Walley Wrap: Protecting Victims of Crime, Particularly Women and Children, is a Top Priority

By State Senator Page Walley 

Among the many issues we’re working on in the General Assembly are very important pieces of legislation to protect crime victims and increase punishments for crimes against women and children. I’d like to highlight a couple of those this week. 

We passed an important bill of mine in the Senate this week to give victims of sexual violence more time to get justice. The legislation is called Danielle’s Law, and it extends the statute of limitations for civil action for cases of rape or sexual assault. Under current Tennessee law, a victim who is raped or sexually assaulted has one year to file suit after the incident occurs. Under Danielle’s Law, a victim would have five years to file suit if there is a police report filed, and three years if there is not a police report. 

The legislation is named after Danielle Pyle, who is rape survivor. Danielle provided very poignant testimony in the Senate Judiciary Committee two weeks ago. I was honored she was able to attend the Senate session last week when the bill received unanimous support. In a touching moment, Danielle received a standing ovation from the Senate for her courage and advocacy. 

Debbie and Marie Domestic Violence Protection Act

Another bill advanced in the Senate last week to increase protections for victims of aggravated domestic assault in Tennessee. Senate Bill 1972, also known as the Debbie and Marie Domestic Violence Protection Act, would require aggravated assault suspects in certain domestic violence cases to wear a global position monitoring system (GPS) if they are released on bond.

Under the legislation, a GPS service provider must be able to notify a victim’s cell phone if their alleged attacker is within a certain proximity of their location. The company would also be required to notify local law enforcement when a violation of a defendant’s bond conditions occurred.

The legislation is named in honor of Debbie Sisco and Marie Varsos. Both women were killed in 2021 by Varsos’ estranged husband Shaun who was out on bond for strangling his wife and threatening to shoot her a month earlier.

The legislation passed the Senate Judiciary Committee last week and advances to my Senate Finance Committee.

Protecting victims of crime, particularly women and children, is a top priority for me. Earlier this session I passed legislation to give victims of human trafficking with HIV a better chance at rehabilitating their lives. The legislation allows victims of human trafficking with convictions of aggravated prostitution to have their records expunged. It also removes the requirement for those victims to be placed on the sex offender registry.

It is an honor to serve as your state senator. Next week, I look forward to sharing more with you about news and updates in the General Assembly. In the meantime, please reach out to my office on issues of interest and importance at (615) 741-2368 or sen.page.walley@capitol.tn.gov.

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