Resolution Information
RESOLUTION TEXT +-
Referred to: The Law Enforcement and Public Safety Committee (Chairman Briggs
and Legislators Fabiano, Provenzano, Ronk and Wishnick)
Legislator Dean Fabiano offers the following:
WHEREAS, an order of protection serves as a necessary and important tool to
protect victims of domestic violence through the provision of emergency relief in the
event of imminent or actual serious physical harm; and
WHEREAS, in 2006, there were an estimated 2 to 3 million temporary
restraining orders issued in the United States; and
WHEREAS, these legal documents have been increasingly misused as tools to
gain leverage in custody matters; and
WHEREAS, an individual identified in an order of protection can be required
to immediately vacate the house, prohibited from communicating with their children
– including phone calls or email, barred from carrying a weapon which may result in
a loss of a security clearance if working in the military or law enforcement, thus
harming the person’s career opportunities, and imposed with substantial legal defense
costs by forcing all communication be conducted through legal counsel – all without
the opportunity to refute the allegation and without documented evidence of the
alleged abuse; and
WHERAS, the burden of proof for the judge is a preponderance of the
evidence or a belief that there is a 51% chance that the allegations are true; and
WHEREAS, false petitions clog an already overwhelmed judicial system and
cause delays in the examination of cases involving true victims and depletes crimevictim assistance resources; and
WHEREAS, in a 2006 study of emergency protective-order petitions in West
Virginia, an estimated 80.6% were determined to be “false or unnecessary”; and
WHEREAS, this study further found the costs to the State for the false reports
was in excess of $18.2 million; and
WHEREAS, in some situations, the petitioner will appear to violate the order
of protection themselves by contacting the subject of the order; but as the order
specifies limitations on the subject of the order and not the petitioner, it is the
respondent that is subject to civil or criminal contempt for simply responding to the
petitioner’s communication; and
WHEREAS, the only resolve for Order of Protection Abuse is additional legal
time and costs associated with a civil suit for malicious abuse of the legal system
process, defamation of character and/or the intentional infliction of emotional
distress; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, that the Ulster County Legislature urges the New York State
Governor and Legislature to authorize a comprehensive review of Order of
Protection Abuse and enact policies and procedures to stop the abuse and misuse of
the legal system; and, be it further
RESOLVED, the Clerk of the Ulster County Legislature shall forward copies
of this resolution to Governor Andrew Cuomo, Assembly and Senate Majority and
Minority Leaders, Assembly and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairmen, Assembly
Ways and Means Committee Chairman, Senate Finance Committee Chairman, all
Ulster County elected Assemblymen and Senators and Ulster County Judges,
and moves its adoption.
ADOPTED BY THE FOLLOWING VOTE:
AYES: NOES:
Passed Committee: Law Enforcement and Public Safety Committee on October 5,
2015
FINANCIAL IMPACT:
NONE
Current Text: PDF
Updated: October 27, 2020
Votes on this Resolution
yes no abstained no voteCommittee vote to Adopt Resolution No. 360
Committee vote to Adopt Resolution No. 360