O F F I C E O F L E G I S L A T I V E R E S E A R C H
P U B L I C A C T S U M M A R Y
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PA 23-136—sSB 1118
Judiciary Committee
AN ACT CONCERNING TH E ESTABLISHMENT AND DUTIES OF THE
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE CR IMINAL JUSTICE RESPO NSE AND
ENHANCEMENT ADVISORY COUNCIL
SUMMARY: This act (1) changes the name of the “Family Violence Model Policy
Governing Council” to the “Family Domestic Violence Criminal Justice Response
and Enhancement Advisory Council”; (2) increases its membership from 19 to 26
members; and (3) expands the scope of its purpose and responsibilities, including
by incorporating those of the Domestic Violence Offender Program Standards
Advisory Council, which the act repeals.
Separately, the act requires the court, upon the motion of an injured spouse, to
terminate any orders it entered requiring the injured spouse to make alimony
payments if the recipient-spouse is subsequently convicted of certain crimes against
the injured spouse. (It does this by amending PA 23-106, § 2.)
The act also deletes obsolete provisions and makes technical and conforming
changes (§§ 2 & 3).
EFFECTIVE DATE: July 1, 2023, except the provision on alimony awards is
effective October 1, 2023.
§ 1 — FAMILY DOMESTIC VIOLENCE CR IMINAL JUSTICE RESPONSE
AND ENHANCEMENT ADVISORY COU NCIL
The act renames the “Family Violence Model Policy Governing Council” as the
“Family Domestic Violence Criminal Justice Response and Enhancement Advisory
Council” (the “council”), increases its membership, and broadens the scope of its
purpose and responsibilities.
Purpose and Responsibilities
Existing law charges the council with the following duties:
1. evaluating policies and procedures law enforcement agencies use when
responding to family violence incidents,
2. reviewing and updating the statewide model law enforcement policy on
family violence, and
3. evaluating the accuracy of data collected by the Department of Emergency
Services and Public Protection (DESPP) and the judicial branch’s Court
Support Services Division (CSSD).
The act broadens the council’s purpose and responsibilities by, among other
things, requiring it to collect and analyze any additional data related to domestic
violence and the criminal justice response available from the judicial branch court O L R P U B L I C A C T S U M M A R Y
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operations, state’s attorneys, public defenders, domestic violence advocates, or
domestic violence offender programs.
Additionally, the act requires the council to evaluate and advise on the
following:
1. the existing domestic violence offender program standards, including
reviewing and updating them as needed;
2. the pretrial family violence education program, including the program’s
eligibility criteria;
3. dedicated domestic violence dockets, including statewide expansion of
them;
4. the use of electronic monitoring;
5. risk assessments used in a family violence case from arrest through
adjudication;
6. arrest, prosecution, penalties, and monitoring for violations of family
violence restraining orders or criminal protective orders issued in family
violence cases;
7. processing and execution of arrest warrants for family violence incidents;
8. monitoring compliance, enforcement, and victim notification of firearm
seizure and surrender in family violence cases;
9. programming offered to individuals convicted of a family violence crime
and currently incarcerated with the Department of Correction (DOC); and
10. training and education for criminal justice stakeholders, including law
enforcement, judges, and judicial branch staff.
Membership and Appointments
The act increases the council’s membership from 19 to 26. Under prior law, the
council’s 19 members were appointed as follows:
1. one each by the governor, Senate president pro tempore, House speaker, and
Senate and House minority leaders;
2. a domestic violence victim, appointed by the Senate majority leader;
3. a municipal police officer with experience in domestic violence training,
appointed by the House majority leader;
4. a Police Officer Standards and Training Council (POST) representative
with experience in domestic violence training, appointed by the council’s
chairperson;
5. a representative of the Office of the (a) Chief State’s Attorney, (b) Chief
Public Defender, and (c) Victim Advocate;
6. a Division of State Police representative with experience in domestic
violence training and a commanding officer in the Division of State Police,
each appointed by the DESPP commissioner;
7. a Superior Court judge assigned to hear criminal matters, appointed by the
chief court administrator;
8. a domestic violence victim, a victim advocate with courtroom experience in
domestic violence matters, and a representative of the Connecticut Coalition
Against Domestic Violence, Inc. (CCADV), each appointed by the CCADV O L R P U B L I C A C T S U M M A R Y
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executive director;
9. a representative of legal aid programs in Connecticut, appointed by the
executive director of the Legal Assistance Resource Center of Connecticut;
and
10. a representative of the Connecticut Police Chiefs Association, appointed by
the association’s president.
In addition to increasing the council’s membership, the act makes the following
changes to its composition:
1. substitutes the Senate majority leader’s appointment with a representative
of a community-based organization that provides group counseling or
treatment to domestic violence perpetrators;
2. adds the Office of Policy and Management secretary, the Board of Pardons
and Paroles chairperson, and the DESPP and DOC commissioners, or their
designees;
3. instead of their representatives, adds the POST chairperson, the chief public
defender, the chief state’s attorney, and the victim advocate or their
designees;
4. increases the chief court administrator’s appointments from one to four by
adding (a) a CSSD family relations counselor or supervisor, (b) a CSSD
administrator, and (c) an administrator from the Office of Victim Services;
5. increases the CCADV executive director’s appointments from three to four
by adding an executive director of a community-based organization that
provides direct services to people impacted by domestic violence; and
6. removes the representative of legal aid programs in Connecticut.
Under existing law, unchanged by the act, members serve four-year terms, may
be reappointed, and must continue to serve until successors are appointed and
qualified. By law, legislators may serve as council members.
Meetings and Staff
The act specifies that the council’s chairpersons are responsible for scheduling
its meetings.
Under prior law, the Public Safety and Security Committee’s administrative
staff served as the council’s administrative staff. The act requires the Judiciary
Committee’s administrative staff to do so instead.
Reporting
Prior law required the council to submit an annual report by January 15 to the
Judiciary and Public Safety and Security committees on the effectiveness of the
existing model law enforcement policy on family violence, including identifying
any amendments to the policy adopted during the prior calendar year.
The act instead requires the report to include recommendations for any statutory
or policy changes within the council’s purview, including any recommended
updates or amendments to the existing (1) model law enforcement policy on family
violence or (2) domestic violence offender program standards. O L R P U B L I C A C T S U M M A R Y
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§ 5 — DOMESTIC VIOLENCE OFFENDER PROGRAM STANDARDS
ADVISORY COUNCIL REPEALED
Under prior law, the Domestic Violence Offender Program Standards Advisory
Council was a 16-member council created to promulgate, review, and update and
amend as needed the domestic violence offender program standards presented to
the Criminal Justice Policy Advisory Committee. Prior law also required this
advisory council to annually report its activities to the Judiciary Committee,
including any updates or amendments to the domestic violence offender program
standards adopted in the previous calendar year.
The act repeals this advisory council and instead generally incorporates its
responsibilities into the act’s newly named Family Domestic Violence Criminal
Justice Response and Enhancement Advisory Council.
§ 4 — ALIMONY AWARDS
Among other things, PA 23-106 prohibits the court from ordering an injured
spouse to make temporary or permanent alimony payments to a spouse who is
convicted of any of the following crimes after the marriage date:
1. criminal attempt or conspiracy to commit murder, murder with special
circumstances, felony murder, or arson murder of the other spouse;
2. 1st degree sexual assault or 1st degree aggravated sexual assault of the other
spouse;
3. a class A or B felony offense of 2nd degree sexual assault or 3rd degree
sexual assault with a firearm of the other spouse;
4. a class A or B felony family violence crime; or
5. any crime in another state with essential elements that are substantially the
same as the crimes listed above.
This act requires the court to terminate any alimony order if the recipient-spouse
is subsequently convicted of any of the above crimes against the injured spouse.
The court must do so upon a motion filed by the injured spouse to terminate alimony
based upon the conviction.
PA 23-106, § 2, defines an “injured spouse” as the spouse who was the victim
of one of the crimes listed above, regardless of whether physical injury occurred in
the commission of the crime.