Legislators See a Chance to Toughen Spousal Abuse Laws

Seizing the spotlight that former football great O.J. Simpson’s arrest has thrown on spousal abuse, lawmakers from throughout the state said Tuesday they see momentum for passing stronger laws to curb domestic violence.

Just as the murder of Polly Klaas in Northern California triggered tougher prison sentences and Anita Hill’s congressional testimony heightened awareness of sexual harassment, public interest in the Simpson case may open doors for bills that previously stalled in the California Legislature.

“We have a very short window of opportunity,” Assemblywoman Dede Alpert (D-Coronado) said in gathering several legislators for a news conference to advocate passage of stricter laws.

Taking care not to declare Simpson guilty of the double murder charges against him, Alpert said of the case: “It raised the public’s awareness. Hopefully that can be the good that comes out of this incident.”

Joining lawmakers was Los Angeles Deputy City Atty. Alana Bowman, whose unit prosecuted Simpson five years ago for beating his wife, Nicole, so severely that she had to be hospitalized.

Bowman noted that of the 20,000 cases her office handles a year, in only one--Simpson’s--was the offender allowed by a judge to undergo counseling by phone. “We were frustrated in that case for the sentence it received,” she said. “Something happened . . . that is not common.”

As chairwoman of the Los Angeles County Domestic Violence Council, Bowman lobbies in Sacramento for a strengthening of statutes and pointed to two pending bills as key to stemming abuse.

One, authored by Assemblyman John Burton (D-San Francisco), would mandate minimum sentencing requirements, including long-term counseling to help abusers overcome a pattern of violence. Among other things, it would force judges to sentence offenders to at least three years of probation and mandate their attendance at weekly 90-minute counseling sessions for a year.

The other bill would set up a statewide computer registry for restraining orders, requiring court clerks to enter judges’ orders into a Department of Justice computer system.

Assemblywoman Hilda L. Solis (D-El Monte), who authored the restraining order registry bill, cited her frustration in trying to line up support for the bill. Only after signing on numerous co-authors did Solis finally usher the measure through the Assembly and to a Senate committee where it is scheduled for a hearing.

“Some of the members here in the Assembly don’t really understand what goes on in our community,” Solis said, noting, for example, that the Legislature has failed to mandate bilingual services for battered women.

Solis predicted that the high-profile Simpson case will push some reluctant lawmakers off the fence. “I would hope that we not just give lip service because of this tragedy,” she said. “It’s about time that we talk about it.”

Even in the Legislature, discussion of domestic violence can evoke squeamishness, in part because it touches on the sanctity of private family life.

“There is the aspect of domestic violence that causes each of us to do a very personal inspection,” Bowman said. “We look to see if any one of us has been in that relationship.”

At times proposals have been treated as punch lines for jokes, according to Burton.

As an example, he said, a bill requiring that a portion of marriage license fees go toward funding domestic violence centers was the subject of snickers when it came up for a vote years ago. Eventually it became law but not before some lawmakers poked fun at the idea.

“When the bill was up in the Assembly, some people laughed,” said Burton. “It was like an insurance policy--people who have to pay hope they never have to use it.” Today, $23 of each marriage license fee goes toward funding six such centers throughout California.

Some lawmakers whose bills have died in committee see the next few days--when the public is still riveted by the Simpson case--as a golden opportunity to attempt their resurrection.

On Thursday, state Sen. Gary K. Hart (D-Santa Barbara) intends to reintroduce a bill giving courts the authority to strip an abuser of his or her firearms. Under his measure, which is strongly opposed by the National Rifle Assn., a judge could demand that an offender surrender any guns he or she owns once a restraining order is issued.

State Sen. Diane Watson (D-Los Angeles) said she is moving forward with legislation to require more extensive awareness training for police officers, and to require professional standards for counseling of abusers.

“We’re calling our bill the ‘bruisers act,’ ” said Watson, who questioned as “unethical” the type of telephone counseling approved for Simpson.