FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

CONTACT

Giovanni Ruiz (323) 345-8273

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Senator Susan Rubio (D–Baldwin Park) announced that her Senate Bill 1192, the Reclaim Act, has been signed into law by Governor Newsom, giving domestic violence survivors new protections against abusers who weaponize the court system to continue harassment, intimidation and control long after a relationship has ended.

“For too many survivors, leaving an abusive relationship does not mean the abuse ends.” said Senator Rubio. “I know because I lived it for nearly a decade. I left, but I was still being dragged back into court, forced to spend money and required to turn over deeply personal information like text messages through discovery. My family could be pulled into depositions. Questions could be asked about where I lived and who I was in a relationship with. At times, the financial toll nearly broke me. That is not justice. That is another form of control.”

SB 1192, the Reclaim Act, addresses litigation abuse — a form of post-separation abuse in which perpetrators misuse court proceedings, discovery, depositions and repeated legal filings to continue exerting power and control over survivors. Litigation abuse can force survivors to repeatedly face their abuser in court, retain attorneys, miss work, disclose private information and spend thousands of dollars responding to legal actions. For survivors who have already escaped physical or emotional abuse, the legal system can become another avenue through which an abuser maintains access to their life.

The Reclaim Act protects survivors from being dragged back into cycles of abuse through the legal system. It gives courts stronger tools to stop abusive litigation and discovery when an abuser uses the legal process to harass, intimidate, financially drain, or maintain control over a survivor. Survivors can ask a court for a prefiling order, requiring the abuser to receive court permission before pursuing additional litigation or discovery against them.

For Senator Rubio, a domestic violence survivor who has obtained three restraining orders for her own safety, the legislation is deeply personal. Her experience navigating years of litigation after leaving an abusive marriage has shaped her work to change California law and prevent other survivors from enduring the same cycle. 

“Survivors should not have to become financially devastated or surrender their privacy just to prove, over and over again, that they deserve to be free. An abuser should never be able to turn our justice system into another weapon. With SB 1192 signed into law, California is sending a clear message: our courts will not be used as weapons of abuse. A survivor who finds the courage to leave deserves the freedom to actually leave — to heal, rebuild and reclaim their life. That is why I called this the Reclaim Act.”

Since taking office, Senator Rubio has heard from thousands of survivors who have described similar experiences of continued harassment and control through the courts. The Reclaim Act builds upon Senator Rubio’s longstanding work to strengthen protections for domestic violence survivors including landmark legislation recognizing coercive control as a form of domestic violence under California law, extending the statute of limitations for domestic violence survivors from three to seven years, expanding access to remote testimony and restraining order proceedings, and advancing additional protections designed to make California’s legal system safer and more accessible for survivors.

Senator Rubio is available for interviews in English or Spanish. To schedule an interview, please contact Giovanni Ruiz at Giovanni.RuizReyes@sen.ca.gov.