends on it, and these 3rd parties don't have the same obligations to keep violence out of our neighborhoods.
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