Legislative Mission
This proposed legislation, inspired by California Senate Bill 989 (Joanna's Law) signed into law in 2024, aims to strengthen Alaska's response to the hidden dangers of domestic violence-related deaths. California's Joanna's Law established the first statute in the country requiring thorough investigations into deaths of individuals with a known history of domestic violence victimization. Alaska must adopt similar protections to ensure domestic violence homicides are not misclassified as suicides, undetermined or accidents.
While Alaska Stat. § 12.65.020 outlines important powers for the medical examiner, it leaves gaps in family communication, independent oversight, and community transparency-factors that often contribute to mistrust, especially in cases involving marginalized individuals. What we are proposing improves on this by requiring proactive family notification at each stage of the investigation, offering families access to findings unless it jeopardizes an active criminal case. Additionally, our proposal incorporates third-party review when deaths involve law enforcement or government actors, ensuring accountability free from conflicts of interest. It also mandates data collection and public reporting of aggregate death investigation outcomes to identify patterns-strengthening public safety and allowing for systemic improvements. These additions not only protect the integrity of individual investigations but also improve community trust, demonstrating that all deaths-regardless of who is involved-are treated with the same level of care, rigor, and transparency.