The first bill of the session to be signed into law by Governor Edwards is one that would allow sexual assault survivors to terminate their residential leases early.
During the initial committee discussion of the proposal, New Orleans Representative Aimee Freeman said her bill was inspired in large part by all of the LSU students who had their sexual assaults covered up by the school.
“The survivor often has flashbacks or nightmares and sometimes it affects their ability to go to school or work and then sometimes the perpetrator then knows where they live,” said Freeman.
The new law is similar to an existing law that allowed early terminations in the case of domestic violence or sexual assault, but that law only covered domestic situations.
STAR Legal Director Morgan Lamandre noted there are a number of requirements to proceed with the request. The tenant would have to wait at least 60 days after the assault to and from that point they would have to pay one more month’s rent. Also, the assault would have had to have occurred after the victim executed their lease.
The law also requires the assault to be verified by a “qualified third party” such as a licensed social worker or counselor, prosecuting attorney, law enforcement officer involved in the assault investigation, a healthcare worker who administered a forensic examination, or program director of a sexual assault center such as STAR.
The law, which took effect Tuesday, also allows landlords to immediately evict a tenant if they are documented as the individual who perpetrated the assault.
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