PRINTER'S NO. 447
No. 423 Session of 2005
INTRODUCED BY ORIE, WONDERLING, TOMLINSON, RAFFERTY, RHOADES, STACK, LAVALLE, KASUNIC, COSTA, BOSCOLA, LOGAN, GORDNER AND REGOLA, MARCH 22, 2005
REFERRED TO JUDICIARY, MARCH 22, 2005
AN ACT 1 Establishing the Pennsylvania Domestic Violence Hotline; and 2 providing for the powers and duties of the Department of 3 Public Welfare. 4 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania 5 hereby enacts as follows: 6 Section 1. Short title. 7 This act shall be known and may be cited as the Pennsylvania 8 Domestic Violence Hotline Act. 9 Section 2. Definitions. 10 The following words and phrases when used in this act shall 11 have the meanings given to them in this section unless the 12 context clearly indicates otherwise: 13 "Crisis intervention." Assistance to individuals relating to 14 the identification of domestic violence problems and possible 15 solutions, including, but not limited to, the making of plans 16 for the safety of victims of domestic violence in cases of 17 emergency. 18 "Department." The Department of Public Welfare of the
1 Commonwealth. 2 "Hotline." A twenty-four hour, seven-day-per-week toll-free 3 telephone line. 4 "Information resources." Information relating to domestic 5 violence, child abuse, sexual assault, intervention programs for 6 individuals who commit domestic violence and related issues 7 through the criminal justice system. 8 "Referral." The distribution to a victim of domestic 9 violence of the names, addresses and telephone numbers of local 10 shelters, domestic violence programs, social service agencies, 11 legal programs for victims of domestic violence and other groups 12 and organizations that deal with domestic violence in this 13 Commonwealth. 14 Section 3. Pennsylvania Domestic Violence Hotline. 15 (a) Establishment.--The department shall establish a 16 Statewide hotline, to be known as the Pennsylvania Domestic 17 Violence Hotline, which hotline shall be operated by response 18 counselors. The response counselors shall be domestic violence 19 counselors who satisfy qualifications, including, but not 20 limited to, skills in crisis management and problem 21 identification as set forth by department regulation. 22 (b) Confidentiality.-- 23 (1) Each telephone call to the Pennsylvania Domestic 24 Violence Hotline shall be confidential. Only response 25 counselors and appropriate employees of the department may 26 have access to the telephone call information. 27 (2) Unless requested to do so by an individual who 28 places a telephone call to the Pennsylvania Domestic Violence 29 Hotline, the department may not make a record of the 30 individual's name or other means of identifying the 20050S0423B0447 - 2 -
1 individual. 2 Section 4. Regulations. 3 The department shall promulgate the rules and regulations 4 necessary to administer this act. 5 Section 5. Effective date. 6 This act shall take effect in 60 days. L23L23JS/20050S0423B0447 - 3 -