Governor Terry McAuliffe signed Del. Eileen Filler-Corn’s (D-Springfield) bill, HB 659, in the State Capitol in Richmond. HB 659 will require high-school family-life curricula to include awareness, understanding and prevention of dating violence, domestic abuse, sexual harassment and sexual violence.
“This bill focuses on prevention,” says Filler-Corn. “We need to educate our youth at a younger age. Silence is not an option. We cannot expect them to wait to learn about dating violence, domestic abuse, sexual harassment and sexual violence in college. We need to teach them earlier.”
Filler-Corn was flanked by leading voices in the fight against campus and domestic sexual assault including Gil Harrington, mother of Morgan Harrington and founder of Help Save the Next Girl, Trina Murphy, aunt of Alexis Murphy, and Annie Clark, co-founder of End Rape on Campus. “This bill will save more lives,” said Harrington, immediately following the bill signing.
A bipartisan effort with both Democratic and Republican co-patrons, HB 659 passed unanimously out of the House of Delegates and near unanimously out of the Senate during the 2016 General Assembly Session. It will take effect on July 1, 2016.
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