The highlight of the session was Senator Mike Carpenter’s bill, now Public Law 300, which created a new category of gross sexual assault which requires that individuals consent to the sex act. While previously threats of violence or force were required for gross sexual assault, the new crime ensures that the perpetrator is guilty if the victim has not “expressly or impliedly consented to the sexual act.” Additionally, the law no longer allows a defense when a victim voluntarily consumed drugs or intoxicants provided by the perpetrator. These changes were long overdue and we are hopeful that they are going to encourage prosecutors to take on a wider range of cases. We are now focused on the session ahead which will convene in January of 2018. We are working with legislative allies to introduce bills including a forced labor statute to support human trafficking victims, and to address a loophole allowing adults to harass teens by sending sexually explicit photos of themselves. We will also be working on several bills carried over from the first session including two related to sex trafficking and Marsy’s Law, also known as the Victims’ Bill of Rights. However, our policy work is not confined to the State House. As always, we engaged in public policy advocacy through a variety of venues. We have worked for several years with the Department of Education to implement a statewide policy requiring sexual abuse prevention education in public kindergarten through grade five; the final model policy was launched this fall, and MECASA will publish a guide for schools in the winter. And, thanks to the Chief Justice, we also served on the Transparency and Privacy in Court Records Taskforce, where we worked to find a balance between the public’s interest in transparency and the privacy rights of crime victims, as Maine’s Courts expand the use of technology to do their work. Bringing MECASA’s values to the table There are many statewide public policy commissions, work groups, and councils where we bring voices of survivors and sexual assault service providers to the table. Below are some examples from the last year. • Alliance for Maine Women • Attorney General’s Trafficking Work Group • Committee on Media & the Courts • Dept. of Corrections Victim Advisory Group • Justice Assistance Council • Maine Child Welfare Advisory Panel • Maine Commission on Domestic & Sexual Abuse • Maine Council for Elder Abuse Prevention 13 • Maine County & Municipal Detention Advisory Committee • Maine Criminal Justice Academy Board of Trustees • Maine Permanent Commission on the Status of Women • National Children’s Alliance Collaborative Work Group on Public Policy • SAFE Advisory Board
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