KCADV Update February 2016

February 2016

JPMorgan Chase Foundation supports

economic empowerment for survivors

The JPMorgan Chase Foundation has made a $45,000 grant to the Kentucky Coalition Against Domestic Violence (KCADV) to expand the reach of its financial empowerment and domestic violence services to students in the Kentucky Community and Technical College System (KCTCS).

The foundation will support KCADV's work with Bluegrass Community and Technical College. KCADV's partnership with KCTCS, called "Your Money, Your Future," serves students who are TANF recipients and are enrolled in the Ready-to-Work program at the state's 16 community colleges.

With assistance and training from KCADV, the colleges are teaching financial education classes and providing individual financial coaching. The most promising and motivated students will be invited to open Individual Development Accounts (IDAs). Students who complete the program will have $5,000 to pay for college tuition and educational expenses.

In Kentucky, JPMorgan Chase & Co. serves over 700,000 consumers and small businesses through 65 branches and provides more than $1 million to Kentucky charities.

Leasing bill offers protection for victims

KCADV pushes for several legislative priorities

Victims of domestic violence who need to get away from their abusers could break rental agreements under a bill approved last week by the House Judiciary Committee.

Victims with domestic violence orders and other court-issued orders of protection would have the right to terminate a lease if they gave their landlords 30 days written notice. The measure, HB 41, passed with strong bipartisan support after KCADV staff testified about the bill. Only one legislator, Rep. Suzanne Miles, voted no.

Rep. Joni Jenkins is the bill's chief sponsor.

The bill also prohibits landlords from refusing to rent or evicting victims of domestic violence solely on the basis of their status as a victim (i.e. because they had a court-issued order of protection). Tenants also may require a landlord to change the locks of a rented residence although they would have to cover the cost.

Further, the bill allows landlords to bar perpetrators from the property, terminate a perpetrator's name from a lease, and evi ct and deny a perpetrator access to the housing unit, while still holding a perpetrator liable for fees, damages, and unpaid rent. The bill would apply only to leases created or renewed after the law went into effect.

Twenty-nine states currently provide victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking with some type of protection around leasing, including 20 states that allow early termination of rental agreements. Survivors who live in federally subsidized housing already have those protections under the federal Violence Against Women Act.

Supporters of HB 41 are urged to call the Legislative Research Commission message line (800 372-7181) and ask their representatives to vote yes for HB 41.

The bill now goes to the House floor for consideration.

Other KCADV Legislative Priorities:

HB 59 (Rep. Burch) would require the Secretary of State to implement the address protection part of the Address Confidentiality program. HB 59 has passed out of the House and is awaiting action in the Senate.
HB 96 (Rep. Burch) would require that counsel be appointed for all temporary removal hearings and that counsel representing a child or indigent parent, custodian, or other party to the proceeding must have training on domestic violence issues.
HB 141 (Rep. Denham) would create the crime of strangulation in the first degree as a Class C felony and strangulation in the second degree as a Class D felony.