HB333 | HB391

HOUSE BILL 333

WILL HELP OHIO’S RAPE VICTIMS

What will House Bill 333 do?

• Establishes standard of care for rape victims in Ohio hospitals & ERs.

             How You Can Help:

• Thank co-sponsors of bill (designated by asterisks).

• Urge other committee members to support House Bill 333.

128th Ohio General Assembly
Ohio House Health Committee
*House Bill 333 Co-sponsors

*Rep. Barbara Boyd – Chair 614 644-5079
Rep. John Carney – Vice Chair 614 466-2473
Rep. Lynn Wachtmann – Ranking Minority Member 614 466-3760

  Rep. Edna Brown 614 466-1401                  Rep. Troy Balderson 614 644-6014

*Rep. Bob Hagan 614 466-9435                    Rep. Dave Burke 614 466-8147

*Rep. Tom Letson 614 466-5358                   Rep. Courtney Combs 614 644-6721

  Rep. Debbie Newcomb 614 466-1405         Rep. Randy Gardner 614 466-8104

  Rep. Debbie Phillips 614 466-2158              Rep. Bruce Goodwin 614 644-5091

*Rep. Stephen Slesnick 614 466-8030           Rep. Matt Huffman 614 466-9624

  Rep. Roland Winburn 614 466-2960            Rep. Bob Mecklenborg 614 466-8258

*Rep. Kenny Yuko 614 466-8012                  Rep. Scott Oelslager 614 752-2438

Calls are answered by Legislative or Administrative Aides, who are generally very helpful and knowledgeable. Developing relationships with Aides working for your elected officials can be very beneficial to you.

House Bill 391
introduced by State Representative Kathleen Chandler
will create Ohio’s Address Confidentiality Program
in the Ohio Secretary of State’s Office

WHY OHIO NEEDS AN ADDRESS CONFIDENTIALITY PROGRAM
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Katie’s Story
By A Stalking Survivor

My name is Katie. Domestic violence entered my life at birth. Stalking and sexual assault entered it in college. Growing up, my father talked about the escape of his mother, his two sisters, and himself from my grandfather, who beat them on a regular basis. They escaped with the help of my grandmother’s brother, who ended up raising my dad.

In college, I became a victim of stalking before there were any stalking laws. Unknown to me, a stranger followed me on a city bus from my second floor apartment to the college I was attending. He broke into my locked mailbox in the apartment building to get my name. He phoned me in the middle of the night, used my first name, and told me that he was downstairs in my building. I called police, but they were unable to find anyone downstairs or around the building outside.

Two nights later, it was storming. When the lights went out in my apartment, I looked through the peephole of the front door to see if the electricity was also out in the hallway, and therefore for the entire building. That’s when I felt the doorknob turn. Before I could react, a flashlight was shining in my eyes, and a gun was against my head. I was forced to walk in front of the intruder, out of the apartment building.

Unbelievably, I had two thoughts as we were leaving the building. The first was that I wouldn’t be able to finish the term paper that was due in class on Monday. The second was that this would probably be my last night on Earth. I was surprised, though, that a feeling of peace came over me, and I remained alert, paying attention to details, in case I got a chance to identify the perpetrator.

There are two parts to this ordeal that I consider the scariest. The first was the loaded revolver held against my head, which was cocked when I resisted doing what the offender demanded. I realized that the gun could have fired accidentally. The second was hearing the detective tell me that the offender had been watching me for weeks. The detective said that the night of the break-in, the offender first broke into an apartment downstairs only to steal a flashlight. I was told that he next broke into the maintenance room, where he turned off the power for the building and stole the pass keys before forcing his way through my front door.

He was arrested attempting to break into another residence days later. Although it had been difficult to see the offender’s face the night I was attacked, I was able to identify him in a photo line-up. He was indicted with five first-degree felonies, and sentenced to 7-25 years in prison. Despite my letters to the parole board, he was released from prison after seven years. During the time that he was incarcerated, I had graduated from college, moved to another city, gotten married (changing my name), and had an unlisted phone number.

The week that the perpetrator was released, I received the first of many heavy-breathing phone calls. I made numerous calls to his parole officer, who threatened to require the offender to take a polygraph if the calls didn’t stop, since this was before Caller-ID existed. The calls stopped. Shortly thereafter, the offender was sent back to prison on weapons charges. He was convicted of Carrying a Concealed Weapon and Weapons under Disability, because as a convicted felon, he was not allowed to be in possession of a firearm. He served another 15 years. After he was released from prison the second time, he was placed on electronic monitoring for stalking another victim.

During those fifteen years, I educated myself on how to hide from a dangerous person determined to find me, as he’d threatened to do. Unfortunately through, home addresses are required on certain public records, and the internet makes it almost impossible to avoid being found. I realized that this is the situation for many domestic violence, stalking, and sexual assault victims.

However, something positive came from the internet about a year before the second release. I read an article about the first Address Confidentiality Program (ACP) in the United States, which began in the state of Washington in 1991. An ACP is a confidential mail-forwarding system that provides a substitute address that a victim can use instead of a home, work, or school address, and that government agencies are required to accept.

Today, there are 37 states that have Address Confidentiality Programs. Of those, 19 are administered by the Secretary of State, 11 are administered by the Attorney General, and 7 are administered by various other entities, such as non-profit agencies. On December 8, 2009, Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner announced the introduction of House Bill 391 that would provide for an ACP housed at the Ohio Secretary of State’s office. Representative Kathleen Chandler is the bill’s sponsor.

House Bill 391 has been passed by the Ohio House and is now pending in the Ohio Senate. Please contact your State Senator and urge his or her support for the Address Confidentiality Bill.

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