SB 351

This bill incorporates into Wisconsin law the 2002 Uniform Interstate

Enforcement of Domestic Violence Protection Orders Act.

Current law gives domestic violence protection orders issued by another state

or an Indian tribe full faith and credit in this state, allowing those orders to be

enforced in courts in this state if they meet certain procedural requirements,

including ensuring that the court had jurisdiction over the persons involved and the

subject matter, and that the person subject to the order was provided with his or her

right to due process. Current law establishes a method of filing a foreign protection

order with a circuit court and requires the circuit court to send a copy of that order

to the county sheriff or local law enforcement agency.

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