WEAVE knows that technology can be critical to a survivor’s ability to stay in touch with family, seek employment, and ensure their safety. Unfortunately, technology is often used to harass and stalk, as well. WEAVE recognized a trend of abusers manipulating family cell phone plans. Common challenges reported by survivors included having their phone disconnected and the abuser using the GPS features and phone records to stalk survivors.

California Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins shared our concerns. Speaker Atkins initiated AB 1407 which allows a domestic violence survivor to request an order to extract his or her phone number from a family plan when requesting a Domestic Violence Restraining Order. The survivor assumes all financial responsibility for the phone while the abuser’s access to family plan is eliminated.

The legislation recently received national attention via a Huffington Post article authored by Speaker Atkins. Click here to read her article and learn more about why AB 1407 works to keep survivors safe.