MECASA worked on a range of bills during the last legislative session, many of which we supported and which are now law, including: • Public Law 407 requires all child abuse mandated reporters to complete mandated reporting training at least once every four years. (Sponsor: Senator Bill Diamond) • Public Law 394 updates sections of Maine’s Criminal Code to distinguish between consensual sexting between teens close in age and the creation, possession or dissemination of child pornography. It also allows individuals under 18 to access protections under the “revenge porn” law. (Sponsor: Senator Bill Diamond) • Public Law 427 reduces the burden of proof required to terminate the parental rights of a person who committed a sexual assault which resulted in the birth of a child. (Senator Bill Diamond) • Public Law 410 allows access to protection from harassment and protection from abuse orders for victims of “revenge porn.” (Sponsor: Representative Lori Fowle) • Public Law 443 allows any individuals who are victims of sex trafficking, aggravated sex trafficking, and some forms of immigration document tampering to access Protection Orders. Additionally, it enables probation to become part of the sentence for individuals convicted of sex trafficking and aggravated sex trafficking. (Sponsor: Senator Amy Volk) • Public Law 509 acknowledges that the same power differential exists between school officials and high school students who are 18 and older as with those who are under 18 years of age. (Sponsor: Senator Scott Cyrway) For more information on these and other bills please see our annual Legislative Session in Review, which can be found on the Public Policy page of our website. We are grateful to the sponsors of these bills and to our statewide partners for their work to help pass them. In particular, we want to thank: the Maine Coalition to End Domestic Violence, the Department of Public Safety, Pine Tree Legal Assistance and the Maine Women’s Lobby for their work on some of last session’s more complex bills. 9 MECASA FY2016 Annual Report
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