Graves & Swanson LLC Attorney Testifies at Oregon State Capitol

Jacqueline K. Swanson appeared before the Oregon House and Senate Judiciary Committees on March 22-23, 2017 to testify in support of several laws relating to sexual assault victims’ rights.

On March 22, 2017, Graves & Swanson LLC attorney Jacqueline Swanson and advocate Brenda Tracy appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee to testify in support of Senate Bills 795, SB 960 and SB 884.

SB 795 would require a law enforcement officer or medical/hospital provider to contact a victim advocate and make reasonable efforts to ensure that a victim advocate is present and available at the medical facility while the survivor is obtaining a rape kit or related forensic examination. SB 884 and SB 960 pertain to sexual assault survivors’ rights relating to forensic exams.

On March 23, 2017, Jacqueline and Brenda appeared before the House Committee on Judiciary to testify in support of HB 2972, which would prohibit use threat of student discipline or other sanction to influence the decision of a victim of alleged incident of sexual assault, domestic violence or stalking regarding whether to report alleged incident or participate in investigation or adjudication of the alleged incident.

The House and Senate Committees have not yet voted on the bills, but hopefully will decide to recommend them for a vote before the respective chambers soon. Stay tuned for more updates.

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