Jeannine’s financial abuse bill signed into law
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD | JUNE 2019
Approved by the Legislature and signed into law by Mills is a bill protecting survivors of domestic violence from economic abuse (download and read the bill: LD 748), allowing them to shed debt wrongly incurred in their name by their abusers under a court order. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Jessica Fay, D-Raymond, prohibits credit rating agencies from counting that debt against them. The law puts Maine at the forefront in the nation when it comes to the issue of economic abuse and will allow a court, when issuing a protection from abuse order, to also issue an order for monetary relief, prohibiting debt collectors from calling or taking action, while also defining the term “economic abuse” in state law. Read More
"Protections are now in place to help victims recover, and judges will now have legal authority to render findings of economic abuse and factor that into sentencing. Additionally, this landmark bill broadens the legal definition of domestic abuse in Maine to include economic abuse. Hopefully someday every abuse noted in the Power & Control Wheel will be legally recognized.
It is with gratitude that I thank all the women of FOV who have stood by me and supported me privately and publicly.
I'm told the day we all testified in Augusta was the turning point for the eventual UNANIMOUS bipartisan passage of this important legislation." - Jeannine