One of the earlier bills filed this new legislative session is meant to give sexual assault victims more information, and control, over their future care.
The bill would provide a pathway for victims to have the person charged with assault tested for a sexually transmitted disease.
State law already allows victims to request, through a court, an assailant to be tested for HIV so they know if they need to begin treatment. But Assemblymember Laurie Davies, R-Laguna Niguel, wants to expand that provision to include sexually transmitted diseases that can cause lasting and detrimental harm to a victim’s health, including their ability to have children. It would allow victims to ask a court to authorize a search warrant to require the person charged with the crime be tested for STDs.
Equipping victims with more knowledge about their health would allow them to begin necessary treatment, Davies said, and focus on other healing as well.
“Catching an STD can add emotional trauma to the victims and the survivors,” said Davies, the bill’s author. “Testing and early treatment will, I think, provide comfort that allows survivors to start focusing on the healing rather than worrying about potential infections.”
It’s still very early in the legislative season, and Davies said she’s already considering potential education aspects for the bill, how best the state could inform victims about this right should it become law. That could involve attorneys, hospitals or even health classes in schools, she said. “Our job is also to inform those that we represent,” Davies said.
Davies also knows it can be a long road for certain public safety bills in the California Legislature, which in recent years has gotten a reputation for becoming a “cemetery” for bills that create new crimes or enhance penalties. In 2023, it took Gov. Gavin Newsom’s intervention before a bipartisan bill to make child trafficking a serious felony and increase sentences for repeat offenders could move forward. (Newsom ultimately signed the bill into law.)
But she pointed to Proposition 36, which, among other things, toughened penalties for certain offenses and received overwhelming support from voters in the 2024 election. In Orange County, 74.5% of voters approved the ballot measure; statewide, it got support from 68.4% of voters.
“This is such a commonsense bill, and it would be about protecting everyone,” Davies said, adding that she will work with other legislators to “make sure that they understand what this bill does, especially how it will benefit victims.”
“We know that not every sexual assault is reported,” she said. But if there are more reforms to California’s justice system, such as adding services like STD testing options, it might give people more faith to come forward to report a crime and get help.
The bill does take into account victims who are minors, giving a parent or guardian the right to request an STD test and receive those results.
It also says the goal is to protect the health of both the victim and those accused of committing a crime. It does not “authorize mandatory testing or disclosure of test results for the purpose of a charging decision by a prosecutor,” according to the bill’s text.
AB 229 has not yet been assigned to a committee.
Full Story: https://www.ocregister.com/2025/01/20/sacramento-snapshot-bill-would-give-sexual-assault-victims-more-information-about-their-own-health/