Establishing a domestic abuse offender registry, and providing penalties

This bill establishes a domestic abuse offender registry. The bill provides that there is created within the department of public safety (department) a registry of persistent domestic abuse assault offenders. The bill requires the department to maintain the registry based upon information supplied to the department by the court and information available to the department from the department of corrections and local law enforcement agencies. The department shall make the registry available for public inquiry on the department’s internet site. The registry shall include the name, date of birth, conviction date, county or counties of convictions, and a photograph of the persistent domestic abuse assault offender. The bill provides that if available, the court clerk shall provide the department with a copy of the persistent domestic abuse assault offender’s driver’s license, or other state or federal identification, and such other identifying data as the department determines is necessary to properly identify the persistent domestic abuse assault offender. The bill provides that the registry available for public inquiry must not include the persistent domestic abuse assault offender’s address, social security number, driver’s license number, or any other state or federal identification number. The bill provides that if a person is convicted of domestic abuse assault and the person convicted has at least one prior conviction for domestic abuse assault, then the court shall, upon proof of any prior convictions for domestic abuse assault, order the defendant to register as a persistent domestic abuse assault offender. The court clerk shall forward to the department, within seven days of the date of conviction, a certified copy of the qualifying conviction and the date of birth of the defendant. A defendant required to register must pay to the clerk of the court imposing the sentence a registration fee of $150. The clerk will retain $50 of the fee for the administration of the bill. The clerk will remit $100 of the fee to the department for the administration of the bill. The bill provides that the department shall remove from the registry the name and other identifying information of a persistent domestic abuse assault offender required to register as follows: 2 years after the date of the most recent conviction for domestic abuse assault if the defendant has one prior conviction for domestic abuse assault; 5 years after the date of the most recent conviction for domestic abuse assault if the defendant has two prior convictions for domestic abuse assault; and 10 years after the date of the most recent conviction for domestic abuse assault if the defendant has three or more prior convictions for domestic abuse assault. The bill applies only to persons convicted of domestic abuse assault when the offense occurred on or after July 1, 2026, but a prior conviction is not required to have occurred on or after July 1, 2026, for purposes of determining whether a person qualifies as a persistent domestic abuse assault offender. The bill provides definitions of “convicted”, “department”, “domestic abuse assault”, and “persistent domestic abuse assault offender”.2A to include an assault between persons who are in an intimate relationship or have been in an intimate relationship and have had contact within the past year of the assault.