Now that Gov. Greg Abbott has vetoed the domestic violence bill, Senate Bill 1804 – the one that had the radioactive waste amendment – what will happen to survivors of family violence? Sen. Lois Kolkhorst, who wrote the bill, required in the legislation that bond information about domestic violence offenders be entered into a statewide data repository.
Linda Phan is director of public policy with the Texas Council on Family Violence, an organization that worked with Kolkhorst on the bill. She says having a centralized database would help law enforcement when they’re called to the scene of a domestic violence incident to know whether the accused person is violating the conditions of their bond, such as a keeping a certain distance from the survivor.
Right now, she says, without such a database, law enforcement is”having a difficult time pulling this important information when they’re being called to the scene.”
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Written by Caroline Covington.
