Louisville lawmaker pushing KY dating violence bill

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Kentucky Capitol Building

A Louisville lawmaker is pressing for changes to Kentucky's domestic violence laws to allow them to apply to dating couples.  Democratic Senator Denise Harper Angel says 48 other states already have amended their domestic violence laws to protect victims of dating violence and she says the Commonwealth should follow suit.  

She has pushed similar legislation unsuccessfully over the past three years.  Current Kentucky domestic violence laws apply only when victims have either lived with or had a child with their abusers.  Harper Angel says victims of dating violence can't get an emergency protective order, regardless of the degree of intimacy involved.  She says she's hopeful the measure will pass this year.