The Uniform Interstate Enforcement of Domestic Violence Protection Orders Act

Additional current law gives law enforcement officers the authority to arrest a person subject to a protection order if the law enforcement officer has probable cause to believe the person has violated a valid foreign protection order. Under current law, court officials, prosecutors, and law enforcement officers are immune from any liability for his or her acts or omissions related to the filing of a foreign protection order or the detention or arrest of an alleged violator of a foreign protection order.

This bill consolidates those separate units of current law and creates additional statutory language to enact the 2002 Uniform Interstate Enforcement of Domestic Violence Protection Orders Act, as adopted by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws.

The Act defines "protection order" to be an injunction or other order, issued by a tribunal under the domestic violence, family violence, or antistalking laws of the issuing state, to prevent an individual from engaging in violent or threatening acts against, harassment of, contact or communication with, or physical proximity to another individual. The fact that the order has terms and conditions that are different from orders issued in the enforcing state, or come from tribunals that are not organized in the same fashion as the tribunals of the enforcing state, does not mean that the enforcing state may refuse enforcement. Any kind of a foreign order that is intended to prevent violence must be enforced. The term "tribunal," as used in the Act, is consistent with the usage of the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act, which has been enacted in every U.S. jurisdiction. Whether the enforcing body is a court or an agency, the term tribunal includes both within its scope.

A tribunal with jurisdiction to enforce orders may enforce a foreign protection order without any other prior perfecting or validating procedure. A valid foreign protection order must be enforced. A valid protection order is one that identifies the protected individual (the potential victim) and the respondent (the potential victimizer), is currently in effect, and was issued by a tribunal with full jurisdiction.

An order valid on its face establishes a prima facie case for its validity. The presence of an order that identifies the protected individual and the respondent that is current constitutes probable cause to believe that a valid foreign protection order exists. Law enforcement officers who are not presented with an actual order may still act to enforce upon other information that provides probable cause to believe that a valid order exists.