Establishes new crime of domestic violence committed in the presence of a child.

This bill creates a new criminal offense for committing domestic violence while a child under 16 is present and the perpetrator knows the child is there. It applies when the child is a child of the perpetrator or victim (e.g., a parent, guardian, or resource family parent). The law requires separate criminal charges and sentences for both the underlying domestic violence act and this new offense, rather than merging the convictions. The severity of the new offense matches or exceeds the underlying crime’s level (e.g., a fourth-degree crime if the underlying act was minor). The bill is pending in the Senate Judiciary Committee as of January 2024.