SB1091 defines domestic violence to include “coercive control;” allows victims subject to “coercive control” by a family or household member to be eligible for a civil restraining order; and expands the “best interest of the child” factors in custody decisions to include the child’s “emotional safety.”
The House passed SB1091 on June 4, 2021, by a vote of 134 to 8. We have assigned minuses to the yeas because defining domestic violence to include non-injurious forms of “coercive control” and expanding the “best interest of the child” in custody cases undermines the family. The state has a constitutional duty to protect parental rights, along with the marital covenant, which entail a family’s authority to regulate self-governing behavior in the home. Under the Bill of Rights and the 14th Amendment, such rights shall not be denied or disparaged.