HB101

What it does

• Changes the legal definition of a minor from under 16 years old to under 18 years old in laws regarding civil claims for sexual abuse, murder, assault, stalking, enticement, endangering welfare, indecent exposure, and sending explicit images.
• Allows people who were sexually abused as minors (under age 18) to file lawsuits against their abusers for damages caused by intentional conduct.
• Updates first-degree murder laws so that causing death during a sexual offense or kidnapping of a child under 18 counts as murder in the first degree, and includes criminal negligence resulting in serious injury and death to children under 18.
• Revises second-degree murder laws to include cases where a person with prior convictions involving children negligently causes the death of a child under 18.
• Updates third-degree assault laws so that adults who knowingly cause physical injury requiring medical treatment to a child between ages 12 and 17 (who is at least two years younger than the offender) commit a crime, with an affirmative defense if they reasonably believed the victim was over 16 but not under 13.
• Updates stalking laws so that having a victim under age 18 can make the offense first-degree stalking.