Professor Stoever Testifies before CA Assembly Appropriations Committee
Professor Stoever testified before the California Assembly Appropriations Committee on AB 2790 (Wicks), Centering Survivor Safety and Health.
AB 2790 would remove the requirement that a health practitioner make a report to law enforcement when they suspect a patient has suffered physical injury caused by assaultive or abusive conduct. The bill would instead require a health care practitioner who suspects that a patient has been injured by domestic violence to provide brief counseling and a referral to local and national domestic violence or sexual violence advocacy services, creating multiple pathways to safety.
“Research shows that when survivors are able to openly disclose abuse without fear of police involvement and to have trauma-informed conversations with medical providers, abuse survivors are four times more likely to utilize domestic violence resources and agencies, which is key to long-term safety,” explains Professor Stoever. “Current law criminalizes medical professionals who fail to report domestic violence and is contrary to current research showing that mandatory reporting of adult domestic violence doesn’t reduce homicide or assaults, and instead creates barriers to healthcare access for survivors.”
The bill was introduced by Assembly Member Buffy Wicks and co-author Assembly Member Cristina Garcia.
The UCI Law Domestic Violence Clinic is cosponsoring the bill with Futures Without Violence and the Alliance for Men and Boys of Color.
More about Jane Stoever
Prof. Jane Stoever has extensive experience teaching domestic violence clinics and engaging in scholarship in the areas of domestic violence law, family law, feminist legal theory, and clinical legal theory. In addition to her role as Clinical Professor of Law and the Director of the Domestic Violence Clinic at UCI Law, she is also the Director of the UCI Initiative to End Family Violence.
Prior to joining UCI Law, Professor Stoever was a faculty member at American University Washington College of Law, Seattle University School of Law, and she taught in Georgetown University Law Center’s Domestic Violence Clinic. She previously served as a judicial clerk, worked at legal aid offices and at a shelter for teenage girls, and was a live-in staff member at a shelter for homeless families. Prof. Stoever graduated from Harvard Law School and received her LL.M. from Georgetown University Law Center.