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Laws
The laws behind the cases
We follow the laws being fought over, changed or just changed. For each one, we show what it does, where it stands and the cases that show why it matters to you.
“Mica's Law,” South Carolina Senate Bill 702, would have made coercive control of a household member a crime and added stalking, harassment and coercive control to the state's definitions of abuse. It did not advance before the 2025-26 session ended and would have to start over. Its sponsor, Sen. Stephen Goldfinch, said in June 2026 that he plans to reintroduce it in January. As of Nov. 14, 2026, Bench Watch found no new bill filed.
Under New York's sex-crime definitions, a person who took drugs or alcohol on their own doesn't count as “mentally incapacitated,” which covers a substance only when it was given without consent. Three bills that passed the state Senate would change how the law treats intoxication and consent. All three are waiting in the Assembly's Codes Committee.
S.2743, “An Act addressing staged suicides,” is a Massachusetts Senate bill filed by Sen. Rebecca L. Rausch. It would require police training on staged suicides and set rules for investigating suspicious deaths. A committee reported it favorably on May 28, 2026, and sent it to the Senate Ways and Means Committee. As of Nov. 14, 2026, the Legislature's site shows no action since.
Since April 2, 2025, Michigan prosecutors have 15 years, or until the survivor's 42nd birthday, whichever is later, to charge second- and third-degree criminal sexual conduct. First-degree has no limit. The change doesn't apply to older cases.
Passed in 2014 after more than 11,000 untested kits were found in Detroit, these laws set deadlines for testing rape kits, created a statewide tracking system and give survivors the right to ask about their kit and their case. The money for the teams that work old kits is decided year to year.
