Texas lawmakers file bill requiring judges to take training on family violence

The Judicial Awareness and Training Act, or House Bill 1475, would require appellate, district, and county court judges take an hour of training specifically on family violence within a year of taking office.

AUSTIN, Texas - Texas lawmakers want to require judges to continue and expand training to help family violence victims.

"It was so loud and there were loud booms and flashes of light yelling. It was just a very chaotic scene, and it looked like a war zone. It was very surreal and seemed like it was a movie," Amanda Lombard, who witnessed a domestic violence incident, said.

Lombard described SWAT entering her neighbor’s home in North Austin following a hostage situation. It started after an argument caught on camera. When SWAT entered the home, a woman was found dead. The man who shot and killed the woman died several days later.

"I think more resources and less stigma. If people felt loved and supported, I think there'd be a lot less of this going on," Lombard said.

Domestic dispute in North Austin leads to death of woman

A domestic dispute in North Austin has lead to the death of a young woman.

The Texas Department of Public Safety reported an eight percent increase in victims of family violence from 2020 to 2021 in Texas, and around the same number of victims again in 2022.

State Representative Mihaela Plesa pointed out, not all victims file reports.

"I definitely think if victims and survivors start to learn that our courts are more trauma informed, they will become more comfortable to come forward," State Rep. Plesa said.

Lawmakers are backing a bill aimed to do just that.

"We create a system where judges, lawyers, that are handling these cases are trained in trauma care, so we don’t continue a generational cycle of trauma care within our systems," Plesa said.

Texas bill aims to help judges better understand the impact of domestic violence

State Rep. Ana-Maria Ramos, Sen. Carol Alvarado, and the Minaret Foundation have filed House Bill 1475 and a Senate companion bill. Zain Pleuthner from the Minaret Foundation joins us with more.

For judges primarily involved with family law, the bill would require them to take two hours of family violence training every two years.

"When we have survivors or victims coming into our courtrooms, many times our judicial officers are unaware or not out of malice, but out of lack of information and lack of training and education to really be able to identify what the survivor is saying or if there are issues of domestic violence," State Rep. Ana-Maria Ramos said.

The next step is to request a hearing with the Juvenile Justice Committee, then move the bill to the House floor.