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SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KTXL) — A bill adding more protections for domestic violence victims passed unanimously in the California Senate Thursday. 

“I want to thank my Senate colleagues for strengthening our protections for domestic violence victims,” said Sen. Susan Rubio, D-Baldwin Park, in a press release. “They realize, as I do, that our current legal system does not reflect how domestic violence happens in reality.” 

Senate Bill 1141 would add “coercive control” to the Family Code, allowing “psychologically damaging and abusive behavior as supporting evidence in family court hearings and criminal trials.”

This behavior of coercive control includes: Isolating the victim from friends, relatives, or other support; depriving the victim of basic necessities; controlling the victim’s communications, daily behavior, finances, economic resources, and many other behaviors that cause severe emotional distress. 

Office of Senator Susan Rubio

Sen. Rubio authored the bill, along with assembly members Tom Lackey, R- Palmdale, and Blanca Rubio, D-Baldwin Park. 

SB 1141 will go on to the state Assembly.