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An Act To Require an Ontario Domestic Assault Risk Assessment prior to Setting Bail in Domestic Violence Arrests in Which the Alleged Abuser Has Been Taken into Custody
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1. 15 MRSA §1023, sub-§4, ¶C, as repealed and replaced by PL 2013, c. 424, Pt. A, §6, is amended to read:
 
C. In a case involving domestic violence, set preconviction bail for a defendant before making a good faith effort to obtain from the arresting officer, the responsible prosecutorial office, a jail employee or other law enforcement officer:
 
(1) A brief history of the alleged abuserdefendant;
 
(2) The relationship of the parties;
 
(3) The name, address, phone number and date of birth of the victim;
 
(4) Existing conditions of protection from abuse orders, conditions of bail and conditions of probation;
 
(5) Information about the severity of the alleged offense; and
 
(6) Beginning no later than January 1, 2015In a case in which the defendant has not been taken into custody, the results of a validated, evidence-based domestic violence risk assessment recommended by the Maine Commission on Domestic and Sexual Abuse, established in Title 5, section 12004-I, subsection 74-C, and approved by the Department of Public Safety conducted on the alleged abuserdefendant when the results are available;
Sec. 2.  15 MRSA §1023, sub-§4, ¶C-1  is enacted to read:
 
C-1.  In a case involving a Class B, Class C or Class D crime in which the defendant is alleged to have committed a domestic violence assault or criminal threatening with a dangerous weapon, set preconviction bail for the defendant who has been taken into custody before obtaining the results of a validated, evidence-based domestic violence risk assessment recommended by the Maine Commission on Domestic and Sexual Abuse, established in Title 5, section 12004-I, subsection 74-C and approved by the Department of Public Safety conducted on the defendant;
Sec. 3. 15 MRSA §1024, as enacted by PL 1987, c. 758, §20, is amended by adding at the end a new paragraph to read:
Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, in a case involving a Class B, Class C or Class D crime in which the defendant is alleged to have committed a domestic violence assault or criminal threatening with a dangerous weapon in which the defendant has been taken into custody pending trial, a clerk of the Unified Criminal Docket may not take the personal recognizance of the defendant before obtaining the results of a validated, evidence-based domestic violence risk assessment recommended by the Maine Commission on Domestic and Sexual Abuse, established in Title 5, section 12004-I, subsection 74-C and approved by the Department of Public Safety conducted on the defendant.
Sec. 4. 15 MRSA §1025, as amended by PL 2003, c. 414, Pt. B, §28 and affected by Pt. D, §7 and c. 614, §9, is further amended by adding at the end a new paragraph to read:
Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, in a case involving a Class B, Class C or Class D crime in which the defendant is alleged to have committed a domestic violence assault or criminal threatening with a dangerous weapon in which the defendant has been taken into custody pending trial, a law enforcement officer may not take the personal recognizance of the defendant before obtaining the results of a validated, evidence-based domestic violence risk assessment recommended by the Maine Commission on Domestic and Sexual Abuse, established in Title 5, section 12004-I, subsection 74-C and approved by the Department of Public Safety conducted on the defendant.
Sec. 5. 15 MRSA §1025-A, as enacted by PL 2005, c. 541, §1, is amended by adding at the end a new paragraph to read:
Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, in a case involving a Class B, Class C or Class D crime in which the defendant is alleged to have committed a domestic violence assault or criminal threatening with a dangerous weapon, an employee of the county jail having custody of the defendant may not, pending trial, release the defendant before obtaining the results of a validated, evidence-based domestic violence risk assessment recommended by the Maine Commission on Domestic and Sexual Abuse, established in Title 5, section 12004-I, subsection 74-C and approved by the Department of Public Safety conducted on the defendant.
Sec. 6. 15 MRSA §1026, sub-§1, as amended by PL 2007, c. 374, §3, is further amended to read:
 
1. In general.   At the initial appearance before a judicial officer of a defendant in custody for a crime bailable as of right preconviction, the judicial officer may issue an order that, pending trial, the defendant be released:
 
A. On personal recognizance or upon execution of an unsecured appearance bond under subsection 2-A;
 
B. On a condition or combination of conditions under subsection 3; or
 
C. On personal recognizance or execution of an unsecured appearance bond, accompanied by one or more conditions under subsection 3.
 
Every order for the pretrial release of any defendant must include a waiver of extradition by the defendant and the conditions that the defendant refrain from new criminal conduct and not violate any pending protection from abuse orders pursuant to Title 19, section 769 or Title 19-A, section 4011.
 
In a case involving a Class B, Class C or Class D crime in which the defendant is alleged to have committed a domestic violence assault or criminal threatening with a dangerous weapon and has been taken into custody, a judicial officer may not issue an order that the defendant be released pending trial before obtaining the results of a validated, evidence-based domestic violence risk assessment recommended by the Maine Commission on Domestic and Sexual Abuse, established in Title 5, section 12004-I, subsection 74-C and approved by the Department of Public Safety conducted on the defendant.
Sec. 7. Effective date. This Act takes effect January 1, 2018.
 
SUMMARY
This bill requires that in every arrest for a Class B, C or D crime in which the defendant is alleged to have committed a domestic violence assault or criminal threatening with a dangerous weapon and the defendant has been taken into custody, the defendant may not be released until the results have been obtained from a validated, evidence-based domestic violence risk assessment recommended by the Maine Commission on Domestic and Sexual Abuse, established in the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 5, section 12004-I, subsection 74-C and approved by the Department of Public Safety conducted on the defendant. The validated, evidence-based domestic violence risk assessment that is recommended by the Maine Commission on Domestic and Sexual Abuse and approved by the Department of Public Safety is known as the Ontario Domestic Assault Risk Assessment, ODARA. The bill amends current law that requires the results of the ODARA, when the results are available, to apply the results only to arrests in which the defendant has not been taken into custody. The bill contains a delayed effective date of January 1, 2018.